Strangetown – Song and a Chat

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Episode #184: Strange Town (Song starts at 4:41 & 26:00 )

If it’s your first time here, thanks for dropping by. You’ve picked an interesting one – this is a bit of a wild and whacky episode.

I’ve picked on an old song from 1987. I was a ‘piano man’ back then, Paul Dredge ( co-writer / long time buddy ) and I were performing as a duo in the evenings, presenting dining music.

But we were ready to rock out… in some sort of inner David Byrne (from Talking Heads), style – a zany sort of rock (Now it’s 2023, I still feel the same way – maybe that 80s synth rock album needs to be prioritised..)

Back in 1998, we borrowed some 4 tracking (early multi tracking) recording gear. And away we went.

We picked song #38 (I’ve now gone on to composed 800+). You’ll get to hear the piano vocal version I recorded as part of this episode – and you’ll also hear the old 4 tracked version as well. It’s pretty lively, I can’t quite believe where we got to, given it was our first effort at producing a multi tracked recording of a song.

When you consider the lyrics..’oh steel blue eyes, see painted city scapes’, they sound pretty mellow, right?

Well, there are no rules when it comes to creating music. That’s part of the joy. You have total freedom. It’s like going on a holiday, when there are no firm plans. You roll with what ever comes along.

To be honest, the 4 tracked version from April ’98 is pretty rough and ready. We had no idea how to make the borrowed gear ‘go’. But we were determined to do it – and we were going to have some fun.

So am I embarrassed to share this in 2023?. The answer is: not even close. What you’ll hear are two enthusiastic, inspired young people. And what we caught on tape really has some merit still, today, I think.

I composed the music for this song on the piano (lyrics were written first). As the song took shape, I started to hear a band arrangement in my mind straight away. This became the vision I started with when we recorded.

Poor old Paul… he was in charge of the drum machine. I was thumping out a guide track on the old acoustic piano, calling out to Paul speed up & slow down the tempo, repeatedly. To Paul’s credit he didn’t block me and we carried on.

I glad we recorded it the way we did it. There is nothing quite like realising a vision, something you have in mind.

Here’s my blog with the lyrics, etc www.petepascoe.wordpress.com .

Here we go.. ‘from TV to office, rat race to numbness ‘, ..leave it all behind for a while – it’s time for a song and some chat – including the 80s synth rock guitar band recording – all fun here.