Contributors:
Brian Wooten, lap steel guitar
Heath Nicholls, bass and harmony vocals
Jay Miller, drums
Jules Bryce, keys
Mac Bartine, lead vocals and rhythm guitar
Rich Adlin, lead guitar and harmony vocals
Seva, recording, mixing and mastering

Tracking: The 6 of us really came together on this song in the studio. It was already one of our tightest songs live, but all the instruments really hit the instrumental walkdowns between vocal lines, and the harmonies came together nicely to magnify the major key shift in the chorus. There wasn't a lot of extra tracking on this song other than Rich spending extra time to get exactly the solo he wanted.

Mac’s Songwriting Notes: I wrote Beanstalk in early 2003 when the US was publicly debating whether or not we should invade Iraq. I had family and friends in the military at the time, and I was concerned for them and the rest of our armed forces. I remember watching Colin Powell making the case for invasion and thinking, “He doesn’t sound like a confident man right now. Is this really why we’re doing this?” It was an unnerving moment that increased the cynical feelings I had about the real reasons our country’s leadership wanted to go. Personifying the beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk came to me as I was noodling on my guitar, and I quickly realized what I was writing about. The beanstalk was a mix of me and our entire society: how I felt about enjoying the privileges of where and how we lived and the possibility that we might be going for more monetary and comfort-related reasons than any others. “Now I’m bigger than dreams; the giant’s coming down. How does that make me mean?” The switch between the minor verses describing an easy, good life (I’m not a fan of how snobby I was towards Johnny in the verse lyrics, but it’s a snapshot, so I’ve left it as it was) and the major choruses where the beanstalk is pleading that it isn’t its fault, and the instrumental walkdowns between vocals – all that came naturally into the song as I wrote it.