I wrote the song People on The Other Side in a hotel room, I think it was Saskatoon, Canada. The point of departure came out of my desire to sing and make music, in conflict with my concern about disturbing the people in the adjacent rooms, on each side, below and above.
I hope that I don’t disturb
The people on the other side
I hope that I don’t perturb
The people on the other side
I hope they don’t call the police on me
I hope they don’t put a curse on me
The people on the other side
The people on the other side of the wall
That song unraveled into the other side of the world, the other side of my life, my ex-wife, all of my lies, the guys who chase me through the streets at night, all of my darkness…. my dead mother and father… my grandfather standing proud, singing the central prayer of the Jewish Religion, as he is taken away by the Nazis… and finally, wondering about the other side of You, The Other, The Enemy, The Lover, Everyone, Everything.
So my desire to sing and make music, led me to the awareness that what I was doing, was journeying, following my curiosity, a line, to the other side of everything. It became an articulation of a major theme in my life’s work.
Stephen Rappaport