“Whatever it is going to be, it becomes that.” - George Harrison in Get Back
It is a question I am often asked, and it is a question I will never tire of answering. Who, or
what, is a Robotanist? Well, the answer is quite simple: he’s a robot botanist!
Here’s his backstory.
At supper, with the kids, we often play some kind of game like I Spy or Would You Rather, that kind of thing. One of our favourites is called the Alphabet Game. Everyone takes a turn saying the name of a friend, a country or an occupation that starts with the letter of the alphabet they have for their turn. Like, A would be an astronaut, B could be a builder, and so on. One night during a very exciting round, my wife had the letter R and accidentally said, “robotanist”. We all laughed and said, “Oh, like a robot botanist!”
My next thought was, “That would make one hell of an album title!!”
I wrote The Robotanist song shortly after in September of 2021 (it was played publicly for the first time in the Carmichael Loft show), but I was already working on the “My Best Friend B” kids album and so the actual album went on the backburner. However, I did put my crafting skills to the test that month and created my little robotanist using tin cans and a handful of random things from the hardware store. He took up residence in my music room and quickly took on many of my personality traits. (Yes, I realize that he is just tin cans held together with glue - lol!)
Like me, my robot buddy was probably semi-depressed at times and sadly optimistic. He’s probably loved, had his heart broken and then loved again.
In early January, I watched the new Beatles docu-series Get Back and was immediately inspired to create. For the first time in my songwriting career I went searching for songs instead of waiting for inspiration to strike me. As I began writing one song after another in just a matter of days, I realized I was writing The Robotanist album.
But what would it become? Well, thanks to the above quote from George, I realized it would be something when it was done. I just had to keep creating.
At a time in my life when I can honestly say that I am happy (most of the time!), I wasn’t about to start writing “I am so Happy” songs just yet… So, the Robotanist became the perfect form for balancing my past and present everyday struggles and joys.
So, who or what is The Robotanist? He’s a semi-depressed, sadly-optimistic robot botanist…
See ya next time!
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