Missing Song Resurfaces on Michael Robinson’s New CD

A song that had been feared lost has resurfaced and found its way onto Michael Robinson’s new roadhouse blues and roots rock CD “Playing in the Dark.”

Armed with a Bo Diddly-style backbeat and up-tempo arrangement, Wishful Thinking dates to the late 1980s, when Michael had just started his career as a songwriter.  Co-written with Bay Area songwriter Randy Quiroz, Wishful Thinking is the story of a man coming to grips with the realization that his lover’s wild past has caught up with both of them.

Robinson and Quiroz had originally intended to pitch the song to major label artists. But as the two songwriters moved in different directions, Wishful Thinking fell through the cracks, and sat on the shelf for nearly 15 years.

When Michael disbanded his alternative rock group the Tabloids to take up roots music, he remembered Wishful Thinking as one of his favorite old songs and thought it might fit his new format. Unfortunately, his master tape of a professional demo couldn’t be retrieved, and he feared the song might be lost.

But as luck would have it, Quiroz had kept the original rough cut of the song recorded in the living room of his Berkeley apartment those many years ago. He gave Michael a copy of the tune, which Michael immediately worked into his set.

Robinson changed the key and wrote a new arrangement for Wishful Thinking, cutting out the original last verse and inserting a short, tasty guitar solo. Despite its age, Wishful Thinking still sounds fresh. Quiroz also collaborated with Michael on two other songs, Full Time Lover and Heads You Win, Tails I Lose.