Octavius B. Frothingham

Pinecone On Tent's first unofficial release was a Christmas album. Cassette tapes were distributed for free to the Pinecone faithful. The selections were compiled from Pinecone's vast live catalog: Everyready Battery, Corduroy Condom and Low Spark of High Heeled Boys are among the selections.

To prove that Pinecone On Tent was way ahead of their time, I now proudly showcase an original Pinecone tune from that album as a new MP3: Octavius B. Frothingham. (6.11 MB)

Mike Parsons, the other Mike in Pinecone On Tent, came up with the lyrics. Apparently, Octavius was a molesting monk. He tried to save his soul, but turned out bad just the same. That's several years before the big church scandals broke. Just like with the song, Colin Powell, P.O.T. was ahead of its time. Pinecone was forced underground so that the rest of the world's current events could catch up.

I don't remember all the lyrics but the chorus goes:

Octavius B. Frothingham,
What have you done?
Get your hands out of the cookie jar right now.
Octavius!

Around 3:33 into the MP3, the band stumbles into a fast swing part that always sounded tighter in practice. Then we stumble out of it with the proficiency of a barrel of sloths rolling down a hill. But its a cool tune nonetheless.

It is also one of the few Pinecone collaborations. I came up with the bassline. Parsons did the lyrics and the chorus. Jeff (the guitarist) had a cool spaced out riff with the digital delay and perhaps it was Pat the drummer who came up with the fast swing part (but I could be wrong on that).