Lonely Tune – Song and a Chat

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Episode #185: Lonely Tune (Chase Those Blues Away). (Song starts at 3:20)

It’s been a nice few days. Yesterday was a cracking ‘blue sky day’. I was sitting outside and I decided to go inside and sit at the piano and sing a song. I picked up the old purple book, flicked it open and there it was: Lonely Tune. I thought ‘why not…’

I enjoyed singing it so much I thought I’d choose it for this week’s episode. It was also relaxing and fun to record it as I recorded the episode.

Where did Lonely Tune come from? I remember I played a song to a friend. They said “well, it sounds a bit…lonely”.

So I took the constructive criticism on the chin, picked up my pen and turned the ‘lonely’ idea into a lyric.

The first verse talks about how it can be tough going: When night falls, you’re lonely and it’s all….hard.

The second verse was an opportunity to address all those lines and flip things around to the positive. Here’s some examples:

Vs 1: When day turns to night. Vs2: when nay turns to might

Vs 1: When starlight fills the sky. Vs2: When Aha replaces why?

Vs1:When you can’t bear the wait. Vs2: When you enjoy the wait.

It was fun fro go back through and bring a positive sort of twist to the lines from the first verse. There are two sort of approaches to life: half empty vs half full

It’s interesting how a quiet, somewhat sad song can lift your spirits.

With the music, the melody unfolded quite naturally, along with the improvised chords, as I played the piano. I gave the lyrics a gentle lilt – In fact it just happened. A sort of quiet jazz ballad feel kicked in. It happens to me now and then. I certainly wouldn’t say it’s something I specialise in, but when it comes along, I don’t block that voice.

That’s what makes songwriting so enjoyable for me: I aim to enjoy myself. I improvise, listening for whatever is next. Being right ‘in the moment’ is the key – both with the pen in hand for the lyrics, my fingers on the keys and voice ready for the music.

As I write, as well as enjoying the relaxing performance aspect, I keep an ear out for the story as it reveals itself. It’s fascinating how the various sentences come together, where they come from, what they end up leading to.

It’s all a mystery, to be honest, after all these years. I’ve composed about 800 songs now. This one is song #573, from 2011. It’s a joy to be writing songs.

I’ve remembered: the song that my friend thought was ‘lonely’ was Lone Tree (from the Tasman Bridge album)…maybe I’ll feature it in a podcast episode soon.

As the weeks go by, I enjoy grabbing ideas and phrases and turning them into something new. Songwriting (and art in general) is great like that. It can be a very healing process.

Speaking of art, I’m working on another seascape painting. If you’d like to see it, check out my blog www.petepascoe.wordpress.com. There are also some ‘work in progress’ pics.

Eventually, I’ll finish my video courses I’m working on (piano, seascape painting, cartoon drawing,. etc). All in good time.

For now, it’s nice to be sharing lots of positive art and music online each week – including this podcast, it’s such a pleasure to be doing this.

I hope you enjoy ‘Lonely Tune’ – and the chat.