Song’s Adaptation for War Moves Quickly to Airwaves

In recent weeks, several big-name pop stars, mostly country singers, have recorded songs about the Persian Gulf War. But none have gotten as much airplay on San Diego radio stations as “Waiting at the Border,” an adaptation of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” by three locals: Michael Hirtz and David Forsythe, who wrote it, and Beth Watson, who sang it.

Hirtz came to San Diego 1 1/2 years ago from New York, where he was an off-Broadway producer. He attended classes at United States International University, where he met Forsythe (now his roommate) and Watson (a close friend’s girlfriend).

“David and I were just sitting around one night and thought a song like this would be very timely, so we picked the Suzanne Vega song and used her melody, her lyrics, and some of our own lyrics--basically, we just changed certain words in every verse,” Hirtz said.

“We wrote this song on Jan. 15, and we had booked studio time for the next night, Jan. 16. As it turned out, we hadn’t even finished the words when war broke out, so that night, in the studio, I rewrote it and took clips from President Bush’s speech of that evening, which I interspersed through the song.

“We spent 2 1/2-3 hours in the studio, laying down tracks and having Beth do the vocals, and we finally finished around 4 a.m. I immediately started delivering it to radio stations, and later that same morning, we were already getting played on Y-95. Then B-100 and 91X picked up on it, and it’s just been going on and on.

“This has got to be the quickest any song has ever been out of the studio and on the airwaves.”

It all happened so fast, Hirtz added, that he hasn’t had time to pitch “Waiting at the Border” to record companies--something he is thinking about doing soon.

“We were completely surprised by the success it’s had,” Hirtz said. “It was never intended to be for sale; it was simply written as a tribute to the soldiers over there, something we wanted to do and thought people might like to hear on the radio.”

The lyrics take a look at the war, from a soldier’s perspective:

I am sitting in my bunker

In the middle of the desert.

I am waiting at the border

For the man to give the order,

And the order will come some day.

And that day I will not argue.

He is threatening the oil fields

So now we threaten him. . . .

I opened up the paper.

There’s a story ‘bout a country

That’s invaded by a madman I had never even heard of.

Now I’m looking through my night scope

And I’m feeling kind of funny

‘Cause I’m feeling someone watching me.

And so I duck my head. . . .

This is my last column, written during my last week as pop- music critic for the San Diego County Edition of The Times. Starting next week, John D’Agostino, formerly with the Reader, takes over this beat.

It’s been 12 years since I first came to The Times, as a 20- year-old kid still in college, and began writing a monthly column, previewing upcoming concerts. Since then, our coverage of the local pop music scene has grown tremendously, and, although I still get the occasional, “Oh, how often do you come down here from L.A.?,” I’m confident that most of our readers now know we have our own, independent Calendar department whose coverage of the local scene is every bit as thorough and comprehensive as that of our competitors.

I’m glad to have been a part of it for as long as I have.

LINER NOTES: Completion date for the Bacchanal’s remodeling and expansion has been pushed back from February to the middle of March. In the meantime, the Kearny Mesa nightclub, whose capacity has been cut in half (to 375 from 750) by the fire marshal until problems incurred in an earlier remodeling are corrected, will be open on a limited basis. “We’re going to be open weekends and some weeknights, with shows by local bands and some national acts,” said general manager Ross Cummings. “The big national acts won’t start coming in until everything’s done and we can reach our anticipated seating capacity of 1,000.” . . .

No, San Diego Music Magzine is not out of business. There was no January issue because a key advertiser pulled out at the last minute, said publisher Steve Saint, but the problem has been resolved and the February issue should be out any day. . . .

Wild Child, another of those dreadful dead-rock-star-impersonation acts (in this case, Jim Morrison of the Doors), will appear Monday night at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: Mose Allison, tonight-Sunday at Elario’s in La Jolla; the Beat Farmers, Thursday at the Belly Up Tavern; the Toasters, Friday at the Belly Up Tavern; Charlie Musselwhite, Saturday at the Belly Up Tavern; and Nine Inch Nails with Sweat Engine, Saturday at Iguanas in Tijuana.