Another song in the can. This song really came together for me with Morgan’s contributions, not the least of which was singing backup. A lot of differences from the last attempt: I redid the main guitar line because I didn’t like the sound of the earlier recording, even though the playing was fine. The bass is also Morgan, and it just fills out the song for me. I added some little solo acoustic licks here and there, but I particularly enjoy the line over the second part of the chorus, where we sing “It’s alriiiiight, everything’s alriiiiieeiiyaiyaiaiighhht…” (and that is the correct spelling, incidentally). There are also subtle synthesizer bits scattered throughout.
So much fun to restructure a song. Remember that this used to be a very hard driving electric piece, but with the help of friends it was able to find itself.
I’m moving again this coming week, so I’m taking another break. Sad but true. But I’ll be back recording another song soon enough, hopefully, in a brand new studio in a brand new house.
This song has undergone a pretty substantial transformation since I wrote it. Originally it was a much harder-driving song, very electric and groovy (click here for the first post). Then, after playing around with Morgan and Nando, the song grew into a much steadier, kind of gentler thing.
The kernel for this song first appeared in the New Mexico desert many years ago in a song I wrote called “Sow the Seeds”. Unfortunately, the song didn’t hold up over the years, but in it was the line: “You can run around the world but you can’t escape your death,” which I culled and used in this one. I also grabbed the first line (”One thing I know is you’ve got to be strong”) from a song I wrote in college and used to holler from the loggia outside my dorm room window. No word yet on whether that song has held up over time. In any case I thought it interesting to note how much of this song is “recycled”, and how appropriately that fits with the general theme of wisdom passed down.
This cut is pretty raw, with only very basic instrumentation. I’m trying to block out where I want the different parts to go. The best part of the song, I think, will be when I get Nando and Morgan to sing backup. In my eyes, they really make the song.
Another song in the can. The most notable part of this one is the chorus of voices at my traditional grand ending fadeout, which was probably the most fun I’ve had in the studio. Recording like I do can be a lonely endeavor, so it was utterly refreshing to have a group of friends in my room, all happy and singing. A lovely moment.
So this song has been around in one incarnation or another for a few years, but last summer I spent some time with it and sculpted it into a complete piece. I have several old demos to choose from (mostly just me playing the same chords over and over while experimenting with different lyrics) but this take is pretty much as I wanted the completed song to be.
“Old timers” on this site will recall that I posted a nearly-complete version of this song a few months back. I am now reworking that almost-perfect attempt and will have the song polished and complete very soon. Things are chugging along!
As I hoped, things began to come into focus once I started over. In this, ostensibly the final cut, I’ve totally rerecorded everything from scratch. I eliminated the screaming middle bit and found the song a lot gentler and sadder, sort of more faithful to the original emotion behind its creation. I kept the idea, though, and transformed it into a sad, singing middle section played only once in the song. I also rewrote some lines, which changes the song significantly in my eyes. To wit:
You are never alone, that’s what you say to the empty hallway, I am always here, listening to voices in my head, You know nothing about the meaning of the words never and always, And I am already dust, everyone’s already dead.
Severely edited, became:
You are never alone, that’s what you say to your pale reflection, And I am always here, listening to voices in my head, We are nothing but the product of late night introspection, And I am already gone, who can remember what you said?
I hope this makes it kind of sadder, less angry, more thoughtful. I’ve also added a new section at the end, typically finishing my songs with this grand orgy of overdubbing. I’m a little worried that maybe all my songs tend to do this, but it just seems so perfect to me almost all the time. I think about half of the songs sketched out for this album have some grand ending like this. Maybe that’s too much, or maybe it’s just my style. I find it’s hard to tell with these things when you’re in the middle of it.
I like this song, but it was not anywhere as quick or easy to record as I’d hoped. It was in fact a brutal process, and in all honesty I’m not even fully satisfied with some parts. Who knows what I’ll think next week, though. I’m crossing my fingers that the next song will go more smoothly.
