Nowhere Now Here – Song and a Chat

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Episode #159: Nowhere Now here (Song starts at 5:21 & 25:51)

There was a bit of rain on the roof tonight as I recorded this podcast. It was a nice morning, but it turned into a really ‘steel grey sky’ sort of day, which is the opening gambit for the lyrics of ‘Nowhere Now Here’.

This week’s blog post (which I wrote earlier today) took on a theme of rain, & I also painted a squally looking seascape. So it’s been a nice creative sort of a day.

Before I started, I sat at my table in the backyard, with my cat. I recorded a quick spoken observation about how important it is for me to sit quietly in nature to get myself into the creative zone, open those creative thoughts (which you’ll hear on this episode).

‘Nowhere Now Here’ started out life at a Melbourne beach (in Sandringham). My children were playing in a boat shape we dug out of the sand. It amazes me how quickly and completely children disappear into another world.

It’s not unlike the songwriting state, come to think of it. Very much like it, actually. The whole imaginary world, it’s so real. You go there, leaving behind what’s going on in the moment.

I do it so often, it comes very naturally to me, for me. It’s such a joy and it’s certainly not something I take for granted.

So I wrote the page of lyrics and then joined my children in the imaginary sandy boat.

The music for ‘Nowhere Now Here’ is co written by Paul Dredge (NZ). It is from an album of ours called Tasman Bridge, which includes songs we co-wrote in different countries.

In this case, I wrote the verse and mid sections. Paul answered with the chorus and bridge.

It is such good fun, sharing the process with Paul. We have done thousands of gigs together, so we know each other’s musical styles very well.

But there was something there straight away. The first gig Paul & I did, we harmonised on Homeward Bound by Paul Simon. The voices blended so well, it was so easy – and that’s the way it’s remained. The same with the songwriting: we’re ‘on the same page’.

On this episode, I perform a piano vocal version, which was fun – I can’t remember the last time I played it.

I also include the album track which clearly shows the different sections (written by each person). We sang lead on the sections we wrote. As we had 5 evenings to learn each other’s songs and record them, we quickly realised it would make sense to do this.

I have a video for this song up on YouTube my channel is Pete Pascoe Art and Music. Here’s the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM919PyLzgo&list=PL5WTg3pdJlzj1fmDMsW6BZophZfXu4QiC&index=4

And you can find the lyrics & the painting I did today on my blog www.petepascoe.Wordpress.com

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it.

Thanks for checking out my podcast. If you’re new here, my plan is to put you in the shoes of a songwriter, looking at the process. But this is no dry tutorial sort of podcast. Yes, I do analyse the music and words, but it’s a very relaxed and inclusive vibe, with an emphasis on entertainment.

Enjoy.