26th April 2026
I had the day set aside for recording, Chris was due at around noon with an expectation of having a productive time. As usual he arrived half an hour late, it’s just the way he is.
He was excited to use a new Yamaha guitar he had bought recently, and it did sound good.
I had set up a blank screen and created the recording environment, as he tinkered around with a new song he had written.
Once he set the tempo, we started to record the first guitar track.
This is usually scrapped, but it allows the musician to get into a groove.
We recorded several other guitar tracks finally getting a perfect take.
When he started putting a rough vocal down, I had to stop him. I tried to be tactful by saying that the melody line was very similar to a previous song we had recorded. He was a little stunned, he couldn’t remember what the other song was. We both sat there for a few minutes, I hummed a few notes of what song it was, and Chris suddenly realised the title. He sang through it, “Yes! That’s the one”.
How were we going to change it? It had the same tempo, and a similar structure.
More head scratching, I suggested slowing the song down, and changing the chord progression.
This was a typical example of a songwriter stuck in a rut. Although the other song was recorded eight years ago, its DNA is embedded in Chris’s mind.
This session wasn’t going anywhere, he decided to go away and completely rewrite it.
I spent the rest of the afternoon pulling up grass and weeds from the flower beds with Winnie grabbing them and running around the garden with them in her mouth. I need to train her to only rip out the same stuff, and leave the shrubs and flowers alone.
Another Lifetime to go 