Song For You

Episode #186: Song For You.  (Song starts at 3:38) This is a love song. Just words and a simple tune. It can be a powerful combination. Written in 2000, song #475 sums up the grateful feeling I’d found by deciding to commit to my girlfriend who became my wife. Lucky me. It’s been an incredibly enjoyable process - our relationship - and rediscovering songs over these last 180 odd weeks. I let the song lead the way for each episode and endeavour to try and keep out of the way of the emerging story. I like to walk in nature (on this episode, there’s a brief recording of me talking as I go out on twilight walk). I like to see detail. And conversely, the big picture, too. Just nothing in particular. I let the scene  just wash over me -and through me, somehow. And that is the feeling that I try to take with me into the studio. I keep my mind as clear as possible and away I go, fingers on the keys, composing. I honestly can’t remember the last time I played and sang ‘Song For You’. There’s something about recording the take of me rediscovering the song that seems to work for these episodes. I’m big on trying to catch feeling and a bit of magic, in the studio (instead of looking try an catch the perfect take, where you risk losing the feeling and story). It’s all about the story - both the songs and the podcast episode. That’s what makes it interesting and not just some dry sort of dialogue about how I compose. I’m very pleased I’ve found this song again, I must record it sometime. It’s a romantic honest sort of a ballad. There’s a line in the song…cos you call me home with your warm warm heart and like a gentle wind you set me free.  That suits me. You need a certain sort of freedom to be a songwriter. And you need to feel supported. It sure helps. Because it’s huge commitment, being on this creative path. All the ups and downs that it entails…ditto with a relationship - all of those things are crucial: Freedom, support, commitment. Perhaps that helps illustrate how writing song feels like I’m writing with something outside/within myself. The muse.. I wrote the words first. After I’d written 4 verses, and read back through them, I realised this would be a simple love song. That’s when I came up with the line with my words and a simple tune, which became the hook. I’m pleased with the way the music has come up for this song - it’s a good fit with the lyrics.. Between a nice couple of bookends start and finish, there’s a pleasant melody and chords that roll along, with just enough interesting changes to catch the ear and keep it interesting. It flows along nicely. It’s incredibly good for you to compose, you use so many different parts of brain. I don’t just knock out a song for the heck of it, I’m a firm believer that any song, any style of art that is worthwhile has to start with feeling. Which this song did… I hope you enjoy this gentle episode. It’s an absolute pleasure to be presenting a song and a chat each week. I include an anecdote about one of the first time we ventured into the true outback of Victoria, Australia - and we sure found it… Here’s my blog www.petepascoe.wordpress.com and here’s my bandcamp www.petepascoe.bandcamp.com