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Working Man's Daughter

from Attractive Nuisance by The Innocent Bystanders

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about

Working Man’s Daughter (aka Moonlight on the River) is a fantasy about a kind of love that the singer has come to realize doesn’t exist. It begins with a hopeful piano figure soon layered with everything — bass, acoustic guitar, 12-string electric, B3, even a flute, forming a wall of sound on which a faded, folded love letter floats. The singer just wants “a chance with a workingman’s daughter.” But the scent of a broken heart is apparent at least by the end of the extended sax break as it echoes a melody of longing for something that the singer has almost, but not quite, learned to live without. “If we leave the illusion behind, we can find the truth.” Yes, but can we abandon that illusion? Do we want the truth? Of course, we’ll have to as the singer recognizes in promising to “be there when you need me.” As the opening hope for “a chance” is reprised, this time we’re sure there is none as the song launches into an extended coda of interplay between a 12-string electric guitar, saxophone, and vocals atop the relentless two-chord jam.

Steve Semeraro wrote Working Man's Daughter aka Moonlight on the River in 1982 when it was performed by his band The Reeb 3.

lyrics

Moonlight on the river. Let’s take a walk down to the water
I just want a chance with a working man’s daughter

Take me by the hand, lead me to the new land
I know that’s where you’re going, I want to go with you
For so long now, I been stuck here inside
I want to teach my eyes to see, beyond these blinds

So, touch my cheek and open my eyes
Give me the strength to love and the strength to cry

Things ain’t like they used to be, they ain’t what they seem
Without you, life’s so lonely, but with you it’s a dream
Sometimes somethings, they won’t turn us loose
If we leave this illusion behind us, we can find the truth

We gotta be together. We just gotta be.
To find ourselves a way back home, a way to be free

Oh, but I love you, now more than ever
I can’t say that I’ll answer your prayers, but I’ll always be there, when you need me,
when you need me.

Moonlight on the river. Let’s take a walk down to the water
I just want a chance with a working man’s daughter.

credits

from Attractive Nuisance, released November 1, 2017
Words & Music – Steven Semeraro
Recorded & Mixed by Ben Moore, Singing Serpent Studios
Mastered by Dave Gardner, Infrasonic Sound
Produced by The Innocent Bystanders & Ben Moore

Steve Berenson – drums & percussion
Jessica Lafave – tenor saxophone & flute
Ben Nieberg – acoustic guitar, duet lead vocal, background vocal
Donny Samporna – electric 5-string bass
Steve Semeraro – electric 12-string guitar & duet lead vocal
Kaimi Wenger – electric piano & Hammond B3

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The Innocent Bystanders San Diego, California

Jackie Wilson, the sax player from Buck-O-Nine, Wild-&-Innocent era Bruce Springsteen, and Grace Slick start a golf round as a foursome. At the turn, Phil Spector asks to play through and things get outta hand.

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