This project began in December 2024 when I discovered Cary Cooper’s Real People, Real Songs challenge on Facebook in which Cary would provide us a prompt and we would have a week to write and make a video. I was looking for a kick in the pants to write outside of my normal patterns and I signed right up. Not willing to wait for the January 1 start date, I wrote four songs before it began. After 12 weeks when it ended, I had 16 songs and signed up for a second round. At the end of 28 weeks, still not satisfied, I kept going. By mid-July, I had 31 songs completed. You can find almost all of them on YouTube.com/@jimsbigego in the “song a week” playlist. The later ones I posted for my Patreon supporters.

Shortly before I was finished with the last song, I ran into Steve Friedman at a show I was playing at a library near my new home in Jamaica Plain. Steve had recorded my first album “Strawman” in 1992, and I asked if I could record some of these new songs at his studio. We kept it simple, keeping the project to voice and guitar but leaving the tracks open to be remixed down the road by some interested friends and music producers. I plan to release another album of the remixes of some of these songs.

The last song in this album is the only one in this collection written before the first of the year and I wrote it without a prompt. All of the other songs except “Homecoming” and “Another Damn Song About Heartbreak” were prompted by a single word from Cary as follows:

Freedom to Choose: “West”
I Will Not Be Silent: “Voice”
Amy’s Dates : “Single”
Thirty Seconds: “Flight”
Let Me Just Float an Idea: “Float”
Dissonant’s Lament: “Harmony”
In Jackson Heights: “Queen”
I Don’t Know How to Reach You: “Reach”
Just One Dance: “Dance”
Shadow Boxing: “Shadow”

Thank you:

Cary Cooper, Steve Friedman, Amy Grillo, Julia Crane, Dan Cantor, Lionel Cassin, Phil Broikos, Jason Schneider, Kurt Uenala, Jeff Tareila, Ben Burns, Sarah, Elkins, and all of my friends and supporters on Patreon for helping to keep this project, moving forward and occasionally talking me off the ledge.

Lyrics, calendar, booking info, links, and more at bigego.com & jiminfantino.com

This project was created without the use of ai.

1. Freedom to Choose (3:57)
2. I Will Not Be Silent (4:12)
3. Amy’s Dates (4:01)
4. Thirty Seconds (3:20)
5. Another Damn Song About Heartbreak (3:39)
6. Let Me Just Float An Idea (2:42)
7. Dissonant’s Lament (5:10)
8. In Jackson Heights (3:22)
9. I Don’t Know How to Reach You (2:11)
10. Homecoming (3:40)
11. Just One Dance (3:51)
12. Shadowboxing (4:18)
13. How You Dune (4:57)

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by
Steve Friedman at Melville Park Studio

Jim Infantino: guitar, vocals

All songs written between December 2024
and July 2025 by Jim Infantino

(cc) (SA-NC) 2025 Jim Infantino
Funny/Not Funny Music ASCAP