This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Joe Iconis: Hey, I'm Joe Iconis.

[0:02] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: And I'm Jennifer Ashley Tepper.

[0:04] Joe Iconis: And you are listening to the ALBUM PODCAST on the Broadway Podcast Network. Today, we're going to be talking about my song, My Best Friend's A Skeleton, which is a song that I wrote for a Halloween show at the Beachmen, originally for Eric Lee Morris and Jeremy Morse, but on album sung by George Salazar and Jeremy Morse. In this episode, you may learn that Joe Iconis once tried to write a song called My Teddy Bear's A Cokehead, a fact which I did not know until we recorded this podcast episode. So you just never quite know what you're going to get on the ALBUM PODCAST.

[0:48] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: That's right. Spills, thrills, chills. Hear them all now. My Best Friend's A Skeleton.

[1:14] Joe Iconis: So the last song, I guess, could kind of be considered a Mother's Day song. This could kind of be considered a Halloween song. One of several Halloween songs you've written. What was the original inspiration for My Best Friend's A Skeleton?

[1:28] Joe Iconis: So My Best Friend's A Skeleton, I wrote for a Halloween show at the Beachmen. And I wrote it specifically for Eric Lee Morris to sing as the main guy and then for Jeremy to play a skeleton. And I remember when I was writing it, not fully knowing what the skeleton character would be, but just knowing that Jeremy would do something crazy with it. And so it's like a weird sort of instance of writing, knowing the actors, but not exactly knowing what they'll bring to the table, just knowing that it's going to be great. And so I mean, it's like this one was a pretty simple write. I had the title, My Best Friend's A Skeleton, cooking in my brain for quite a while. I remember that sort of sticking in my brain.

And I went through a time period where I kept trying to write songs where it's like my something's a something. I had a song that I tried to write for years called My Teddy Bear's A Cokehead. And I think I might write it, yeah. But it was like my something's a something song. And My Best Friend's A Skeleton, it just couldn't, it never died, you know, it just kept sticking around. And then for this one Halloween show, it just kind of like came fully formed. That song, it was, yeah.

[3:12] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: I just had to think about this because obviously, like, you know, I've heard Eric do it. We've had multiple people doing it, including George Salazar and Jeremy on the album. But the Halloween show that I remember was Lance and Jeremy doing it at 54 Below, like the only time we did a show around Halloween at 54 Below. So there's been like a lot of different people doing this song.

[3:34] Joe Iconis: Yeah, you know, the guy who's the lead, sort of lead singer of it, he's, multiple great actors have played that role. And Jordan Stanley, who sings Slide Whistle on the album, he played skeleton for something, I can't quite remember what. But Jeremy has been the skeleton of Note since the beginning. And, you know, and it was really just like, it's a song that, you know, sort of like so many of my songs that kind of deal with people who feel like they don't quite fit in and like, you know, kind of normalize a certain type of person. I mean, that's just what it is, you know, that's just sort of like an ode to a friendship that is unconventional, but doesn't feel that way to the parties involved.

[4:21] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Sometimes I also felt like when you were in the planning stages with this album, it was like those problems from math class where it's like, Sarah has a blue pencil, but she has to color like this and at four o'clock and it was like a lot of if this than that. And I feel like George Salazar, who does an incredible job with this number, it was kind of an interesting thing of figuring out what he should sing, because you already have the two player game album, where he sings so many of your songs, as well as other albums, like Be More Chill, where he's singing them. So like, how did you kind of land on George singing this song? Or was it like, you know, method of elimination?

[5:05] Joe Iconis: Yeah, no, it's it's like sort of exactly as you say, you know, it's just because different people are associated with different songs and, and all that when I do even a concert, it's like, oh, is this crazy, like, you know, sort of puzzle of, okay, what songs do I want to include? And then who typically sings those songs? And how can I shake it up? So it's not a concert where, you know, Eric William Morris is singing 15 songs, and everyone else is sharing, like the remaining two, you know, because that like can happen sometimes. And so with the album, it was very much that where it was kind of like, okay, I want to do Skeleton, Eric's already singing a bunch on the album. And then it was like, you know, George, as you said, because we have two player game, he's recorded so many of my tunes, how do I get him something that feels specific to this album and something that would be appropriate for him?

And Skeleton just felt like, oh, this kind of makes sense. And I what I loved about it was that, you know, George is such an incredible performer, but he's so huge. And he and he does these characterizations that are so like off the wall and explosive. I really liked the idea of George Salazar playing the straight man in something, which is something that he's so rarely gets to do. And to have Jeremy Morris be the one who's kind of like, you know, off the wall and just making these big, huge, insane choices.

[6:36] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Totally. And remind me, were they in the same place when they recorded this? Like, when was this one recorded?

[6:44] Joe Iconis: Oh, my God, no, they so George was in LA. So George recorded all of his stuff in a just in a vacuum, right? So like, George's like did it. And he and I, you know, in the session would like sort of come up with, you know, come up with like one liners, and come up with like the setups to jokes, with the knowledge that Jeremy would then deliver the punchline in like a month in New York City, just listening to it, you know, so it was such a strange way to like, craft this thing that really is just like a duet and I like two hander between these two, you know, these two awesome comedic actors. But I think because of that, because it was like, the comedy was made in such a strange way with so much time and space between both halves.

I think it does give the song this kind of like, bizarre, there's like something slightly off, you know, they are going back and forth. But there is this like, there's this like vague awkwardness that I think feels true to the relationship of the human being and the skeleton.

[7:47] Jennifer Ashley Tepper: I'm gonna have to listen to listen for that. And yeah, I feel like it's such a supernatural song always to have like a creature, a skeleton that I'm excited to listen for that. Um, did you ever consider because there are like multiple songs on the album that you wrote for like Halloween or that are sort of like supernatural or spooky in some way, did you ever consider like, do I group songs like that together? Like how did you we've

[8:14] Joe Iconis: How did you pick the album order and did you take that kind of thing into account?

[8:21] George Salazar: Yeah, for sure. Because of the amount of songs, 44 in total, there are all of these subsections that feel connected in different ways. And so when I was looking at the track list and trying to figure out where things fit, for the most part, when we recorded, I didn't have the order in my mind. We were just kind of recording the songs in the wild. And I had a few suspicions about like, oh, maybe I'll write this song called ALBUM for the top of the thing, and maybe I'll try again, be at the end of the thing. But otherwise, I really wasn't recording thinking like, okay, you know, this song is going to go into this song, it was just sort of treating them as individuals and then figuring it out later.

And so when I was sort of looked at all of them, it was kind of like, okay, like, here's this like, large group of songs that feel Halloweeny, or sort of related to horror movies. And like, here's this group of songs that deals with like teenagers. And, you know, here's this group of songs that deals with suburbia. And then I had, you know, like New York City songs. And so I, you know, initially, it was like, is there a way to kind of like, group these songs together so that they create these little like mini musicals or something, or these little like, you know, mini suites of songs. But then I just kind of felt like, you know, the thing that really joins these songs together is not the subject matter.

It's the thematic material, it felt like the, you know, like, the just because like, there's a bunch of songs with creatures doesn't necessarily mean those songs all hang together in an organic way. And it felt like the things that the song that the creatures were singing about, were the things that I wanted to use to kind of be the glue to hold all the songs together. And so then it was like, okay, so now I know this. So now let me use like the vibes of the music, and the deeper meanings of the lyrics to create this, this kind of like up and down flow of energy that will take us through the 44 tracks. And that sort of turned into for the most part, making sure that we didn't group all the Halloween songs together, and that we didn't group all the teenage songs together.

And so maybe you get like, you know, two together, or, you know, or sometimes more. But I really wanted things to feel kind of interspersed. So it was like, Oh, creature song was, was mingling with a suburban song was mingling with a, you know, with a song about a, about a, you know, a teenager going through something. So it feels like it's, it's pretty varied and, and, and eclectic. You know, there's a, there's one transition that I love, that's, it goes from, I believe Haddonfield into Sympathy for the Killer. And I love the idea of like, you know, Haddonfield is the song that's like, that's, that's, that's inspired by the Halloween movies, and Michael Myers, and Sympathy for the Killer is sort of like, you know, using horror movies as a, as a way to talk about relationships. And so I like that it's like, those two songs feel like they're in conversation with each other, even though stylistically, they're so different. So there are moments like that throughout the album.

[11:43] Joe Iconis: But can you talk about for a song like this, you know, obviously, the band, the musicians are recorded separately than the actors as well. And when it's a song where there are comedic moments that require like real specificity from instrumentalists, like, what was that process like in the studio? And like, how do you kind of work with the people like on the music team and within to tell the musicians how to play in these like, you know, moments where there might be a joke or there might be like a cue that involves them?

[12:00] George Salazar: Yeah, I mean, this like, this song is a perfect example of, we were able to achieve this, because everyone, all of the artists involved, know each other so well. And so it's like, you know, we had to do it in the like, sort of the opposite order that you'd want to do it and where we had to record the music first, and then it did the two actors individually. When in a perfect scenario, everyone would just be in a studio together, and we would just kind of do it in real time. But with doing the music first, it was just, it's like always about, you know, allowing space, so that once the actors lay down their performances, we can edit, edit it all together. And so there's room for the jokes. And so it's like a lot of, you know, because I know, because the musicians like, you know, know my work so well, and know like George and Jeremy, it was really easy for like, Anne and I to say, okay, George will say something stupid here.

And then Jeremy will like, take it a little further. So let's just keep repeating these chords and keep going, keep going, keep going. And then we'll like figure out exact timing later. So it's like just sort of giving yourself enough material to play with. So it can all be put together in the editing room, which is what we ended up doing.

[13:34] Joe Iconis: Yeah, um, yeah, great. My best friend's a skeleton. My best friend's a skeleton. You know, I will say when we're gonna say, I look forward to hearing my teddy bear is a cokehead because I've never known about that potential prequel sequel.

[13:55] George Salazar: Yeah, yeah. Look out for an album to the return. Um, but what I was what I was gonna say about my best friend's, um, a skeleton, is that the one the one joke in it, that I that's been in it, you know, since the beginning, it's in the lyric, but I guess it's more the reaction to the joke. It's there's a there's a part where the skeleton where the guy says, you know, he'll always be inside of me, you know, kind of meaning that because he's a skeleton, he'll be inside of him. But the skeleton sort of takes it slightly sexually. And so when we first started doing the song, I feel like the skeleton was kind of like, you know, like, hey, dude, I'm not interested in that. And kind of like, yeah, you know, like, like, what are you saying about me kind of way?

And I love that. I love that. Now. I'm not saying that, like the skeleton wants to be in a sexual relationship with the friend, but I just feel like the chain, like the the the chain did various changes in our culture have made the possibility for like a skeleton, human, sexual relationship that isn't like, you know, there's no labels on it. It's just like two guys, or I mean, one guy and one skeleton. And like, sometimes maybe they just are a little bit sexual with each other. It's like no big deal. It's like that just feels like, okay, and feels kind of kind of like accepted and celebrated. And I think that's a nice, a nice marker of where we are as a culture.

[15:29] Joe Iconis: Yeah, I'm open to it. Love is love.

[15:36] George Salazar: Yeah, love is love is skeletons.

[15:42] Joe Iconis: Hey, thanks so much for listening or watching to my podcast. Do me a favor and go to wherever you just listen to or watch this thing and subscribe or like or give us a great rating or review and then head to bpn.fm slash album to find out even more information about this podcast. More ways to watch more ways to listen and check out my album album. Thanks so much for hanging out.

[16:01] Joe Iconis: Album podcast is executive produced by Liz Armstrong, produced by Dori Berenstein, Alan Seals, Kim Garris and the rest of the team at the Broadway Podcast Network. Be sure to visit bpn.fm slash album for both audio and video versions of this podcast and to listen to album till the day that we shrivel up and die. George, I love it that you have skin. I love you, you bag of bones.