The Story Behind My Song ‘Left, Right and Center(fold). How It Came to Be.

I was in middle school when J. Geils’ two songs came out, ones which really influenced me as a musician and songwriter. It was 1981 and there were releases of his hit singles “Centerfold” and “Freeze Frame”.

Upon hearing them on the radio, I ran right out (well, actually had my mom drive me lol) and got the 45rpm singles of these two mega hits.

In 2022, when I was assembling my second punk rock album, “First Prize Idiot”, I was having coffee one morning and had this concept of the number of girls on social media, posing for their cameras, especially the “influencer” type ones I see a lot down on the beach filming their swimsuit beach posts.

I had the idea for the song as I was thinking that, back in the day, there would be a select few girls who chose to pose in a couple of pages spread in “girlie magazines” (i.e. Playboy, etc.), but other than that, and unless you bought a copy of that “periodical”, you didn’t see it.

Further, the main “spread” was on the model of the month whose 3-page compilation included a fold-out “centerfold” which was three pages in one, folded in the center of the magazine with the staples going right through the center crease. This was part of the evolution from “pin-up girls” of decades past, denoting pictures and posters guys would “pin up” on the wall of their favorite bikini-clad babes.

Hence, J Geils’ profound disappointment when he saw his “homeroom angel” in the pages of one such publication and it ruined his perfect image of her. Here is the 1981 video of that hit single, a song whose lyrics and “nah-nah-nah’s” were imprinted indelibly in my memory as I pondered how different it is now in a social media and mobile phone age and how this would play out today. Watch that video here before playing my song.

Centerfold by J. Geils Band

I didn’t start out thinking I was writing a sequel. Immediately when I had the idea, I went straight to my studio and started writing and, of course like all great songs, it wrote itself. 20 minutes later I was laying down the individual tracks. I had only intended on referencing J Geils, his girlie magazine and even squeezing in a shout-out to “Freeze Frame” which eluded to models on camera. You can see the video for Freeze Frame here and listen to the lyrics and better understand my second verse for “Left, Right…”.

Freeze Frame by J. Geils Band

Further illustrating this comparison of the earlier decades with little technology and no social online interaction, was the song “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran later in the 80s, bringing home the concept that these types of things were rare. There was no outlet for people to post their own “girlie” photos.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not comparing nude layouts in Playboy to modern-day, everyday social media posts, but if you see the number of suggestive photos from scantily-clad girls on social, you’ll see it’s the modern-day version and so many to behold.

It was when I finished the recording that I realized I had written a veritable sequel to J. Geils’ “Centerfold” with a modern-day twist, a tribute to my influence by his hit-writing skill, undoubtedly one of my influences in songwriting. This former middle-schooler would have never guessed in 1981 that 41 years later would write such a song.

Who could have predicted that? Or any of this technology.

And so, finally, after it was written, recorded and done, I knew I needed to add a throwback to Geil’s hit and added the punk-speed “nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah’s”, bowing to the master who entertained us all in the early ages and whose music lives on for ages to come.

So, in bold tribute to J Geils, and to all that this song represents, here is the whispy and fun, modern punk rock “Left, Right and Center(fold)

Left Right and Center(fold)

There was a time
(that) you wouldn’t see
a hundred sixty-seven girls
filling hand-held screens
Maybe here or there,
posing to be seen
by a peeping few
periodically, but now it’s…

Just her and her phone
and her beach bod
and those who follow,
showing skin, tan,
copper tone,
tagging sun, fun
and YOLO
as she bears everything
to the world
left, right and center(fold)
left, right and center(fold)
left, right and center(fold)
Left, right…

Nah, Nah Nah,
Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah

No freeze-frame clicks,
just some clips on screen,
long after J Geils
saw that girlie magazine,
That three-page spread,
now an endless feed
running twenty-four hours,
seven days a week, and now it’s…

Just her and her phone
and her beach bod
and those who follow,
showing skin, tan,
copper tone,
tagging sun, fun
and YOLO
as she bears everything
to the world…

Nah, Nah Nah,
Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah

Staple creases notwithstanding,
came up with new pinup branding
Fallen angels, now the rising breed
but in everyone’s feed!

Just her and her phone
and her beach bod
and those who follow,
showing skin, tan,
copper tone,
tagging sun, fun
and YOLO

#SMASHTAG!

Just her and her phone
and her beach bod
and those who follow,
showing skin, tan,
copper tone,
tagging sun, fun
and YOLO
as she bears everything
to the world
left, right and center(fold)
left, right and center(fold)
left, right and center(fold)
Left, right…

Nah, Nah Nah,
Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah-Nah

Words and music ©2023 Frank Sardella ASCAP. All rights reserved. [P] 2023 Material Worth Publishing ASCAP.