Sealed With A Kiss

When I was a kid, I was fortunate to have a teenaged aunt and uncle. Many afternoons, they hosted after-school record parties in their basement rec room, playing all the latest 45s. Amid all the joking and flirting and dancing, I'd lurk in the doorway, benignly ignored and blissfully reveling in the music. I wasn't always ignored; sometimes I was the floorshow. I had a freakish talent for remembering song lyrics and one of my earliest memories was being lifted onto a table to belt out a few verses of 'Flying Purple People Eater' or 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini'. Growing up in a small town gave us kids a front row seat to the social dramas of teenagers, in all their sophisticated and worldly glory. Biking to the perimeter of street dances or hanging over the stonewall during patio parties, we had limited access to the festivities but full exposure to the soundtrack. The Beach Boys' oeuvre always reappeared when the temperature climbed, as did the fatalistically mawkish separation songs like See You In September or Sealed With A Kiss. The radio was full of wonders. Riding in the back seat with my father behind the wheel, I was gobsmacked to hear Johnny Angel being dedicated to 'State Trooper John Angel'. I couldn't decide which was cooler, being named Johnny Angel or having a song with your name as the title. Hearing Sealed With A Kiss for the first time at summer camp, I mused with seven-year-old gravitas that although I was too young for a boyfriend, if I was old enough to go steady, that's exactly how I'd feel. Anne Produced and Arranged by Anne Farnsworth Recorded & mixed at 24/7 Studio, Santa Monica, CA RON HITCHCOCK - engineer Additional mixing: True Sonix, NYC, NY NIC PROUT - associate producer Mastering: OUR STUDIO NAME HERE Santa Monica, CA DAVID HORNER - engineer Additional percussion: ROBERT SIBONY Artwork: DAVID HORNER Photos: CYNTHIA LUM Pictures taken at Pierre's Fine Pianos, LA, CA Special thanks to my awesome musicians- especially Alphonso and Ndugu for their friendship and positive energy, Peach Reasoner for her kindness and support, David Horner for going above and beyond and voice whisperer Jeffrey Allen - you all rock.