music and lyrics by tom watkins

Does this pen have ink was so much fun to record. The lyrics are about being fed up with some. I called it “does this pen have ink?” because as I was searching for a pen around me to write the lyrics, I kept finding ones that either didn’t work or were out of ink. I was checking their ink levels by writing “does this pen have ink? at the top of the page. I finally found one that did and the title of the song stuck.

I was playing a lot of funk guitar around the time, stuff from Sly and Cory Wong. I was also listening to a lot of Prince. I love vocal harmonies, it’s one of my favorite things to do in the studio. I tried the keep the verse solo, and bring in some three part harmony for the chorus. Writing this song really pushed my vocal abilities.