As alternative newspapers go, I had three in my orbit: New York's Village Voice, The Boston Phoenix and our weekly Hartford Advocate. In the Advocate, I read daringly innovative columns about the Hartford area's worthy-of-notice residents, its local culture, and various homegrown artistes.
One certain set of listings was always pushed into the dark corners of the last few pages. "Personal Ads" for grown-ups were sometimes
as cheerless and pathetic as they were hilarious. Moreover, those colorful - mostly blue - notifications were only inches apart from the music-related ones.
I was during that time, living at 64 Evergreen Avenue in Hartford with bandmate Tom Bittel. For a while - and with relative regularity - the words The Broken Hearts could be found in The Hartford Advocate when spotlighting the city's blossoming original-music scene.
One afternoon, I thumbed to the back of the paper seeking For-Sale guitar amps. Then without warning, the caption "Just Say Yes" caught my eyes. The content below was rich in covert improprieties and left no doubt its intent. Summarily, the enterprising author made clear that she would only be available on Thursday nights between 8:00 PM to midnight. But she noted, her talents would be well worth any wait.
I wrote it from the perspective of a friendless underdog with an eager streak of concupiscent tendencies - desperate to locate his TUESDAY EVENING GIRL. I could hear the finished song as I was writing it. And in my opinion, Jamie, Tom and Patrick took care of business and made it groovy-Tuesday cool. Thanks, boys!
NOTE: I changed Thursday to Tuesday because frankly, the former just didn't sound as good or sing as comfortably in that context.
- Michael Mazzarella -
lyrics
TUESDAY EVENING GIRL
(Michael Mazzarella)
She keeps me waiting
Me, I keep pacing
It's so frustrating, yeah
So dinner's over
She never phoned me
Wait, it's not the proper day
I look - can't find her number
Call the operator
She says "No such listing" oh
Check The Morning Times
The ad, page 29
It read "Call Tuesday anytime"
She's a Tuesday evening girl
And she's from a different world
She's a Tuesday evening girl
Waste the night away
It's been a slow Monday
I wish there was another way
Can't wait until tomorrow
Pick up the telephone
Don't care what the papers say
CHORUS
If she answers what to say?
Because I know it's not Tuesday
Will she tell me to go away?
Ring, I hear it ringing
Pound, my heart starts beating
Voice, just a recording, no
I try to pay attention
But, a bad connection
Although, I hear the words she said
I'm a Tuesday evening girl
And I'm from a different world
I'm a Tuesday evening girl
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