What Inspired Me to Be a Musician

by Lloyd Ferris

Back in grade school, I was a perfectly nice guy, but the guys who were good at baseball wouldn’t be caught dead picking me for their team.  This was understandable.

What was not understandable was why a bunch of them, in sound mind and body, volunteered to be “The Wormettes” for the school-wide debut of “The Squirm”, at the upcoming school talent show. “The Squirm” was a parody I wrote of “The Twist”. For those of you too young to remember, The Twist was a big song in 1960, in spite of my parody.

Thankfully for the Wormettes, the talent show didn’t happen.  Long story.

Okay, I’ll tell it.  First, the principal tried to get my mother to forbid me to sing the song.  But my sweet, conservative 1950s mother could not see anything pornographic about it.  So the Principal cancelled the whole show.  My songwriting career was off to a powerful start.

Continue here, if you are a glutton for punishment…