Story Behind The Song

Ruby: Growing up in rural Missouri, my cousin, Duane, and I attended elementary and high school together and were party to our share of harmless mischief in those slightly more innocent days. A couple of years ago, Duane suffered from sleep apnea for months and eventually was so sleep deprived he fell into a coma. At that time his wife asked all who knew him to write a few anecdotes from our common past, hoping to spark a reaction from him, and this brought a flood of memories back to those days in the Midwest. If you've ever been to the country far away from city lights on a clear night, you've seen stars as they were meant to be seen. Billy: I had a melody and a couple of lines spinning around my head. I had some vague notion about tuning in and tuning out because I'm always listening to talk radio with headphones late at night and drifting in and out of sleep. Ruby heard what I was doing and was inspired to write about her cousin. We put it all together and, voila, a song is born.

Song Description

"Tuning In/Tuning Out" explodes with sound at the beginning. Bird sings in her girlish timbre, sustaining vocal notes sweetly, appealingly, and Mancini's guitar and harmonica rock right out. There's a lot of snap, crackle, and pop going on, and the couple load this one up with plenty of sounds and they're all good. Mancini's guitar phrases are heavy duty, coming out of nowhere and suddenly building up strong.

Lyrics

TUNING IN/TUNING OUT
 ©R. Mason/B. Mason Bonk Zone Music ASCAP

Do you remember that time at Jon and Nancy's?
We were all still young and free and wild
We took a ride to find a book of smiles inside
Just a mile past Alan's barn
 
Who am I...
I'm tuning in to listen to your beating heart
Who you are...
If you can hear me squeeze my hand
Where we are...
I want to filter out the static and the dark
Give me a sign you understand

So I stepped out of your car and the sky exploded
Blasted by a billion zillion stars
And you said, "Bet ya don't see that much in the city"
And we just looked at the stars...
For what seemed a long time...
But was probably just a minute
 
Who am I...
I'm tuning in to listen to your beating heart
Who you are...
If you can hear me squeeze my hand
Where we are...
I want to filter out the static and the dark
Give me a sign you understand 
 
Who am I...
I'm tuning in to listen to your beating heart
Who you are...
If you can hear me squeeze my hand
Where we are...
I'm tuning out the news that everyone is dead
Give me a sign you understand

I'm tuning in, you're tuning out