I’m never sure about titles. In fact, I often hate titling songs, and sometimes have short nicknames for songs which is how I refer to them in set lists or whatever. That’s definitely the case with this one. It was nearly called “Running For Miles”, but I’m not too sure about that either. I guess I’ll see what I think when the time comes that it is released properly recorded. This song is another really old lyric (one from when I was a teenager) that decided to become a song in the last year.
There’s a section in the demo where I think it’s clear that there’ll be a fuller instrumentation in the song from that point. This is one of those songs where the melody and piano part just came together at the same time. It’s a simple little song and I’ve grown rather fond of it. It’s about someone I know, sort of. But I guess it’s true that any song I write about someone I know, or something I’ve experience, is fictionalised in some way. Most of the elements remain, but altered just enough that I feel more comfortable with them.
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The lyrics for this song were actually written back in 2000 or so – a good decade old at least. I never even thought about putting them to music until maybe the last year or so. I was going through old notebooks and sheets of paper, searching for something I wanted to add into another song.
But even still, no music ever jumped out at me for it, and then the original idea I had for the song is completely different to what it actually has become. I remember sketching out a vague idea for the lyrics, and having this clear idea of how I wanted the subsequent section to sound – which was going to be completely instrumental.
However, this little piano riff snuck onto the keys one day, and I got completely addicted to it. Any time I’d sit down at the piano it was the first thing I’d play. It’s only a simple little riff, but I loved it. And then the lyrics one day just fitted over it – I could hear how they should go. The song has ended up something completely different from what I thought it was going to be, even after I’d previously thought it would never be an actual song.
This demo version may yet change and develop as I add more instruments to the song. I have a few ideas of what I want to add on – but at this stage, who knows what way it’ll change before I have a final proper recording of it that I like.
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I knew what I wanted from this song as I wrote it. I knew what I was writing about, and how the song would be structured, more or less. But I was still surprised by the melody that came from the lyrics. Sometimes I can sit and just hear the melody that is meant to be there when I read the lyrics, other times I have to work on it quite a bit to get something that works. But for this, there were melody ideas there as I was writing the lyrics, so when I sat at the piano, the whole song was waiting for me to find the piano part.
The demo is just an idea of what it’ll be like – I think this is going to be a very richly arranged song when it is finished, and I hope that the person it is about likes the song. It’s quickly become one of my own personal favourites to sing.
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Amanda’ coffee grinder is often a cause for concern. So, recently I was in her café one one of those afternoons when the grinder stopped working, and she had to get another. It inspired this addition to my silly children’s stories for adults, which as you are aware, is ~amazing art~
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Greta the grinder moaned and groaned
For she was far too fond of complaining.
Some days she just stopped,
As some form of silent protesting.
Eventually, however, her protests grew too many
And the people began to grumble,
in need of some fresh coffee,
As their stomachs began to rumble.
So it happened that Greta the grinder
found herself sitting unused
As Garbo the Grinder sat right beside her
Munching and purring all afternoon.
And Greta no longer mumbled and grumbled,
But sat silently on the counter,
And watched the people be re-caffeinated,
Until the garbage man took her.
This song grew from wanting to write a really upbeat little pop song. The chorus of it is something that would run around my head after I went swimming. No idea why, but the lyrics were basically sketched out while sitting in a sauna.
The verses were bits and pieces from various places. Little ideas or leftovers from other songs, so in a way the song itself is a bit of a composite of a few different things.
The piano riff sticks in my head, and was the first part of the song to be written, in terms of the music. Once I’d sat with that for a while the rest of the song just fell into place and I had this little boppy little piano pop song that is great fun for me to play.
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Nice little blurb in the local Drogheda paper promoting the gig tonight.
Sessions get under way in Punt Bar
FANTASTIC LINE-UP OF ACTS
Wednesday January 20 2010
THE Purple Sessions kick off 2010 with a great lineup this coming Friday, January 22nd, upstairs in the Punt Bar, Drogheda.
This month the sessions are bringing to Drogheda a fine selection of artists to entertain the purple sessions audience the line up includes
[...]
Mister Ebby is a piano playing songwriter from Galway who writes quirky indie pop songs. He grew up in a very musical household – two of his brothers are musicians too: Kevin Brett, and Izzy Plastic and The Manicans. He has also played together with Anna Lee under the name Husband/Wife, as well as with The Molls and with Jazz singer Alex Hahn.
I’ll be playing the Purple Sessions in Drogheda’s The Punt Bar on January 22nd along with Hugh Patrick, Stephen J Smith, Heirs To Nothing and Bobby Noonan. Have a whole bunch of new songs that I’ve not had a chance to play live yet, so when the offer came through my MySpace I thought why not? Where better to try out a few new songs than at nice acoustic sessions night somewhere I don’t live?
If you’re in the general area, it’s a free admissions gig, and sounds like a wonderful monthly showcase of Irish songwriting talent.
I’ve been having an evening of classical music tonight, swopping youtube links with a friend via IM. He’s thrown some wonderful suggestions my way, from this movement from Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21, Movement III, to this beautiful alto aria from J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion:
Both are very different and well worth a listen.
For my part, I suggested this astonishing piece of music from Bach’s B minor Mass: [Gloria] Cum Sancto Spiritu, which is one of my favourite pieces of music ever. We started on a Bach binge, so my other two favourites are both from the St Matthew Passion, which I was lucky enough to sing as part of a choir when I was in university. These are two of my favourite parts of that work: Wir setzen uns & Erbarme dich.
I’m in Dublin at the moment, working as a score reader for a small production for the next two weeks. It’ll give me a much needed break from Galway and some time to work on moving to Dublin properly.
I met up with Morgan of Cuckoo Savante (check that band out – they’re awesome) and was chatting about our lives and work. Just catching up really, but he was excited by how many songs I’ve got at the moment. Which made me stop to think how few I’ve demo’d and how badly I’ve done those. I need to stop spending time alone with the songs and start performing them and sharing them with other people so they don’t start to suffocate in my bag.
I’m going through my lyrics at the moment, adding in the edits I’ve made on the fly as I practise and work out the songs. I like a few of them, but I blow hot and cold about my own work quite frequently. I guess I need to let other people judge the work and not be so critical of myself.
Went to the Memorial service organised by AIDS West to mark World AIDS Day this evening. I was late because I had a volunteers meeting with the youth group I volunteer for. But the candlelit service was beautiful, and the choir, Cois Cladaigh were wonderful.
I’ll be playing 
