Wide Open – Song and a Chat

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Episode #127: Wide Open (Wings Of Grace) (Song starts at 5:48 & 27:46)

It’s a rainy night here in Melbourne as I write these show notes. As usual, I enjoyed recording this episode. I had no idea what song I was going to pick until I saw the title on an old cassette tape cover and I thought… why not.

It’s a moody sort a song, suits the wintery evening – and suits the day I’ve had. Software problems.. Sigh. I was about to do some editing of some videos I’m working on (a seascape painting course) and I realised that my Mac can no longer play the updated videos off my phone… argh.

It took the wind out of my sails..and I thought back on the last couple of weeks. Sometimes it seems things are sent to try you out.

On my blog post this week I mention how I nearly fall over as I marched quickly down a muddy slippery path to catch my bus. As it turned out, I kept my feet – just.

And I did today, I carried on with some other work, including recording this episode.

Back in 1998, the day I wrote this (song # 405), it was a somber sort of an afternoon. It was overcast and drizzly. The sort of day where you know twilight has come early. The bird calls change, as they get ready to go to their nest for the night.

I looked at the trees in the rain through the window and my eyes focused on a angel, stencilled on the window pane with white frosted paint. A leftover Christmas decoration my girlfriend (now wife) had created.

Hmm, I thought.. that’s an image: an angel against the trees.

And that was the beginning. The more I do this songwriting, the more I realise all you really need is a start: an image and a feeling. All the rest just sort of unfolds – if you give it some energy and attention.

It’s amazing what comes through. Some of what I write is ‘mine’ and some of it comes from somewhere else. It’s fascinating.

So I was struggling with everything a bit that grey rainy day. The words ” fear not and rest thee” came through very clearly, followed by “feel strong and lift thee”

These are words from another age, in keeping with the image on the window. That impressed me.

So by the time I sat down at the piano to compose the music, 3 months later, I had an idea that this would be a song of some feeling.

On this episode you’ll hear the original piano vocal demo. And at the end, the version recorded by myself with Paul Dredge, and Earl Pollard on drums. We recorded 14 songs in an afternoon, all first take, crazy stuff.

I pressed 100 CDs of this session, back in the day. I think I’ll maybe remix it and release it again as an archive sort of album and put it on my bandcamp site.

www.petepascoe.bandcamp.com. My blog is www.petepascoe.wordpress.com you can read the lyrics of wide open here, view paintings, cartoons, etc.

Ok . Lots of feeling in this week’s song…I hope you enjoy listening to some chat as well.