Notes

My Story

Mac

This is a snappy little pop piece. My actual story is a little more complicated than can be summed up in three verses and a couple bridges, but these lyrics are kind of simple and pretty vague and maybe that’s my story.

Brad

This is the first tune that Mac sent me to work on and it was instantly catchy. I struggled at first about what I was going to add to it until I saw my ukulele sitting in the corner. The rhythm of this tune would most accurately be described (I think) as Jamaican Dance Hall. Is it weird to have a steel guitar and a uke on a Jamaican dance tune? Nah. You can still dance to it. (You should really dance to it.)

Joni from the Canyon

Mac

This is an homage to one of the great artists and icons of my generation. Lyrically and musically I tried to add images and styles reflective of her work.  I’m not sure if she would appreciate this song or not so if you get a chance to play it for her, let me know what she thinks.

Brad

Apart from being just a stunning and beautiful tribute to a musical treasure, this song has one of my favorite moments of the project. It’s a little sequence of orchestration and counter melody that happens on the second and third choruses

What Can I Do For You?

Mac

Musically, What Can I Do For You? came to me fully formed by Brad.  So great to have half of the songwriting puzzle already in place and I just happened to have had a set of lyrics that slipped right in.  It’s as close to a love song as I get and it speaks to how easy and human it is to look for what another person can do for you.  But when you’re partners, sometimes what you do for that other person is good for you both.

Brad

I really like the way this one turned out. I wrote this several years back but the bridge is new since Mac and I began working on it. Actually, the arrangement got a complete overhaul on some of the verse and chorus sections just before release. Hopefully it contributes to this  beautifully crafted and touching lyric.

This River

Mac

We live in the Cooley region of Wisconsin and I can see the Buffalo River from our house.  Just a couple miles downriver it flows into the Mississippi so, as easy a metaphor as rivers are to write about , I will stake a geographical claim to that metaphor. This River was one of my typically too slow dirge-like reflections on the meaning of life that I sent to Brad and he totally invigorated it with the up-tempo feel you hear.

Brad

Something about the sound of Mac’s guitars on the original track he sent reminded me of Buena Vista Social Club. So I just went that direction. The verses are in a pseudo Gua Guanco feel and the solo section shifts gears to a Montuno.

Going/Gone

Mac

I wrote the medley Going/Gone after reading the novel The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. The song is a tragic love story about a doomed interracial relationship from the 1800’s. Sadly, I think some of the basis for the narrative is still as present today as it was then. If you get a chance read that book.

Brad

When I first heard this piece I instantly thought “19th century pastoral setting.” So for the first movement I started with the piano part; then the harps and the classical guitar sort of piggy-backed onto that.  I wasn’t planning on scoring a string section but I kept hearing this melody in the final chorus. It worked out well because it led to the Ravel-inspired transition into the second movement – key of B major to the key of F# minor.
For the second movement I decided to incorporate a “train beat” which would not necessarily be associated with Black Church music of the South (referenced in the lyric); it’s merely a literal reference to the Underground Railroad to which the song pays homage.

The Watcher

Mac

The Watcher is another one of those completed musical pieces that showed up in my inbox from Brad. Musically, I think it speaks to our shared appreciation of Steely Dan and so I tried to fashion some lyrics that would be somewhat reminiscent of a dark Donald Fagan story.

Brad

I wrote this with the intention of creating a pastiche of 70s T.V. crime show music. Think Mannix, Barnaby Jones, Columbo, you get the idea. Mac then set the scene with a story about a ring of drug dealers “lamming” it in a hideout near the border. Unbeknownst to them the character from the next song (The Gumshoe) is watching their every move.

The Gumshoe

Mac

The Gumshoe is the companion piece to The Watcher. The Gumshoe is loosely based on the character Harry Caul played by Gene Hackman in the early 70’s film The Conversation. In the vocals, I tried my best to channel Tom Waits but I quit smoking cigarettes years ago and I don’t really like drinking whiskey.

Brad

This was another attempt to write a piece in a specific style or genre – Film Noir. The title kind of says it all but if you need a little extra imagery just picture Humphrey Bogart leaning up against a lamp post, Fedora pulled down, lighting a cigarette; shiny streets, steam hovering over manhole covers, neon light blinking in the background. That should do it.

Life is Hard

Mac

I am all for the pursuit of happiness as well as reveling in those rare times that you actually capture it.  But I also think that happiness is elusive and overrated.  Most things of real value are born of struggle. One thing I know for sure is that at sometime or another, in one way or another, for everybody Life is Hard.  It’s a universal thing, it just differs in duration and degree.

Brad

This is my favorite lyric on the project. Mac is an amazing lyricist. It might seem like a breeze to come up with a line like “the answer is easy, life is hard” – but it’s not. From the first listen, it reminded me of children gathered around for a bedtime story. So I wanted to create a quaint and understated piano part symbolizing grandfatherly tales. Then, a toy celeste to evoke a childlike innocence.

The Unknown

Mac

I wrote The Unknown at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s as much about everything in life that we have little control over as it is about the virus. It’s also a bit of a reminder that there’s always something scary out there and you’ve pushed through it before and you can do it again.

Brad

I was going for a spooky sci fi sound on the keyboard parts here, but with an early 80s pop vibe in the bass and drums. Don Henleyish snare drum sound, dontcha think?

The Life

Mac

The Life is another song that Brad sent to me completely fleshed out. I was not familiar with the genre “Yacht Rock”, but when we talked about the lyrical content , we thought it would be fun to tell the story from the  perspective of a pretentious, narcissistic aristocrat. The kind of guy you might want to spit in his champagne glass when he’s not looking. Thankfully, I don’t know any of those guys.

Brad

Yes, an attempt at making a “Yacht Rock” tune! If you’re not familiar with the term get out your old 45s of bands like Pablo Cruise, Ambrosia, and Starbuck and you’re there… wind in your hair, horizontal stripes, Ralph Lauren and Lobster Newberg wafting through the air. Now you’re living The Life!