Talk In Riddles – Song and a Chat

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Episode #52: Talk In Riddles

It’s an interesting thing for me to consider how I came to be a songwriter. It’s not something I really set out to be, but listening to the likes of Elton John, Neil Young and Neil Finn, something sparked in me. And it burst into flame and its still burning strong after all this time. 800 songs later and I’m still enjoying the whole process very, very much.
This is song #283, from 1993. I see I wrote the lyrics in Auckland, NZ. This was the week I went to see Suzanne Vega in concert.The producer of her great album, 99.9 Fahrenheit, Mitchell Froom, was on keyboards. He produced crowded houses first 3 albums. He is now the keyboard player for Crowded House – they are on tour in New Zealand currently. Playing Palmerston North soon at the beautiful Regent Theatre.
Today I listened online to an interview with Mitchell Froom, who was talking about his role as keyboard player for Crowded House. I find that on the same day I pick a out the song I wrote the week I saw him perform in NZ to be a cool coincidence.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018786468/crowded-house-keyboardist-s-arrival-35-years-in-the-making
Incidentally, I was lucky enough to play keyboards in concert with Neil Finn for a show on one of his solo tours…it was by invitation ….at the Regent Theatre in Palmerston North, New Zealand years ago….a great experience.
These last few weeks, I’ve been listening to Crowded House on Neil Finn’s online fang radio show. They’ve been presenting unplugged versions of the songs on their albums to date and talking about how the recordings happened. It’s been great.
https://www.fangradio.com/
But I digress – quite decidedly so. That’s a little bit how I roll on these episodes. The more I talk instinctively, the more the mysterious threads all fall together and ( mostly) crystallise into something quite clear.
Any how, I’m talking in riddles here….
The song was a reaction to unclear communication between myself and a potential romantic interest. It was a growing time for me.
Songwriting is a really therapeutic thing. But you want it to be more than just therapy… It’s gotta be a step on from that, so it’s art.
So today, as usual, I look at the lyrics and the music and talk about how the song came together.
I’ll also take you fishing on a small stream in Victoria, Australia. I’ve just returned from a camping trip at the foot of the mountains and it was bliss.
I painted a picture of the stream – it’s on my blog – so are the lyrics to today’s song. You can find them here each week: www.petepascoe.wordpress.com
Have I piqued your curiosity? I hope so. Sit back and have a listen.
I hope you enjoy today’s episode.
More here: www.petepascoe.com , www.petepascoe.bandcamp.com Youtube: Pete Pascoe Art and Music
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