THE GARDEN PARTY

Vocals: Michael Johnson
Piano: Jenny Conlee

Recorded in 2007/2008 In Jenny Conlee’s living room and at Reclinerland HQ in Portland, OR. Mixed and mastered by Michael Johnson and Scott Garred.

After Count Roderick di Lesso refused to finance one of Heinrich Bauer’s inventions, the composer, artist, and inventor grew angry watching the wealthy di Lesso family from his old shack near Derbyshire as they had fun drinking tea or playing croquet on the lawn of Chatsworth House. One night in 1907, a bitter Bauer managed nevertheless to get himself invited to a party in the di Lesso family’s sumptuous garden. There, Bauer intended to enact his plan of revenge. As the party got going, he slipped aphrodisiacs into the punch bowl. When the party became a little steamy, he got everyone to retire to the Chatsworth House salon, where one of his deadly inventions, a sumptuous sofa, lay in wait for them. Soon the party began to heat up and all the lustful partygoers began to make out on the sofa, at which point Bauer pulled a lever to start up the deadly machinery inside. The gruesome massacre shocked the peaceful Peak District of Derbyshire. Hoping to capitalize on the sensation sparked by the incident, Bauer wrote “The Garden Party.” He was taken into custody soon after writing the song, which authorities saw as his confession. Though the song faded into the dustbin of history, in 1961, Edward Gorey found great success with a story loosely based on the Chatsworth House massacre called “The Curious Sofa.”