At some point – iTunes tells me it was possibly 2006 – I ended up with an mp3 of a track called Roman Holiday by the Gray Kid (aka Steve Cooper), who I guess must have sent it my way with detailed instructions to keep it under wraps. But when Gray Kid unleashed his damn near entire catalog for free download in early 2009, I assumed some tweaked/reworked/newer version of Roman Holiday would find its way to the masses. It was an airy song with an off-kilter rhythm that featured Gray Kid talking out verses and belting out choruses.

Alas, it was nowhere to be found – and for good reason. It was held back so it could be released on The Cost of Living, the debut LP from his synth-funk group Spirit Animal that was released, appropriately, on Election Day.

Says Gray Kid: “It was almost a Gray Kid song. But I left it off Free Music in ’09 at the last second and re-recorded the verses this year (2010) with all of the harmonies so they’d be more sung and less spoken. Then we added live drums, bass and some guitar – Jon Siebels from Eve 6 and Monsters Are Waiting who now runs Sonata Cantata played that. The original tracking was done four years ago.”

Now, after all that, you can finally get the track for free because Gray Kid, who recently relocated from L.A. to the East Coast, was cool enough to let me host it here.

• Spirit Animal | Roman Holiday

It’s also worth nothing that Gray Kid’s Moog/synth madman in Spirit Animal is Computer Jay, who’s also part of the collective known as Master Blazter, along with Dam-Funk and J1.

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