Take one part Paul Williams writing for The Muppets, a pinch of a stoned Beatle going Baroque, add the rhythm section of Tommy Roe’s “Dizzy” to taste, and you have most of “Could You Be My Magic Arm?” by Dallas songwriter Bob Cummins Jr. The rest is pure Bob.
The track shines a spotlight on a shaky grand piano and skwonky guitar before setting a groove fit for a video game menu screen. Cummins’s adept but relatable voice compares the need for a friend to help bear one’s burdens to the function of a utility appendage for camera work — the Manfrotto magic arm. This may be the first song about a magic arm ever: “If I had too big a load/to carry by myself/it carries on.”
“The song is about having a crutch; something to get you through each day, as each day turns into weeks, into months, and so on,” says Cummins. “‘Magic Arm’ finds itself in limbo, finding its joy in the mundane and simultaneously dreading something unknown, but ever present.”
Once you’re on board for the jaunty ride along the track’s few minutes, Cummins presents a clavinet solo and, if you listen closely, a classic Orson Welles sound bite. You can never get too comfortable in a Bob Cummins Jr. song. But the surprises always delight. There’s no better introduction to the piano man on his second LP Good American Songbook (out 10/23). “Could You Be My Magic Arm?” is quirky but disciplined in its composition, technically accomplished but not too elevated to avoid flights of fancy, and incorporates enough touchstones across the continuum of pop music that the song feels as if it could have been written yesterday or tomorrow. Pure Bob.
lyrics
In and out my mind
I just need some friends around me
Enough fine days to be kickin' around
In and out all day
An excuse to skip the laundry
I needed a break but now all I do is take the fall
Never amount too tall
Could you be my magic arm
Before you go please help me take it off
I'm much too weak
If I had too big a load to carry by myself
It carries on
I don't know if you'll be gone
So you know I'll be here down on the floor
Waiting for my life to pick me up
After giving it some thought I've decided not to use it
Without certain days in the week I'm lost
It's the only thing I can do to not abuse it
Get up out of bed time to go out driving in your car
Giving you my regards
credits
from Good American Songbook,
track released August 28, 2023
Bob Cummins Jr. - piano, vocal, synthesizer
Andrew Jones - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, sampler
Ramon Muzquiz - drums, percussion
Jasper Johnson - bass guitar
Heart-on-sleeve indie from beat radio pairs candid and confessional lyrics with rugged and determined rock arrangements. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 22, 2022
