Kevin Gilbert “Tired Old Man” first released

Tired Old Man Kevin Gilbert

Writer(s): Kevin Gilbert (see lyrics here) Recorded: 1986? Released: October 19, 2009 (on Nuts) First Charted: -- Peak: 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Singer/songwriter and musician Kevin Gilbert was born in 1966 in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. He started playing piano at four years old, studying classical piano. He said a hippy guitarist named Mike Scully heard Gilbert playing piano at church and brought him Genesis’ Fox Trot CH and that by age ten, he was into pop and progressive rock. RB-N Gilbert said he was terrible at reading music and would go buy the records, listen to them, and then play it for his piano teacher, convincing her he was reading the music. She eventually got frustrated with him and quit. SD He attended high school in San Mateo, California. He spent a lot of time at Sunnyvale’s Sensa Sound studio after hours. JS96 He ended up writing and recording the album No Reasons Given in 1984 under the name NRG before he’d graduated from high school. The album wouldn’t be widely available until he’d made a bigger name for himself and it was offered at KevinGilbert.com. From 1984 to 1987, Gilbert continued to record more music although it wasn’t getting him an audience. In 2021, his estate released the box set Call Me Kai, which gathered recordings from the era. One disc, called Sometimes Why, assembled songs recorded by Gilbert in 1986. It included a four-part version of “Tired Old Man,” a song which had circulated as a bootleg for years amongst Gilbert’s fans, and had been first officially released on the archival set Nuts in 2009. The song is a beautiful take on the tale of Pinocchio through Gepetto’s eyes. It serves as one of the best arguments there is that Gilbert was an overlooked genius. He would go on to tour as a keyboardist with Eddie Money and release two albums with Giraffe in the late ‘80s. and collaborate with Patrick Leonard (a producer who worked for Michael Jackson and Madonna) in Toy Matinee in 1990. He was part of a collective known as the Tuesday Night Music Club which lifted Sheryl Crow to fame. He released his first solo album in 1995 and was working on the next one when he died in 1996 at the age of 29. He never did become a household name, but he left an enviable body of work more than worth exploring. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Kevin Gilbert RB-N Richard Buskin (2002). No Fool to This Game. Billboard Books: New York. Pages 58 and 64. SD Sibyl Darter (12/88: Vol. 4, No. 12). AfterTouch – The Official Publication of the Yamaha Users Group CH Christine Holz, co-editor (11/94 – 1/95). “Toying with Kevin Gilbert.” Music News Network. TheDebster.com JS96 Joel Selvin (9/15/96). San Francisco Chronicle “More Than ‘The Piano Player’ – Dumped by Sheryl Crow after propelling her to success, brilliant musician Kevin Gilbert died before finding his own” Related Links: First posted 10/8/2022.

Kevin Gilbert Nuts and Bolts released

Nuts/Bolts Kevin Gilbert

Released: October 19, 2009 Recorded: 1984-1996 Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- Genre: neo-progressive rock singer/songwriter

Tracks on Nuts: The World Just Gets Smaller PS While Heroes Cry Until I Get Her Back CK When Strangers Part NRG Finally Over You Circling Winds CK Shannon Elizabeth CK Tired Old Man CK Childhood’s End Joytown (acoustic version) TH, TA Kashmir (studio version) CV Tracks on Bolts: Waking the Sun LT The Ballad of Jenny Ledge (acoustic version) TM, TA Something Nice for My Dog Souvenir God’s Been Tapping My Phone CK Goodness Gracious (acoustic) TH, TA The Best of Everything Blank Page Taxi Ride CV Lonely Road Finale Other Appearances: Many of these songs appear on other Kevin Gilbert releases, although not always the same versions. NRG also on No Reasons Given CK also on Call Me Kai PS also on The Power of Suggestion TM also on Toy Matinee TH also on Thud TA also on Toy Matinee Acoustic LT also on Live at the Troubadour CV also on Covers The Players: Kevin Gilbert (vocals et al) John Cuniberti (mastering)

Rating: 3.322 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Albums: While Kevin Gilbert is an unknown to most, those who knew his music of the ‘80s and ‘90s before his tragic death in 1996 have become fanatics. Consequently, “the long awaited singer songwriter releases, “Nuts and Bolts,” KG will be received, if only by a small core of fans, with great enthusiasm upon their arrival in mid-September of 2009. The collections “represent the best of the unreleased singer/ songwriter material, from Kevin’s career, beginning to end.” PP That beginning, back in 1984, is represented by When Strangers Part and Tired Old Man, the latter a wonderful take on the tale of Pinocchio and Gepetto. The mid-‘80s are represented with Circling Winds, Shannon Elizabeth, The Best of Everything, While Heroes Cry, God’s Been Tapping My Phone, and Until I Get Her Back. Also from this era is Souvenir, which is also known as “Bitter Souvenir.” There’s also The World Just Gets Smaller, which Gilbert recorded with his band Giraffe on the 1988 album The Power of Suggestion, and Jenny Ledge and Blank Page from his Toy Matinee days in 1990-91. After his stints with Giraffe and Toy Matinee, Gilbert recorded his first and only solo album, Thud, released during his lifetime. Representing that period are acoustic versions of Goodness Gracious and Joytown from 1994-95. Fans are likely to be most excited by the inclusion of the studio version of Kashmir, which after its rejection from the Led Zeppelin tribute album Encomium, was bundled with the Thud album as a bonus single. The collections also feature seven songs whose origins are not known. Unfortunately, the album liner notes offer no insight as to when these songs may have been recorded. “From sentimental to cynical, happy to heartsick these collections were carefully put together and we feel something Kevin would be proud of.” PP “Every song on each disc was mastered carefully by John Cuniberti. Both packages are beautifully done Digipaks with bookending images” KG and “the insightful and witty liner notes of Cintra Wilson,” PP a former girlfriend of Gilbert’s.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Kevin Gilbert KG KevinGilbert.com PP PopPlusOne.com Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 8/30/2009; last updated 11/8/2022.