These Bills – Song and a Chat

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Episode #58: These Bills (Song at 5.35)

This is the podcast where each week I’ll put you on the shoes of being a songwriter as I attempt to figure out where/ how a song came to be…so

Let’s find out what the inspiration for this week’s song These Bills (written in 1991) was…

It’s a great idea to study other songwriters. So, although I’d already written 190 songs, I decided to buy a Bob Dylan sheet music book and analyse and emulate his style for a song or two. Great move. You learn so much by analysing others works – especially those whom you admire.

For the lyrical content, I always go with what is it in my life that I’m feeling right now….I was much younger then and when I received a phone message with the words young males often dread from the opposite sex: ” we need to talk” came through I thought: “Uh oh”. Alarm bells went off. I reflected on what’d happened to this point in the relationship – especially events of late – to try and get a handle on what was coming up. Then I looked around the room for a comforting distraction. Great. I saw pile of bills waiting to be paid. Something else ‘not fun’. But at least it served to be a distraction …..

The trick is, just writing your feelings down is therapy. A diary is a big help, personally – and for your keeping a free creative state of mind. It gets stuff off your shoulders and you can reflect on it, see things in a different light and you turn it into art (this is the essence of this week’s blog post, by the way. Plus I talk about a painting I did this week on this episode – you can see the painting and read the words to ‘These Bills’ on the blog post: www.petepascoe.wordpress.com).

The more you do something, the more natural it becomes, right? So it is with song writing. Just write and write. Then go write some more. And record versions of what you’re up to, so you can step outside your work and clearly see/ hear what the listener will be receiving. It’s different to listening while you’re performing the song.

Juggling so many different artistic endeavours, I do get a chance to reflect on work done. By nibbling away and coming back, I get to see things from another angle. So that’s one positive thing about being involved in a few different artistic areas.

Probably my favourite thing to do is write songs – and make sure I really enjoy each moment of my life as much as possible. Easy words to write, but it’s something I think we need to keep reminding ourselves about. I do this, generally. I had a Fractured skull in my 20s. I got a second chance. That was when I decided to commit to the creative path I was already on – and to make sure I lived each day. Because each day lived since was (and still is) a bonus for me.

So on this podcast each week, I’m really enjoying chatting about what I’ve been up to as an artist and musician & observations about life in general… It’s all put across in a laid back, natural flowing manner.

By the way, this demo version ended up on the album Tasman Bridge. You can listen to it here: https://petepascoe.bandcamp.com/album/tasman-bridge

Entertainment and songwriting tips.

Thanks for tuning in again this week.

Enjoy These Bills!

Pete.