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Claude the Armadillo

by Lou Hazel

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about

My Uncle Ralph Frisina wrote “Claude the Armadillo” 40 years ago in 1981.The cold war was becoming a commonplace topic of dubious experts in mullets gathered around campfires. To set the scene, bad vibes between the West and the Soviet Union fostered Olympic boycotts and the Russian villain had become a pervasive, tired theme in every movie plot.

To a young idealist, writing Claude was a prescription for anxiety while two of the world’s most powerful entities postured against one another. Did you know that when faced with adversity some armadillos just curl into a ball? This endearing, passive trait made Claude the ideal arbiter of peace and reason in a world gone mad.

I heard about Claude the Armadillo for the first time around a campfire when I was 8 years old - mouth full of s’mores, and I’ve been looking for him ever since. Claude remains an old friend, a confidant who, as timely as ever, confronts us about the weapons we gather against one another without knowing how we’ll use them or what damage they’ll do.

Claude the Armadillo was recorded with good pals in Hillsborough, NC at Bedtown studios.

www.sleepycatrec.com/scr017-claude-the-armadillo

lyrics

Claude was an Armadillo
Traveled the great big south
Had a bag made a shark skin leather
And a matchstick in his mouth

He was old and strong
From living long
Had a coat made of armoured plate
His secret to livin’s that he always digested
Everything he ate

I was walking a road in Albuquerque
Thinking I was in the west
When I heard his voice
Above the noise he said
“Chris stop and take a rest”

I said hello Claude it’s been awhile
He extended his dusty paw
I’ve been watching your world from a distance
Darndest thing I ever saw

He said I was out in Colorado
Just a diggin myself a home
When I came across this tunnel
Underneath a great big dome

With some suspicious guys
About your size
Talking awfully quiet
Something about a missile target
Something about a riot

They were moving a metal pickle
Full a funny looking wires
And it was on a great big skateboard
With little metal tires

It might be nothing really
But it scared me near to death
Claude looked rather sober
Then he took a deeper breath

He said armadillos aren’t always gray man
Some of us are brown
Some of us are almost red
From being out on the town

Our differences aren’t so complex
If you look us in the eyes
I wonder what's behind a humans
Outermost disguise

Now Claude removed the matchstick
Hanging from his lip
Removing several others
Strapped upon his hip

He said suppose that you and I
Were both covered in gas
And living in a space so small
That nothing else could pass

Suppose we then were both to gather
Several of these matches
You get more and I get more
Till’ we both have several batches

Still takes a single spark
To set us both ablaze
In gathering a deadly thing
We'll find it never pays

I suppose I should apologize
For my entire race
The sadness in me mounted
Claude could see it on my face

And I thought of little children
And gentle summer rains
And lastly of the armadillos
Just grazing on the plains

I dusted off my blue jeans
And polished off my beer
Wishing all the while
There was someone else to hear

credits

released May 11, 2022
Performance:

Guitar & Vocals - Chris Frisina
Drum Set & Percussion - Dan Faust
Bass & Drum Machine - Alex Bingham
Congas & Percussion - Brevan Hampden
Fiddle - Tatiana Hargreaves
Pedal Steel - Whit Wright
Background Vocals - Joseph Terrell

Production:

Music by Chris Frisina
Lyrics by Ralph Frisina
Produced by Alex Bingham
Recorded at Bedtown Studios
Engineered by Alex Bingham
Mixed by Saman Khoujinian
Mastered by Saman Khoujinian
Cover Art by Alex Derwick
Video by Alex Derwick

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all rights reserved

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about

Lou Hazel Durham, North Carolina

Lou Hazel was born in the town of Olean, New York.
He skirted the compulsive hunting and fishing tradition held close to his father’s heart - instead cultivating a sensitivity more suited to artists and vagabonds.
His travels brought him across the country, and eventually through debilitating depression, before coming to rest with a sense of personal peace and positivity in Durham, NC.
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