Lonely Path – Song and a Chat

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Episode #110: Lonely Path (Song starts at 7:03)

I enjoyed singing and playing Lonely Path live for today’s episode. I do this sometimes. Other times I’ll select an old demo or maybe an album track. It adds variety along the way. It’s all a work in progress.

I played a gig today – and yesterday – at the village green. It’s a small village. A very nice community farmers market was on today. I’d shut my eyes as I started off singing and opened them after a couple of songs.

I found myself pretty much surrounded by a decent crowd. They’d materialised very quietly, drawn by the music and were listening very closely.

It’s the most rewarding thing when you get that response as a songwriter. What it means is: because these people don’t know the song they’re listening too, it had better be engaging emotionally and have whatever it takes as a performance to draw the listener in… and that’s what happened.

Yesterday, on the green, the same thing happened but on a smaller scale. This time when I shut my eyes to start it was just myself, a few sculptors, a human performance artist coloured gold, being a statue. Interesting gig! I was hired to attract attention to this public art demonstration/event. And… The ‘extra’ listener I drew in first was a fellow who had obviously had a big night out and hadn’t gone home.

He came right into my personal space…I sensed him before I opened my eyes.. When I did he looked at me menacingly and said ” do I look angry to you? ” I said “No, man, you look like you could do with a lie down.”

Which he did. He promptly lay down and appeared to pass out. After that, during the gig, every now and then he’d wake up appreciatively declare ” %}^% ing brilliant”, “Beautiful music”. The sun shone and we looked after him. He was safe with us, the artists.

So I played music rather like a soundscape for what was going on around me.

I mention all this because the subject of today’s song. Lonely path. The fellow asleep next to me on the green yesterday was alone. I was alone playing. We are all alone, in a sense.

The song came about when one of my students asked me what it’s like to be a songwriter. I told him the usual stuff (rewarding, exhilarating, hard at times, a joy, etc).

Immediately after he left, with a quiet laugh, I said to myself “It’s a lonely path.”

So that’s where the song started.

As an artist, there is a sort of a price to pay, somehow. It’s well worth it. But it does require long periods of contemplation, which requires solitude. A lonely word in itself, yet there is solace here. Times of regular reflection sure has its rewards.

So here we go, with a ‘heart my sleeve’ episode… here’s how I feel, being a songwriter, painter and poet.

And.. of course, on this episode you’ll get to find out about more about how a song comes together.

Here we go…

As usual, the lyrics are on this week’s blog post : www.petepascoe.worpress.com (plus Seascapes, Cartoons and more).