Try Again was written in July 2015, after Joe's musical Be More Chill opened amid a wave and hype and received a show-killing review from the Grey Lady. The song deals in the specifics of an artist's life, but the hope is that it is relatable t

"Last on Land" (Joe Iconis & Family)

Sep 19th, 2023 22m 55s

This group 11 O’Clock number is the centerpiece song from Joe's Bloodsong of Love. The entire original cast of that musical are featured on the track, along with a resplendent choir arranged by the oft-mentioned Joel Waggoner. Listen to find ou

"Find the Bastard" (Eric William Morris)

Sep 7th, 2023 19m 24s

Find The Bastard is about being on a mission and is the "theme song" of Iconis' Bloodsong of Love, his spaghetti western musical. Joe and Jenn discuss the style of theatre songs as stand alone songs and how the end of Album's track list becomes

"It's All Good" (Jason Tam, Nick Blaemire, Lance Rubin, & Jason SweetTooth Williams)

Sep 5th, 2023 24m 15s

Joe Iconis boldly asked the internet, "What does music mean to you?" and got a beautifully sentimental response from a Long Island high school student that inspired the vulnerability expressed in It's All Good. Another track from the musical, T

"Amphibian" (Will Roland)

Aug 31st, 2023 27m 1s

From Joe Iconis' musical, The Black Suits, Amphibian is a song about songwriting. It was a surprise hit in the show that audiences responded to with enthusiasm. William Finn advised Joe about not dwelling on the imperfect rhyme between the word

"Party Hat" (Lauren Marcus & Eric William Morris)

Aug 29th, 2023 23m 32s

"I'm gonna put a party hat on my cat", was an earworm that was stuck in Joe Iconis' mind for a long time until he brought it to fruition in the summer of 2012 for a concert at The Beechman. A woman sings about how she can solve all her problems

"Flesh and Bone" (The Robot's Song) Jason SweetTooth Williams

Aug 24th, 2023 16m 45s

This song uses technology as a metaphor. A robot's battery dies throughout the song while he dreams of being happy, human, and real. The production on this track is more electronic focused, incorporating synths and computer sounds. Performed on

"Tightrope Walker / Mountain Climber / Me" (Molly Hager)

Aug 22nd, 2023 16m 30s

Tightrope Walker / Mountain Climber / Me is one of two songs that were written specifically for Album. Joe wanted to write a piece specifically for Molly Hager and remembered a half-finished song from 2012 that he thought might be worth a secon

"Starting to Forget" (Badia Farha)

Aug 11th, 2023 18m 27s

The oldest song on the record, "Starting to Forget" was written when Joe was an undergrad at NYU. It's based on source material from Brighton Beach Memoirs and inspired by Joe's own grandfather who passed away a few years before he wrote this s

"Him Today, Gone Tomorrow" (Shakina Nayfack)

Aug 10th, 2023 17m 36s

Him Today, Gone Tomorrow is a rock and roll banger created with Shakina Nayfack for her musical, Manifest Pussy, an autobiographical story of Shakina's journey to gender affirming surgery. This song's sentiment speaks to how the middle of a tra

"Velociraptor" (Liz Lark Brown)

Aug 4th, 2023 15m 50s

Written for the incomparable and ludicrously talented Liz Lark Brown, Velociraptor is a song about a creature who doesn't fit in. While the specifics involve a dino on the dating scene in modern-day New York City, the tune has become something

"My Best Friend's A Skeleton" (George Salazar & Jeremy Morse)

Aug 2nd, 2023 18m 58s

An ode to an unconventional friendship in a whimsical yet ghoulish context. Joe wrote this song using the "my (blank) is a (blank)" format he'd been trying to crack for a while! Originally performed during the annual Beechman Halloween show, th

"Muthers R Speshel (Wen Yer Sad)" (Lin-Manuel Miranda)

Jul 27th, 2023 16m 51s

Muthers R Speshel (Wen Yer Sad) is a unique collaboration between Joe Iconis at age 6 and Joe Iconis at age 30. The track is an updated version of the first song Joe ever wrote, interpreted here by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Ad-Libs by Lin.http://BP

"(Do) The Slide Whistle" (Lance Rubin and Jordan Stanley)

Jul 11th, 2023 14m

This song was born... out of a joke. One of Joe's trashiest songs, this is ironically one of the most suitable for children. Sort of! There was this one time that Lance Rubin made up a fake dance craze called The Slide Whistle. And then Joe was

"I Was A Teenage Delinquent!" (Lauren Marcus and Molly Hager)

Jul 5th, 2023 28m

The song that inspired the musical LOVE IN HATE NATION. Originally written as a one-off love song paying homage to 50s/60s Girl Gang films, Joe ended up adapting his own standalone into a full-length musical romance. Sung by real-life besties L

"Social Worker" (Nick Blaemire)

Jun 28th, 2023 20m 34s

Another song from THE BLACK SUITS, "Social Worker" made the final cut of the musical. Joe regards this as a song that begins to bridge the gap between his early work and later work. There is no "Michael in the Bathroom" without "Social Worker."

"Joey Is a Punk Rocker" (Annie Golden)

Jun 21st, 2023 24m 47s

The character of Megan got cut from The Black Suits and along with her went her big number: "Joey is a Punk Rocker." Here, it makes a dramatic return nw, as sung by the incomparable Annie Golden, a woman who truly embodies the ragtagness and yo

"A Guy That I’d Kinda Be Into" (Seth Eliser)

Jun 14th, 2023 19m 14s

One of the few songs on this album that can also be heard on an OCR, "A Guy That I'd Kinda Be Into" is from Be More Chill, but this is an extra special version meant to live on its own outside of the show. The multi-talented Seth Eliser is the

"52" (Danny Burstein)

Jun 7th, 2023 19m 47s

The writing of this song led to one of the last fights that Joe and Jen ever had. Joe waited until the last minute to write this song for a concert Jen was producing, Jen needed the song a week in advance, Joe didn't deliver until hours before

"The Prisoner's Christmas Song" (Grace McLean)

May 31st, 2023 16m 20s

This is the first full Christmas song that Joe has ever written. He loves New York City, he loves a cocktail, but he REALLY loves Christmas (the holiday garbage, not the religious stuff). Much to Jen's dismay, this song is not secretly about Be

"Right Place / Wrong Time" (Eric William Morris & Katrina Rose Dideriksen)

May 24th, 2023 26m 39s

This song is one of Joe's absolute favorites he's ever written. It's about feeling stuck, like your ship is waiting to come in and may never arrive. Very autobiographical, the feeling of this song is what Joe was feeling in the exact moment it

"(Run Away From You)" (Jason SweetTooth Williams)

May 17th, 2023 21m 2s

This is a song title in parenthesis so it won't spoil the joke. Once you listen, you'll get it. Sung by Jason SweetTooth Williams, who Joe Iconis is simply in love with, was basically born to sing this song. The episode devolved into a SweetToo

"Norman" (Lance Rubin)

Dec 10th, 2022 30m 4s

Inspired by the movie Psycho, this song "Normal" was penned in 2010 and first performed a Halloween gig at The Beechman. The idea was writing a cheesy love song from the point of view of Norman Bates. Sung by Lance Rubin, this song only gets be

"The Saddest Girl in the World" (Kerry Butler)

Dec 2nd, 2022 18m 13s

Learn how to "pull an Iconis" by listening to this episode. In addition, this song "The Saddest Girl in the World" was written specifically for Kerry Butler, who played a one-legged dancer in a 24-Hour musical Joe wrote with the great Jonathan

"Out of Sight / Out of Mind" (Krysta Rodriguez)

Nov 25th, 2022 17m 57s

Initially called "The Buddy Song", this is another tune that Joe renamed to include a slash in the title. As interpreted by Krysta Rodriguez, the song turned into something different from its original intent and Charlie Rosen's period orchestra