Jemima Puddle Duck

When I wrote 'Pecker' about eight years ago, it was the beginning of a theme that would permeate my music for the next several years, eventually culminating in 'Jemima Puddle Duck'. It was the theme of using my family pets as a cast of characters and including them in songs such as Ebenezer, Stella, and Chicken 23. Creating new adventures for these animals is always fun and easy, and in the spring of 2003 when I read the Beatrix Potter story 'The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck' I knew infusing her story with my animals would make for great material. The words are all mine but the story is entirely her's. I tell it the same way with the same beginning and ending, I just added a little of my own flavor in the second act. Not to give too much of the story away, but in the original book Jemima recieves help from the farmers collie named Kep. Kep rounds up a few neighborhood dogs and they help eliminate a cunning red fox. Well, needless to say my imagination ran wild at the thought of who these nameless neighborhood dogs could be and I instantly began imagining my own. Ebenezer had just died about six months ago and I imagined that he, a collie as well, and Kep were old friends, a fact that Kep would use to pull Stella (the greatest warrior of them all) out of retirement. Of course the book mentions a third dog and so Lilly (pictured on the back of Make A Sound) finally found her way into the cast. I hope you enjoy this adaptation of the Beatrix Potter classic. For the most part, the composition process is pretty easy for me. That was not the case here. For some reason this song was a real struggle and took years of pulling it out, making some progress, and shelving it before it was finally done. I think all the hard work paid off as Sean and I agree, this is one of the greatest recordings we've made yet!

enjoy,
OT

link to the original story and illustrations