In February 2002, I met two of my long-time FM DJ heroes, Vin Scelsa and Pete Fornatale, though a producer with whom I was working, Bill Kollar. Pete hosted the radio program “Mixed Bag” and Vin hosted “Idiot’s Delight,” first on WNEW and then on WFUV in New York City. Vin told Pete that he wanted to put together a show where he would play a song about a woman’s name for every letter in the alphabet, but that he was “stuck on the U.” Pete told Bill, who suggested a) the name should be Ursula and b) that I should write the track.
I wrote a little tribute to Usrsula Andress from “Dr. No,” conjuring myself as a former-kid-with-a-crush discovering her action figure at auction. Bill loved the demo, but Vin’s show never materialized and I never recorded the track for real. As fate then turned, things got real quiet for me on all fronts right after that, friendships vaporized into the ether and the demo sat in a hard drive on a shelf in my studio for 11 years.
After Pete Fornatale passed away last year, I decided to lay this down once and for all. This is dedicated to him, and to Vin and Bill, who are still around doing what they do, all of us forever connected by these sound waves.
ursula, i can’t be in love with you
even though you’re famous now, even though I knew you once, just asursula, you were such a lucky girl
got paid to collect shells, you were never gonna failbut you’re just a reflection
of everything
we used to beyou’re a figurine, a die-cast figurine
who made the men blue and all the women green
and now you’re up for bid as a figurineursula, you were not from my time
but you were more than a tight bikini, in the middle of a spy movie starringursula, i can’t love you anymore
even though you stole that scene, even though you’re a pin-up queen[ch]
[solo]ursula, i’ve grown away from you
that was another me, you’re not a woman to call my ownyou’re just a reflection
of everything
we used to beyou’re a figurine, a die-cast figurine
you made the men blue and all the women green
and you’re covered in cinema sheenyou’re a figurine
‘cause all the men are blue
and cinema’s so sheen
so now you’re up for bid as a figurine
you’re up for bid