About Nandor’s White Castle
Most of the music I write is non-political. This album, however, is a collection of political songs that I’ve written over the last few years, mostly in 2007 and 2008.
As of this writing, some of the songs are out of date. “GOP Debate Song” was nearly out of date when it was first written for — and then performed in — the CNN/YouTube Republican Presidential Debate, in late November 2007. “Superdelegate”, about the Democratic presidential nomination process, and “Best Week Ever”, about a man who filed to run for state senate, and a few days later was convicted and sentenced to a year in jail, soon will be out of date. “You Forgot Ron Paul” should be out of date by now, but apparently isn’t.
“Christine, Christine, Christine” is about Washington’s incumbent governor, and as of this writing is quite timely. The hopefully obviously satirical “George Bush is Hitler” won't end its relevance with the passing of President Bush's second term, and the Schrammie-award-winning “Osama Bin Laden, You Ruined My Birthday” may just live on for many years to come.
“Just Getting Started” is the one non-political song on the album.
“GOP Debate Song”, “Superdelegate”, and “You Forgot Ron Paul” were all originally recorded as videos, and best attempts were made to remaster them to sound less like they were from vidoes. All of the songs have been released previously in one form or another.
I did everything on this album — writing, performing, producing, artwork — except for the image on the back cover, which was generated by CNN for the aforementioned debate. That’s me on the big screen, serenading the GOP Presidential hopefuls. Also, the statuette on the disc is the Schrammie.
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The name of the album, Nandor’s White Castle, and the associated image — the blade Anduril (from The Lord of the Rings) piercing two burgers from White Castle and resting on an ottoman — are a reference to Janos Hunyadi’s victory over the forces of the Ottoman Empire at the Hungarian city of Nandorfejervar (which means “Nandor’s White Castle,” known today as Belgrade). The much larger Ottoman force attacked on July 4th, 1456, and the siege lasted 19 days, finally ending with a desperate and victorious battle under the cry of Hunyadi’s ally, Saint Giovanni da Capistrano:
“The Lord who made the beginning will take care of the finish!”
To this day, the bell rings at noon each day in Catholic churches to commemorate Hunyadi’s victory (which bears a striking resemblance to Aragorn's victory at Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings).
— Chris Nandor, July 2008
