David Barrows Personal Blog

Dead Man’s Cake:   The Songs. The album “ Dead Man’s Cake ” (2012, by David Barrows) is my autobiographical narrative consisting of 11 songs which generally proceed chronologically from my childhood to the present day.   The first half of the record is about the story of my parents, my Mom’s suicide and how it affected me.   Most of the second half of the record is about how I went on to live my life afterwards. Track 1:  Hollywood Sixties   Hollywood Sixties is about those years in the mid- to late 1960s when my parents, Robert Guy Barrows and Judith Friedman Barrows, enjoyed a few years of success as Hollywood television writers.   They wrote individually and as a husband and wife team, for a number of famous television shows, including series like Mission Impossible, Bonanza, the Green Hornet, Daniel Boone, etc.   Many of these episodes are available as part of boxed sets of those series, and there are even some complete episode...

Why did I do this? Why then, you might wonder, would anybody decide to focus on something so morbid as to make a music CD pertaining to their mother’s suicide?   Here’s why. ·       They say you should write about what you know, and this just happens to be my story.   I’ve been thinking about writing about it for a long time. ·       I’m a musician, so music is my medium, and these ideas for songs meant more to me than anything else I could think of.   Ultimately, I just wanted to make a good record. ·       It’s not just about suicide; it’s about surviving that loss, and moving on.   So it’s actually an affirmation of life, and a lot of it is pretty upbeat. ·       I want to use the act of telling my story as an opportunity to speak out about the problem of suicide generally, and join the chorus of voices that continue to call for improved menta...