In 1993-4 I was working at Tamuning Elementary School in Guam as the music specialist for grades 2-5. I shared office space with a teacher of advanced learners for the school and she was well connected throughout the school system. She had invited me and my family for dinner one evening and I shared a song that I'd co-written called "Tumon Bay" for the people gathered together. With that as my songwriting calling card she had an idea as to who I was musically.
One day at work she said to me, "one of the schools in northern Guam is looking for a song to promote reading. Do you think you could write a song for their purposes? There isn't any money in it but it would be your song to use as you please."
With that I started jamming on some ideas. For some reason the beginning guitar riff to "Who'll Be The Next In Line" popped into my head. There is absolutely no connection between that and reading, but that's what got me started. In a very short time I had the chorus:
I got lost in a book, I couldn't find my way out
I couldn't leave by the way that I came
I got lost in a book, and the further I went
The words that I read led the way
Oh, lost in a book, oh, lost in a book
You can find yourself in a page
The imagery of someone literally walking into a book and walking (as in walking down a path...."Wizard Of Oz"-style) was in my head. So, with that I had the chorus.
Then, I started thinking of different things to read, which led me through a "list" of reading materials that kids might read.
You should find a story, something you'd like to read
Someone's life, or a poem, or prehistoric beasts
And after reading a while, you'll discover a style
That appeals to what you like
And you'll get lost in a book, oh, lost in a book
Find yourself in a page
The list of the second line is really me, Dave Janssen. I love biographies and always have. Poems? Yes, again, and dinosaurs? Love them. My friend Gary Aronson from Portsmouth School in Portland had dinosaur teeth and bones that he and his dad had found in eastern Oregon and I went to his house after school a few times and saw that collection. That all preceded the "Flinstones".
But, I now needed a second verse. The song was too short as it was. I'm not sure who inspired the next bit, but whole language was the rage at the time and the idea of "creating" and not just reading a book was an outgrowth of that educational concept. So, I thought of "writing a book" as the outcome of reading books and wanting to become a part of the book from the other end......creativity.
The song had been written in 1994, but the recording did not proceed until 1996. I used the song in its original version with me playing guitar for my classes, when it suited the purpose of promoting reading.
I planned to record a children's album in the Spring of 1996. So, I was told to create backing tracks with my keyboard from which we would overdub instruments and eventually the vocals. I laid down the tracks, including "Lost In A Book".
When I recorded the track for this song it was very minimal. My intention was to lay a guitar over the top in the overdubbing stage. But, when the engineer heard the backing techno sound he stopped me and said, "hey, forget the guitar, listen to that all by itself". I was skeptical, but ultimately went along with his thinking and it was great. My first techno sounding song, which the kids loved. Gone was my Kinks inspired riff, but that's the creative process, including the recording stage.
When you record songs, you don't know which song is the one people will use the most. But, with time "Lost In A Book" got the reputation that it deserves.
In 2001 a colleague became president of the International Reading Association of Guam and it was her desire to use the song as the theme song for the entire island's Read-A-Thon for 2001. It did so well that they used it again the following year.
In 2002 I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and the school where I taught heard the song and decided to use it for their focus song for a city-wide competition and again the school took a singing/dance group to the International Reading Association convention in the spring of 2003 where we performed for the delegates.
In 2003 my family moved back to Guam where I reconnected with the IRA of Guam once again. This time it was the desire of the leader to use the song, but this time taking it to the US International Reading Association's convention in Reno, Nevada, where I performed the song once again.
The song is available on Amazon.com, ITunes, Rhapsody, and a number of other music download sites.
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