Electric Cow – Song and a Chat

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:13 — 20.8MB)

Episode #221: Electric Cow. (Song starts at 4:52)

I would say the main take away from this particular episode is perhaps this: no matter how strange, how silly, how childlike a creative idea that pops into your head is, I would suggest it’s really important not to dismiss it.

In fact, I would say these are perhaps some of the most important sparks of ideas. The unedited & unbridled joy of creativity – the sort of domain that comes so naturally to us as children.

I think perhaps that voice, that state, is something we tend to lose as the years go by. We’re taught not to be silly, to focus on ‘what’s real’ (which brings to mind: anything that is manmade that we would consider ‘real’ in todays world didn’t exist, once upon a time – it started in someone’s mind. Imagination is the key).

A great way to unlock this ability that cam come so naturally to us (and I really do think most of us have the ability, we have to – to be human is to create.

So I choose to create beautiful things or funny things. Life might as well be beautiful and it sure as heck may as well be fun.

Having this sort of state of mind was instrumental to bringing Electric Cow in to being.

A decade ago. I was biking home from teaching 17 private piano lessons (big day, eh? You do what you have to to get by financially. I’m teaching 22 in 2 days each week, these days & that’s plenty. And it’s a privilege. One of the things I say often to my students before we start is: are you ready to have some fun? Ready to make some mistakes …because that’s where some of the most interesting most important moments in art, science, you name it, happen).

Anyway…on my bike, this whole verse electric cow, electric cow, what the hey do I need an electric cow for?came through loud and clear.

Now, I could have dismissed this as rubbish. But I didn’t.

I’m so pleased I didn’t dismiss it. In fact, the next 4 or 5 verses came though as I was biking. I went over them in my mind and whenI got home, my family saw the look on my face. I marched though the house to my studio, wrote out the whacky words and quickly found the chords f f g, FF g.

And that was that.

Speaking of teaching, today I taught an hour’s cartoon drawing with 20 children, sharing creative ideas about how to get into a free creative state. This appears to be something I’m really into.

On this episode I have included audio of the demo, and the recorded parts of the final arrangement. This is because sometimes the production, the recording can be part of the composition, and I think this is perhaps true to a degree with this song. It’s all good fun, I guess it has to be with a title like electric cow…

Electric Cow is the 4th song on the new album by myself and Paul Dredge: River walking – streaming now!

I hope you enjoy hearing how another song came together.