In 1984, Maltby began compiling a series of older songs and new song ideas to form an evening of musical short stories, which he labeled the "Urban File". In particular, he wanted to make use of one of his favorite songs, "The Bear, The Tiger, The Hamster, and The Mole", which had been cut from Maltby and Shire's 1983 musical "Baby". Maltby assembled other cut songs from earlier musicals such as "The River", "Love Match" and "The Sap of Life" to go with this particular song. The "Urban File" also contained lyric fragments, musical ideas, song fragments, rhythmic ideas, philosophical observations, and biographical details of friends and acquaintances as potential material for songs. During this time, Maltby was occupied with "Song and Dance", and Shire was busy composing film scores, so that the "Urban File" was not a primary project at the time.