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Each song has a rambling back story, providing insight into Kirchen’s omnivorous creative process while also demonstrating his vast knowledge of musical history. None of these roving narratives is more fascinating than the one he tells about the instant classic “I Don’t Work That Cheap.”
“I’ve always been a Bo Diddley fan,” he begins, “so when he died, I was thinking about his song ‘Who Do You Love’ and thinking, ‘Is there a better song than this one?’ We were imagining talking to Bo Diddley about it, going, 'You used what for a necktie? Mr. Diddley?’ A cobra snake? Goodness!' I was kiddin’ around with Nick about that, and he goes, ‘You walked 44 miles of barbed wire? I can usually only manage eight or nine myself… ’ Anyway, that’s how we got goin’ on it.
“So my buddy Blackie Farrell and I decided to write a ‘brag’ song in that spirit, and I got that line from the great fiddle player Johnny Gimble: ‘Don't try to pay me what I’m worth— I don’t work that cheap.’ It resonated with me, but I decided not to think about it too much or I’d get confused. So we tried to write a brag song from that stance of a guy who would say something like that. When we were writing it, Blackie said, ‘This is a comic book, Bill,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, exactly.’ I grew up reading ‘Pogo,’ and I picture this guy as an Albert Alligator type. There’s this great picture of Albert getting all dressed up for a date; he’s pulling on a catcher’s mitt, he’s got a frying pan on his head and he says, ‘Funny how a good-lookin’ guy looks good no matter what he throws on.’” - continued
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