No Crime To Stay – Song and a Chat

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:12 — 22.1MB)

Episode #117: No Crime To Stay (Song starts at 10:00)

This week’s song (#263) was written in 1993, when I was living in a very beautiful & peaceful spot in New Zealand: Kuratau, on the shores of lake Taupo.

The meditative pastime of fly fishing for trout really relaxes me. I find that once I’ve been out in nature, all my worries have drifted away and I’m ready to create.

As a songwriter, I really think it’s important to get away from it and do some other activity that takes your mind completely away from songwriting.

Reading from pages of an old diary, I found out what I was up to the week I wrote the song…I wrote the words to No Crime To Stay one night when I meant to get an early night. I ended up writing the lyrics for 5 songs and going to bed at 1am.

The next morning I got up at noon, surprise, surprise. I then wrote songs all day, went to bed at 1am – then got up at 4:45am to go fishing!

I was a determined young chap, keen to write & perform songs and share them with the world – keen about fishing too! – and I still am, here in 2022.

I’m really enjoying recording these podcast episodes. I haven’t played this song in years, so it was nice to rediscover it, as I sang and played the piano.

It was, of course, a much younger me when I wrote the lyrics. They can provide fascinating insights into the writer as a person. This song was written when I was feeling a bit lonely.

On this episode I also compose a piano piece. It happened on the spur of the moment. That’s what I love about this podcast: the natural flow & the consequent surprises.

It’s all totally unscripted. When I go into my studio I often don’t even know what song I’m going to look at. But each week it all seems to come together, as I draw attention to various aspects of songwriting. I have a chat about all sorts of other things that pop into my mind as I go along… fingers on the keys of the piano, my mind free to roam where it well.

I hope you enjoy hearing how this song came together, as we look at the lyrics, the music – and also the background : what I was up to at the time.

I think it’s a great idea to keep a diary. It becomes a ‘time machine’, much like a song can be.

As a creative person, I think it’s a good idea to write in a diary regularly. It sort of clears the mind and makes room for creativity.

Ok here we go. Ready for a song and some chat? Enjoy.

By the way here’s my blog- you read the song lyrics here + view my art (I’ve been flat out painting for an upcoming exhibition of my seascapes), plus there’s links to more music. www.petepascoe.bandcamp.com