The songs on this album were written either during my honeymoon, or the time immediately preceding or following getting married. It is an album dedicated to love, infatuation, desire, passion and the overcoming of inhibition.

Lately I've been absorbed in the idea of Cellular Joy and am posing this as the positive corollary of the destructive aspects of the survival of the fittest. The fittest does not always mean the winner, conqueror or the murderer of others in fact the fittest is often the one who learns how to adapt, coexist and harmonize with others. Cellular Joy is the desire of each basic cell and complex organism to not only survive but to thrive. Such thriving depends not only on the continued survival and development of the individual but of the flourishing of the entire ecosystem upon which it depends.

Loving another, oneself and nature is a never ending challenge full of discovery, vulnerability and the removal of inhibitions which prevent the growth of intimacy. Take Me is an album devoted to our quest to maximize love and intimacy in our lives.

The title Take Me refers to the wedding vows in which we are asked if we take this man/woman to be …….. Yet, in the context of this album we are focusing on the act of committing oneself to truly take and appreciate the other. In the title song the singer urges their lover to "take me within yourself". This complete taking another literally and figuratively within oneself is the essence of love, joy and intimacy.

In the initial stages of infatuation and sexual love it is relatively easy to take another within oneself. Each day of enthrallment involves discovery, intimacy and an increased sense of comfortability and appreciation. While this stage of infatuation is most obvious in sexual attraction it is often present at special times in our lives regarding nature, a hobby or a group of friends with whom we become bonded.

When something is new and novel it is easy to find and revel in intimacy and discovery. Yet, as time goes on it can become difficult to keep passion alive and fresh, and to keep on blazing the path of increased intimacy and joy. In fact the erosion of infatuation is so common, that most look at such encompassing love as a stage and in many cases a not so healthy one.

The love is blind sentiment does have merit, but hatred and even boredom are just as blind if not more so. Life doesn't become stale and boring without our hearts becoming callous and lazy.

The realization that deep love is often a treasure with a relatively short shelf life is not lost in this collection of songs. This is why so many of the lyrics deal with personal discovery and always being on the lookout for inhibitions and attitudes which draw us away from others or even ourselves.

A major theme of Take Me is that deep and intimate love is something that can last a life time. The art and science of living is learning how to unfold increased intimacy on a daily basis. A well exercised and well intentioned heart focused on intimacy can avoid becoming cold, hard and arthritic.

Despite the many years that have passed I still feel much of what I felt when I wrote these songs. In some ways an aging body restricts some of the more athletic aspects of young love, but the intimacy and discovery that only time can provide has more than made up for what has diminished. Inhibitions continue to be identified and addressed, and love and life continue to become richer each and every day.

An intimate existence full of passion, play and desire is ripe for Cellular Joy. Such intimacy not only allows joy to survive, but to thrive.

Cover art adapted from a public domain photo.
Words and music by Jim Guido.
Recorded in Park Ridge, Illinois and Asheville, North Carolina.