1980 - I was attending Cerritos College (a junior college in LA) as a music major. I had this history of music class and we had two songwriting assignments. One was to write a traditional folk song and the other was to write a traditional blues song and I came up with this one for the blues song. I was living at the Klondike mansion as we called it, working at Stauffer Chemical as a forklift operator for the shipping crew making decent money (well I didn’t say“satisfactory pay!”) and trying desperately to assimilate into the Southern California culture. I was also studying Karate (Go Ju Ryu) at the Rose Hills Police Academy under John Yamaguchi, a very prestigious master in the style.It was a time of bar hopping, pool sharking, and a hippie garden in the back yard.
My college career at Cerritos ended abruptly when I broke my leg skiing on Christmas day. Stauffer Chemical put me on disability for three months, and I went back to Maine for the better part of that time. I suppose that helped to heal some of the home sickness I was suffering from. But I regret not finishing out my college courses in music. When it was time to come back from Maine, I gave my return flight ticket to my friend’s wife, Sylvia Swift and drove back with Paul Lessard who had just finished his time in the Navy and had a job lined up in San Diego. As it turned out, a few months later I was hired on at the same place of employment, M. Rosenblatt & Son, and moved from LA to San Diego in early 1981.
FULL TIME BACHELOR
Words and music by Reggie Michaud © 1980
Well I’m a full-time bachelor, student of the single life
Yeah I’m a full-time bachelor, student of the single life
Can’t relate to a wedding date and I just don’t need a wife!
Well I’m a fork lift foreman in a phosphate factory
Yes I’m a fork lift foreman in a phosphate factory
And my take-home pay is never ever satisfactory
Got a house over on Klondyke, it’s a high performance pad
Got a house over on Klondyke, it’s a high performance pad
We love to play loud rock & roll and make all the neighbors mad
Bachelors are lonely till Friday comes along
Bachelors are lonely men, till Friday comes along
Well we go down to watering hole and party all night long
Well I’m a full-time bachelor, and single I will stay
Yeah I’m a full-time bachelor, and single I will stay
And I’ll sing this song up until my wedding day!