Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pulp blog.

One Track Mind features a Washtenaw County-associated artist or band discussing a single song.

Standout Track: No. 2, “Blue Streak Blues,” from Dennis Proctor, who lives “on the border of South Canton and Ypsi, a few hundred feet from the Washtenaw county line.” The latest solo album, Deuce, from the Haviland frontman and honorary Washtenawtonian explores themes ranging from living in the current landscape to getting second chances to dealing with change.

On “Blue Streak Blues,” Proctor recalls an awkward encounter at Cedar Point and pays tribute to the longtime wooden roller coaster that bears the song’s name. At the start of the song, he sings about running into a naked man screaming in a restroom outside of the amusement park gates. “The opening lines are literally about that event: trying to understand what that man was going through and how I could’ve helped,” writes Proctor in an email interview. “The idea of someone in that much pain and not being able to properly express it got me thinking about writing from that perspective more.”

While the song reflects on that moment, it’s mostly written from the perspective of the Blue Streak roller coaster as a wistful rumination on aging and change. “The Blue Streak becoming sentient and getting revenge on all the people who make fun of it for being old was funny to me. As is usually the case, it turned into something else I hadn’t planned. … Feeling that you’re left behind is normal, but you can keep learning and seeking to understand. You can’t let it break you. Don’t be that rickety, old roller coaster that snaps and lashes out by hurting people. We have enough of those.”

Musical Motivation: “Blue Streak Blues” combines elements of power pop and indie rock, while drawing inspiration from the energy of punk and the stripped-down storytelling of Americana. “Finding a way to combine both is a kind of folk-punk alchemy. Violent Femmes are masters of that,” wrote Proctor. “They craft these clever pop songs and bash them out with raw emotion with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, bass, and a snare drum. ‘Blue Streak Blues’ … [was] very inspired by that approach.”

Part Two: Proctor is working on a follow-up album to Deuce, which will be released later this summer. Thematically, it will continue with the idea of new beginnings and second acts, but from a wiser perspective. “Deuce is my second solo album,” he wrote. “The more I wrote, the more the current, sad state of the world and our country started seeping into the subject matter. It got me thinking about the less hopeful side of second acts. The ones that are unearned and cruel and infinitely more disastrous than the first round.”