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All of Your Toys
Chapter 3
Axem Yellow groaned and rolled over in the Queen-sized bed. He hadn't risen from his seeming deathbed since they'd dumped him on it three hours ago. Red, sitting at the grand piano the cat had had sent in for him to practise on, stared frustratedly at the music. He banged on the keys stupidly and shrieked curses out the window. "THIS IS BACH'S TOCCATA IN D!!! I CAN'T PLAY BACH'S TOCCATA IN D!!!!!!"
The kitten suddenly dropped in through the window. "I say, do keep it down, would you? You say you can't play Bach's Toccata in D? Tsk, tsk. We'll have to call in Peter Tork." She gave a mournful sigh and dialed a cell phone. "Yes, Peter? I know you're on tour with James Lee Stanley, but.....yes, something's come up. We need you to fly in as soon as possible--no, would you believe it, the little mouse can't play worth---eh? Oh, okay--no--sure. See you soon! Love you." She hung up.
Axem Red's face pulled down in a frown. "I--I--I didn't mean for you to have to call in any former Monkees."
She turned to look at him. "It's no problem, honeymunchkin. I'm always glad to have Peter in for a visit," she winked.
Pink bounced out of the bathroom with a powderpuff. This she was hitting herself repeatedly with on the face. "Are we ready?"
With a sidelong glance, the kitten smiled and nodded. "Let's be off then. Actually, you really don't have to come. Stay here and order room service or something. It looks like Axem Black is the only one who'll be recording tonight." And with a wave of her small front paw, she and Black pranced out of the room and shut the door.
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Black looked at the song in his hands. He knew the song; he'd heard it on the demo tapes, but this was his first time recording and he was nervous. The backing track was pre-recorded with Peter Tork (who had just arrived) on the keyboards and Louie Shelton on guitar. That was all they had needed for the particular song. Now the kitten and Peter were off having dinner, or something, and the studio producers were the only ones there, staring at him through the glass in the recording studio and making him gulp. The music started and he sang a note. His voice cracked. Hank Cicalo, the engineer, sighed and started the tape over. Black sang again. This time he made it through the first verse before it fell to ruin. Chip Douglas, the producer, made a weary face and started the tape over.
It went on this way for several hours, and finally the kitten (who had told Black her name was Hyoi) returned with Peter, and they were both watching him and cringing. Peter turned to Chip. "Now that one was really bad--have him just do the second part again? Just that one phrase?" Peter picked up the mic and spoke directly to Black. "Okay, now that first part was really good," he said encouragingly. "But you know the third line in the second verse--yeah, the one with the skip from C to High B--I know it's tough--just sing that once, just one time, or until you get it right. We can merge the sounds together if we have to."
Black shifted uncomfortably. "Oh, okay." He sang the skip. It was terrible.
They recorded until 3 am the next morning, but they finally had a good cut of the song. It went on this way for five weeks until they had enough for a whole record--just Black singing, and occasionally they would let Red play a few notes on a keyboard, but all the backing vocals were supplied by Peter Tork and the kitten.
They sold the record and it was a hit--it went Platinum in a few weeks. Luigi bought a copy and played it nonstop back at the plumbers' house. Mario looked at the cover once. "Those guys look kinda familiar." But he didn't make a connection, not yet anyway. King Bowser Koopa's daughter Wendy also had the record, and he was tiring of hearing the whiny voice of Axem Black drifting throughout the castle every day. He, too, notised the faces on the cover, but, being much smarter than our favourite dim-witted plumber, recognised them immediately and sent a small division of the Koopa Troop over to England to nab them and bring them back.
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