Sand In My Socks – Song and a Chat

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:13 — 20.1MB)

Episode #132: Sand In My Socks (Song starts at 8:22)

For this episode, I have included some audio from the actual songwriting session of this song: Paul Dredge on his acoustic guitar, me ‘winging’ a melody, then us harmonising together. So you’ll get to really hear how this song came together.

I wrote the lyrics first: ‘Got sand in my socks, reminds me of yesterdays walk by the ocean, my shocked soul is soothed by the water’s talk’ … sounds pretty cruisey, right?

Yes. To get into that state of mind, I got myself down to the beach. I’ve included a recording of me, talking at the beach, observing the scene. Even more relaxing, right? But…

Before we go to the beach, I take you shopping with me – a couple of humorous observations about how things in the city can really wind you up if you let them..

And that’s the crux of sand in my socks. It’s about feeling the sand between your toes which reminds you of the feeling of walking beside the ocean, leaving the city behind – the mediation, the battery charging.

I love recording the music & I love sharing the ‘behind the scenes’ sort of stories.

‘Sand In My Socks’ is track number 1 from our new album, ‘The Untrodden Track’ (streaming now). It’s a medium tempo easy shuffle. Sounds like a walk on the beach, doesn’t it? In fact, the music is a great fit for the lyrics – free, toe-tapping and uplifting.

On the songwriting session audio, You get to hear the laughter, the easy friendship that Paul Dredge and I have. It’s a vibe we bring into our music together. The co-composing is a very easy & natural process for us.

Paul gave the song a really nice mood with his acoustic guitar. As I ‘wing’ a melody over the top of the guitar, you can almost hear Paul thinking ahead, instinctively going for the next chord.

Instinct would be the key word here. Yes, we both have a handle on music theory, and we enjoy singing and playing our instruments. But overall, you just go with ‘feeling’ in the moment.

As we compose, we are drawing on the theory, for sure, but we also drawing on thousands of gigs we have done together. There is nothing quite like performing ‘live’ with someone to get things like vocal harmony locking in together. This sort of ‘flying time’ together is invaluable. You learn about how the other person plays his instrument, see how they fit together.

When you have this sort of history together, it feels relaxed and exciting when you’re about to compose some music.

This gives the process energy before we start. There’s a sort of energy, an electricity you can feel and away you go – and it gets better and better.

My blog is: www.petepascoe.wordpress.com you can read more / read the lyrics / view my art here.

I hope you enjoy hearing Paul and I compose this song, the conversation and the observations.

Here we go….