MICHAEL WARD W/DOGS & FISHES – DONKEY ISLAND

Michael Ward: vocals, guitar; Joe Satriani: guitar solo; Mathias Mederer: guitar;
Ed Mann: marimba, vibes, percussion; Chris Solberg: bass, piano;
Burleigh Drummond: drums, percussion; Jose Chepito Areas: timbales; Bird: talking drum, balophone; Keta Bill, Connie Champaign, Jo Carol Block: backing vocals
Produced by Michael Ward and mixed by Mark Needham
Recorded by John Cuniberti, Garry Creiman & Brian Risner at Hyde Street Studios,
San Francisco, CA
(P) & (C) Michael Ward 2012
www.michaelwardmusic.com

“This tune came about as the result of a series of song writing sessions involving Ed Mann of the Zappa band, Chris Solberg, who was playing with Eddie Money, having just left Santana, and John Cuniberti who was recording Joe Satriani at the time. The general idea was to collaborate on putting some tunes together in the studio and see what came out of it. Ed and I had played together for several years and Chris and I were house mates at the time. John was a staff engineer at Hyde Street. I came in with the lyric, key and melody, and Ed and Chris came up with the riff and turnaround, which we recorded on the spot, using a drumulator to track to. I then spent a stupid amount of time (as is my tendency) producing the track. As interesting as the track is, it never seemed to fit on subsequent albums, and so it has been beaming at me from
the back shelves for all this time. It's great to finally get it out!”

I had heard these stories since I was a kid
About this certain kind of place
Where you never paid for anything you did
Until it showed up on your face

Donkey Island
And this sorta struck me strange
Donkey Island

And so I saw myself as such a lucky boy
to have that ticket in my hand
To play my time away as if it was a toy
And party all that I could stand

On Donkey Island
I wasn't ready for the change
On Donkey Island

So even if I saw it coming day to day
By slow but sure accumulation
It added up to more than I ever thought I'd pay
For such an easy invitation

To Donkey Island
All my features rearranged
On Donkey Island

(Michael Ward, Ed Mann & Chris Solberg, Michael Ward Music)