Song and a Chat

Episode #217: Sunset Swim (Song starts at 5:27)

Going back to March 1997, my girlfriend (now my wife) and I had just arrived from New Zealand to settle into the big city of Melbourne, Australia.

This was the first song I wrote since we’d left NZ.

As the title suggests, this song is inspired by a sunset we experienced in an incredibly beautiful place called Sprits Bay, in the far north of New Zealand.

I feel we were so lucky to have stayed there when we did. There  was an old camp (just a couple of cold showers and a toilet), a long long golden beach, no cars, no shops, miles away from any flight paths.

We lived by the tides, catching our dinner from the beach in the morning and then off the rocks in the after noon and evenings.

When you do this for 2 weeks, your brain is somewhere else. You are really lost in nature. imagine it: not going to the shop, not getting petrol, not putting the radio on. Just the sound of the waves day and night.

Anyway, one evening we had a swim in a spectacular sunset, I say ‘in’ the sunset because the ocean was as red as the sky and you couldn’t really tell where the sky finished and sky began. Bliss.

Contrast that, then, with the big city 2 months later: tangled tongues, everyone out to convince someone else they need to buy something, do something, experience this, that - the trams, the cars…yes, it was somewhat of a shock.

When the day came we finally had found somewhere to live, got jobs (which all happened on the same day , after a few weeks). We had $10 left to our names after we’d paid the bond. We had a a couple of pots and pans, some crockery, a mattress - all very romantic and somewhat intense.

So the first time I had a couple of hours to myself, with my keyboard set up, I pulled out the words I’d written and decided to to write a song,

And what I wrote was a rocking sort of an up pop song.

Because I’d come ‘across the ditch’, as they say, from NZ, to start all over again: find a new band and see where it would take us.

I was determined to create the band, asap. At 30, I felt like my was racing by, to a degree. Here we are in 2024, and I’m still a driven artist, songwriter, musician and painter.

This podcast is part of the big picture, the backstory to some songs. If you will. It’s been such good fun exploring the songwriting process by looking at how my songs were composed, what inspired them.

But more than that it’s been fantastic to hear back from listeners that my podcast and blog has inspired them to get creative (again) , getting into songwriting and recording, etc.

Each week it’s my ‘online gig’. Thanks for tuning in for this episode. It’s such good fun to produce these episodes. I fly by the seat of my pants, there is no script. It’s creative, energised, relaxed …I’m basically entertaining, I guess. That’s what I do.

Ok here we go. Join us in the great outdoors….and the in the studio. Great to be in nature and it’s great to be in the studio writing songs about it. Sunset swim....rolling!

Here’s where you can find the lyrics www.petepascoe.wordpress.com  (search for Sunset Swim).There’s links to lots of my music and art here. Enjoy.

Episode #216: Autumn Evenings (Song starts at 5:33)

It was a pleasure to rediscover song #261, Autumn Evenings for this episode. I wrote it in 1993.

Here we are now, in 2023 - I’ve written about 800 songs now.

At the market this week, people were asking me how on earth I managed to do this (not to mention the 1000s of cartoons & hundreds of seascapes).

I’ve found having a peaceful space it really helps me to create. I make sure I’m in the mood before I even pick up the brush, the pen, or let my hands near the keys of the piano.

Because emotion gives you the push, the momentum and focus - in fact, almost everything you need.

The other thing you need is to have some sort of art ‘down’. For me I can let my fingers just play on the keys of my piano and they seem to find endless combinations of notes that really appeal to me.

The opening chords of autumn evenings are emotive to me. They take me right back to the day I wrote the lyrics for this one. I was sitting in my old van, having taken a drive to see the view over Lake Taupo, NZ (quite incredible: a vast inland lake with the volcanic back drop of 3 huge mountains).

Beautiful. And the power of the beauty of your surroundings has a big say on what we create in our lives.

So I choose to lead a peaceful life. It’s a life of some solitude…more than I thought might have been the case.

You can’t pick the future, I never dreamt I’d become a seascape painter, for instance.

Back in 1993, I was a piano man, spending some time by myself. Sitting in the van, I let my thoughts drift back to the sunset of the evening before. And then, looking south, beyond the mountains, in my mind, to a person, well, ok,  a love interest, who was never to far from my thoughts. She popped into my mind and that gave me the idea to bring her into the song about the sunset of the previous evening

And with just a few lines, it all came together. The idea of somehow sharing watching the sunset, although we were in two different parts of the country…in a sense we’d be together.

Ha-  the desperate sensitive mind of the artist, eh. Oh well, you sort of let it out now and then… actually there’s not too much of it ( ‘it’ being overly romantic mush) in the song.. for that reason, I think it works well.

Singing and playing the song for this episode was fun (I’ve no idea when the last time I played it was - years ago). Flying by the seat of my pants, I made a couple of changes in the moment.

This is an example of what I get up to, when I’m in the mood: I get into ‘performance mode’ and sing and play one song after the other. And as I go along, I make little changes. Changes I wouldn’t have been  able to make if I wasn’t in the performance mode. Because those changes might not make artistic sense - and it’s all about the art.

Ok..I hope you enjoy this half hour chat as I sit at the piano  - and the song, of course, too. I’ll also take you to the arts market on this episode (some audio I recorded at my stall).

I’ve written another 9 songs this week. It’s so nice when they come tumbling out.

Plenty on my blog  including the lyrics of this song and this weeks painting, go here: www.petepascoe.Wordpress.com. and search for autumn evenings.

Enjoy.

Episode #215: Righto (Song starts at 4:10)

It struck me tonight as I recorded this episode, how grateful I am to be doing this. It is such a buzz, letting the song lead the way as I look at the creative process of how a song comes together.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to have any musical theory up your sleeve to enjoy the show.

I believe the creative domain is an inclusive one. The more the merrier.

Ok Righto, song #262 was written in 1993. The recording you’ll hear on this episode became the title track for the album Righto. You can find it here www.petepascoe.bandcamp.com

We wrote it in a beautiful place called the Bay of Islands - we being Paul Dredge and myself. We had a van, we were on the road, on holiday - and we were making some music, as usual. Paul had an old ovation guitar. It had a broken neck from memory. Someone had glued back together. He picked up for next to nothing so it became his ‘on the road’ knock about instrument.

I’d written the words first. There’s a very up sort of vibe about this song. Before I’d finished saying to Paul “I have in mind, a some sort of Dave Dobbyn ish ‘up’ song”, away he went, strumming away with serious energy on his guitar. Going with moment - when energy flows like this, you go with it - I opened my mouth an winged the melody.

And very quickly we had another new song.

Being Grateful became a bit of theme on this episode.

I’m extremely for grateful for the longevity of the song writing relationship and friendship I have with Paul dredge. We are putting the finishing touches to our next album right now, in 2024. Righto was written 30 odd years ago. That amazes me.

What amazes me about this demo is the very up, fresh energy. Much like the country I wrote the lyrics about : New Zealand. The lyrics are a series of observations about what made the country I was born and raised in a great place to be.

This song is not a piano vocal ballad. It wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Paul. But then it wouldn’t exist if I hadn’t sung it …or written the lyrics in the first place.

It’s great thing to write songs with someone. Well, in my experience, it is. Paul and I have a very easy going manner when it comes to creating a song together. It comes from, I think, perhaps, hours and hours of flying hours, spent gigging.Thousands of gigs. Which we loved.

So we’ve carried on writing songs and recording them together after all these years. It’s something we both love. Arranging songs is such fun. And we mage it, even though we are in different countries.

Righto is an interesting one. You wouldn’t put much piano on it. So in the studio, I played sparsely, the odd sort of a piano lick, around Paul’s harmonica and a few chords in the choruses.

So it’s good to be aware of what to leave out. It’s the same with sing writing: often, less is more. This song doesn’t have a bridge. It didn’t need one. It would have just got in the way of the straight forward presentation.

Ok , hope you enjoy hearing about how Righto came together.

Very grateful to have you reading this, and having a listen . Enjoy.

You can find the lyrics here www.petepascoe.wordpress.com search for righto.

Pete

Episode #214:  Trust To Receive.   (Song starts at 7:12)

Hi there &  welcome to another episode. Here we are, looking at another song again, in a ‘songwriter speaks’ style  - inclusive, casual fun, entertaining.… this time it’s Trust To Receive, song #105. Composed in 1989!

Again this week, this song popped into my mind. I knew it was in the ‘green book’ (my 1st old book of handwritten songs)…as an experiment, I held the book upside down and back to front, flicked the pages once - and it opened, sure enough - on Trust To Receive. Amazing, to me. Go figure. I take it as a 'nod that I’m heading in the right direction’ when this sort of coincidence happens.

Then I opened the cupboard, dug up the cassette (which I knew the song was on, in this case). And it was all but teed up - just the end of a nice song by my co-songwriting buddy, Paul Dredge, to listen to (I’m loving producing this podcast. I’m rediscovering more music each week).   The cassette was a recording of an album Paul and I wrote and recorded way back in the the early 1990s.

And here I am, in 2024, finishing our 6th ‘proper’ album which will be steaming shortly.

Determination would be the key.

The demo you’ll hear was recorded on a 4 track machine. It’s fair to say I was really just finding my way as a song writer, with 105 songs under my belt.

There’s something about Trust To Receive that I really like. It’s different. Sort of a reggae influenced song - unusual for a pianist to write this sort of song, but immediately you can hear I was hearing in my head more than just the piano and voice, as I wrote this one.

The whole band arrangement came along as I wrote the music to the lyrics for the first verse.

From there, it really is about following the feeling, the story, if you like.

Each musical phrase is related to the preceding and the one that follows.

Just like each line of the lyrics.

I can’t tell you where this snap shot of series of images came from: 'silent stare, a motionless vigil.’… a dream? Set against a cold city, a feminine character emerges. Obviously having been through some trials, the narrator sees beauty, sees fragility but also senses underlying strength ..potential. Trust is required for love to be received and that’s the message of the song. I would say for the both the character in the song - and the narrator (and of course the listener).

It was fun to listen back to this old demo. What would I go back and do differently? …well, pretty much everything. But it remains a document of it’s day. It captured a feeling, a groove, with the gear I had. And if I hadn’t recorded that, the song would’ve disappeared.

I’m glad I recorded it and I’m glad I thought to feature it this week.

I hope you enjoy hearing a bit about how Trust To Receive came together,

On this episode I’ll also take you for a walk down to the beach, as I take photos to use for references for a seascape painting which is going to an exhibition this week. I’m busy…..

2 new albums so close to being finished now. I really enjoyed doing some mixing last week (lots to listen to online streaming on the usual platform.

blog: www.petepascoe.wordpress.com

Ok, on with the show…hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed recording this episode.

‘Trust To Receive, rollin’!…’

Episode #213: Revolving Door  (Song starts at 5:42)

I’d completely forgotten about song #453, from 1999, Revolving Door. Well, it isn’t 1999 now! The years have certainly whizzed by.

The great thing about being a songwriter (or doing any creative activity) is, it gets you ‘in the moment’ - the moment where your sense of self is put a side somehow. You are so focussed on your art, you’ve let go completely. In that moment you’re inspired.

A song becomes a document of a series of moments like this, it’s a magic, slightly altered state to be in, if you will.

That sort of energy seems to come down through the years, listening back to a recording like the demo you’ll hear on this episode, which I recorded in 2000.

It’s only piano vocal, but you’ll feel the energy I was feeling at the time, I was hearing guitars, bass, drums, orchestra, the whole works.

That’s what often happens when I play the piano. An arrangement begins to take shape, right from the beginning of the writing process, for me.

So what’s 'Revolving Door' about ? My girlfriend at the time (now my lovely wife),  was a Gemini. The twins is the astrological star sign childlike and playful one minute, measured older, wiser view the next. A certain style of jewellery and clothing one day, the next a total different style. It’s fun, it’s ‘up’ and keeps things interesting.

So this was my initial idea fro writing a song.

And then the lyrics move on to asking a question of the listener …how many people speak through you? Explores the idea that we all change and grow and evolve constantly.

The energy of the lyrics inspired me to cut loose on the piano. The result is a song that’s written to be performed by a full band. It’d would require a few different guitar parts to create the arrangement I hear in my head.

The bridge monetarily becomes reflective but soon explode with a ’thunderstorm of anger' and then back into the song, which becomes ‘a summer holiday’.

It’s a happy thing to find an old demo like this. This one sounds like a real celebration of love, of life - and it is.

It’s fun to think back to what I was up at the time I wrote it….I was a pianoman, here in Melbourne. We’d recently moved over from New Zealand. There were sacrifices to make. It was hard. It still is, at times. But it’s also a joy.

As a song writer, you’ve got to keep moving on.

On my podcast I encourage listeners to do something creative regularly - or carry on on this path if they’re already underway.

I’m keeping on moving on all these years later, painting and writing songs, blogging podcasting, gigging, doing markets (where I sell my art), working on sheet music and video courses behind the scenes - and 5 new albums.

So plenty happening, I’ve put a lot of my art and music online you can find it via my blog ( lots of links here on 200 odd posts, which you can browse through, it’ll take you to al sorts of platforms to listen to musicians and view my art) www.petepascoe.wordpress.com

Enjoy.

Episode #212: New World Dawning  (Song starts at 6:22)

I really enjoyed writing song #207, New World Dawning, back in 1992.

The lines ‘I never thought I’d cry tears You can buy at the chemist’ Were never going to shake the foundations of anyone’s world, but that was my opening gambit (I was talking about the saline solution I used with my contact lenses). Undeterred, I carried on.

The words came and they lead on to an expansive sort of a world view. A world that felt like it was yet to exist: a world of golden opportunities, communication and love - that’s one description of this world. Perhaps that was an artists vision. I was inspired at the time and I still am today.

You are what you listen to, what you eat, etc. I see at the top of my page in the songbook, there’s a wee sentence scrawled…’it’s amazing what a Crowded House video can do’, so thank you Neil Finn, and the guys, you really inspired me.

The demo was recorded in 1996. I remember the afternoon. It was a spur of the moment decision to record one of my piano vocal sessions. What I did  - and still do - is this: I flick open my songbooks (all handwritten, the 800) ..and I find myself in a very free performance mode.

I play random songs one after the other, and I keep my ears open for new hooks, harmonies, and lines, as I sing and play. I make mental notes and sometimes quickly note a key line.or new melody to sing for a line.

I think as songwriter, you need to be open to editing and rewriting again and again. A song isn’t cast in stone - even when it’s recorded you can always record a new version.

So New World comes from an honest place, I think. After walking home from the piano bar, in the early hours of the morning, back in 1992, I opened the door at home. I was living in a converted garage. A single room abode, I gratefully climbed into my waterbed, enjoying the warmth.And I picked up my pen (my habit, my ritual) and began writing.

And I’m pleased I did. What made me write all these songs ? ( and there’s also stacks of unused pages of lyrics and poems somewhere around here) Passion. I loved it. And I still do. That’s why I still write.

In my studio tonight when I went to record a podcast episode, New World Dawning came to mind. I put my hand in a box of cassettes of random recordings and put the cassette I pulled out on the tape deck. And there it was, all cued up ready to roll.

That amazes me. Because it’s not the first time it’s happened for these episodes.

I take note of these things. I find coincidences like this all very mystical and reassuring. I do operate on another planet a lot. It’s who I am - I’m an out and out artist. Perhaps this is the new world dawning…the time of the arts…

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this demo - and and the chat about how the song came to be. I enjoyed recording the episode, as always.

If you want to hear more , you can stream lots of my music on the usual platforms (eg Spotify)

I have a music website: www.petepascoe.bandcamp.com (You can my hear my music; with Paul Dredge; and with the Patient Hum band). Folk rock, rock , solo piano and singer songwriter. I love the variety.

On that note you’ll see on my blog I’m also a cartoonist and seascape painter. I’m working on tuition videos to present everything I’ve learned and am still learning. See www.petepascoe.wordpress.com

If you’d like to get onboard on my email list, I’d love that (via www.petepascoe.com)

I’m into sharing creative uplifting art and music. And I encourage others to get creative.

Here we go. A new world dawning…rolling!

Episode #211:  Got Away On Me Again  (song starts at 4:02).

Welcome to another episode. Picture me sitting at my piano, with the microphone on. Before me I have my songbooks. I’ve picked out a song Got Away On Me Again (Song # 663, written in 2017).

Yes, I have a song to sing, which is nice to be able to present and talk about. I’ve written quite a few over the years. It’s nice to have them up my sleeve. The real pleasure has been the time spent creating them.

There’s a line in the this song. Time, time, time’s got away on me again. It’s funny, after last week’s song, written in my twenties, the same theme has popped up again.

Although with this song, it’s more just an observation, rather than sort of fretting about the years passing by a too quickly.

I really think one way to alleviate the worries of getting older is to immerse ourselves totally in some sort of artistic process.

If I ever feel a sense of regret about anything in my life, one things for sure: I’ve never regretted time spent writing songs, painting pictures or writing lyrics, etc.

This week I performed Got Away On Me live this week at the Mornington Winter Music Festival, here on the Mornington peninsula, part of greater Melbourne, Australia.

I included a snippet of this live performance on this episode. On the street, it’s incredibly noisy. There’s an art to performing in that sort of an environment . What happens is: you’re nipping in and out of ‘the zone’, as such. People walking by smile and nod and you reciprocate, perhaps say thanks for a dollar tossed into the briefcase with the CDs and sign. The cars, crows, the seagulls all catch your ear.

When I’m songwriting , I’ve been extremely lucky to have a very peaceful environment, for the most part. I think that’s really important …not essential, but it sure helps if you can really focus on what you’re doing without any distractions. Fairly obvious, right?

The thing is, the longer I’m in the moment, the deeper in I get. It’s definitely a shift in consciousness. You’re gone. It’s such a pleasure to be a songwriter. If you’re thinking about getting into it, I say: go for it.

Got Away On Me Again is about catching those moments in your hands…sure the years are passing by, but they’re always going to be doing that.

So we may as well be free and do things that we love doing - as much as possible. Personal freedom is the key,

And how do we create time to do this in our busy lives? I think by committing to a definitive amount of time each week. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time, even 10mins. But if you do that you can up the ante to 20mins..and so on.

Pretty soon, hopefully you’ll be looking back on 6 months where it’s become a habit, and you’re enjoying it som much, it’s something you really don’t want to let go of.

That’s where I find myself: 200 odd podcast episodes, 200 odd blog posts, 800 songs, a dozen albums  (soon to be 17).

Looking forward to releasing some albums shorty. And finishing those video courses… yep time got away on me again.

I hope you enjoy having listen to this song …and the chat

Here we go, rollin’!

Lyrics here (+ links to more art and music): www.petepascoe.wordpress.com

Episode #210: Forever  (Song starts at 4:20)

I went outside tonight, just before I recorded this episode. The stars are incredible aren’t they? Infinite. Makes you realise how insignificant we are, really.

I like to think we all count. We all made up part of the universe.

Those sorts of big thoughts are the sorts of things I was thinking when I wrote Forever, song#85.

It was 1988. I had a gig at the ski fields in New Zealand. I was playing the piano and singing in the evenings. Apart from this, my time was my own. So I skied. And when it rained I wrote songs,

When you’re up the mountain, your mind can really wander. It was a moody place. Often serene, some days the wind was really howling.

Also what was inspiring me was Crowded House’s 2nd album, Temple Of Low Men. I listened to it every night as I went to sleep. So 80s music was the style I was listening to.

Also what had a big say on how Forever came together, style wise was: everything night after the gig , I’d walk back to my room, feet crunching on the frosty gravel. Under my was my Roland D50 synth.

Before I listened to the Crowded House album, I’d pick up my pen and write a page or 2 of lyrics.

The next day, I’d fire up the synth. And randomly select a patch (a different sound).

It’s quite different to composing on the piano, writing on the synth. A breath of fresh air. And it suited the style I was writing.

I enjoyed recording the demo for this episode. I fired up the drum machine for a bit of fun. It was nice to finally record the demo, it’s been a wee while since 1988.

The lyrics are about sitting back in the evening, considering the bigger picture, how the years are nipping by. ( the pinch of the years) and the the little dreams that eat away. Endless evenings of different plans.

What’s this all about? For me, it’s about the fact that I’m a very driven person when it comes to the arts.

Something made me write 800 songs, and I’m still going. I’m loving recoding them - I’m working on wrapping up another 5 albums presently,

The 6th folk rock album, with Paul Dredge is finally done. Whoo!

It’s is nice to complete a creative project. But then what happens? The next thing suddenly becomes the new focus, us creative people need to keep moving on.

It’s never about the destination. It’s about the process.

I wonder whether I’ll record Forever one day? Perhaps. It strikes me as a sort of an album track.

Ive been toying with recording an 80s sort of a synth driven album. I imagine Forever might fit on that sort of an album .

It’s good to have variety in my life. I’ve composed all sorts of songs from quiet piano solo pieces to rock songs. I paint and sell seascapes, cartoons of animals and teach piano. I enjoy making the videos for my music. And I’m working on video courses for the piano, seascapes and cartoon drawing

Today was one of those days where I felt like my plans were getting away on me. So made a new plan, came up with a timeline, some deadlines. We’ll see how it goes.

Anyhow, I was still in a bit of a reflective mind when I came in to my studio tonight to record this episode. Forever had been floating around in my mind these last few weeks.

I flicked open the 1st book and there it was, song #85. There are 154 songs in the first book

Look at yourself in the mirror is there a stranger staring back?

The years pass by and it seems some days you have a realisation you’ve got a bit older. It’s not something you think of each day (well, I don’t). It just catches up on you now and then.

Ok come back in time with me to 1988. It was a most enjoyable gig, the ski gig.  I’m glad I wrote songs like Forever. Here we go (lyrics here: www.petepascoe.wordpress.com (The Bounce/Forever)

Episode #209:  A Certain Kind Of  (Song starts at 4:41 )

This song, #213, is in a different style to the piano vocal ones that have made up the bulk of the songs featured on this podcast. It was written in 1992 by myself and with Paul Dredge on guitar. So it’s a guitar + voices song.

Writing with Paul, when we are in the same room, is great fun. Having had a brief chat about the lyrics, what sort of mood style might suit, Paul will start playing a riff or some chords on his acoustic guitar. I have the prewritten lyrics draft in hand.

It’s completely liberating for me to wing a melody over the top of what Paul is playing. I have no idea what chords he’s playing (I don’t play guitar). His fingers moving easily on the fretboard, his eyes are shut for the most part. Me, I’m alternatively looking into space, or projecting some sort of energy back to Paul as we write together. He’ll look up now and then and we just click together.

There’s been a fair few songs written like this by us now. We are about to release our 6th folk rock album. Our last one was called The Untrodden Track (It’s streaming on all the usual platforms).

Being able to write songs so easily and quickly together is something we certainly don’t take for granted. It’s a joy.

The words include Tip toeing on broken glass. It was an emotional time for me when I write the lyrics (a love interest, things not running all that smoothly).

t’s a good idea as a song writer to keep an eye on yourself in terms of maybe keeping a diary. You can then. glean some truths, what’s true to you. When you do this sort of work on the self, I think you’re more likely to write songs that ring true. Because they come from a place of some clarity. That’s the idea, anyway.

You may choose to tuck of that truth into some arty sort of lyric writing, obtuse, if you will.. there’s some interesting lines in this song that’s for sure: communicating in a chamber

One of the great things about emotional upheavals is they can be great experiences to draw on to put into art. Affairs of the heart.

When Paul and I write, we are completely on the same page. We communicate without talking as we improvise our parts. You have to listen very closely to what the other person is doing, when you’re in the moment, composing together.

A Certain Kind Of was one of 17 songs we recorded and mixed in 3 days (!), our first time in a real studio. With Earl Pollard on drums and Michelle Pickett on vocal harmonies, it all came together really well. Everything was one take - including the vocals. All sung live together, with some tight harmonies.

Performing music like this in the studio is a blast. I was as high as kite at the time of - and for days after - the recording sessions. It was like we managed to produce the paintings which I always imagined we could, after having working drawings and sketches for so long.

Composing and recording is still where it’s at for me after all these years. I’m putting the finishing touches to 5 albums at the moment, in different genres  - and I intend to release them all this year.

This podcast is such good fun, creatively, it’s a great release for me to me to be doing what amounts to a songwriter speaks sort of online gig each week. It’s nice to be sharing the music, the stories, some songs writing ideas.

By the way, you certainly don’t need any musical theory up your sleeve to enjoy this podcast. It’s inclusive, each week, while I’m inviting you into my songs (which at times are very personal), once they are complete , recorded even a demo, means they are outside of me, so I’m comfortable sharing.

Each listener is going to hear the song differently. Some will hear the beat, others the melody, others the mood, others the lyrics.

Arranging a song is great fun as well. So it’s a multifaceted thing, this song writing..there’s the lyrics, the music to compose, the demo to record, the finished arrangement. The live performance.

Episode #208: Country Gentleman Jack (song starts at 4:30)

Back in 1993, I was the piano man at Wairakei resort, in New Zealand’s north island, near Taupo - beautiful place.

Outside of my regular entertainment in the restaurant hours, I wrote songs like this one: Country Gentleman Jack, song #319.

As part of the contract, I was also hired to play piano vocal music for conventions. One particular calm winters evening, I found myself in the scene, playing away, equal parts lost in the music and also keeping an eye the patrons, making sure what I’m doing suited the moment. It’s an art.

I happened to glance up mid song and noticed an older chap at the bar. He seemed like a fish out of water, amongst all the city types, the suits and Shiraz and scotches, He really looked like he was from the country with his quiet expression and quiet beer. So much so, it looked like he’d beamed in from another age.

He wasn’t awkward though, he nodded with social grace, a gentleman. But I could see he wasn’t exactly tied up in any conversations with everyone. Perhaps he was watching the piano man for a moment and that’s what caused me to look up.

I took a break, wandered over to the bar and without great emphasis quietly said gidday. Code for ‘you know I’m from the country, too, or part of me is. I think I can see you might be feeling a bit uncomfortable there…’

So we wandered outside for a yarn.

Just this week at the market someone asked me what’s the best thing about making a living from my art and music. I replied with just a slight breath in and out, the people. It’s what is all about.

Like any calling, any business, any life we are all designed to cross paths with people, exchange information, learn stuff (or not) and carry on.

Some people really stay in your mind. Jack was one of those characters that pretty much ended up writing a song for me.

Writing the lyrics was easy. Back in my hotel room, in a somewhat reflective mood, it was just a matter of letting my mind flick back through scenes of the evening.

Some of the lines were were pretty much just reporting. What I thought Jack might be thinking, his actions, where we went, outside into the crisp evening to catch some air. And this:

The look on his face when it came to when we had to go back into the room. Unfamiliar ground, for Jack. For me, it was back to the piano.

At the end of the bracket, I couldn’t see Jack in the crowd. So I wandered back outside. It really was a stunning place, in the country. The stars were always crystal clear, bright and close.

As I walked out the door, a truck trundled by. It was Jack. He wound down the window , smiled and wished me luck. And with that he trundled up the driveway and headed off down the highway, into the night, leaving the bright shiny scene behind him...and none too soon, I suspect.

So the lyrics came together quickly for me, as they often do. We had some common ground. I’d spent a lot of my childhood school holidays on farms, with my dad, hunting and fishing. You learn the ropes. There is no rush in the country. Unless stock ( the animals) need urgent attention - or the rain was about to hit with the hay on the ground... Then it’s all go. Other than that there’s all the time in the world. Because you’re in touch with the land , the seasons, the language of the weather ...etc. it appeals to me.

So it was a chance for me to dip into these sorts of feelings and experiences- while relating a tale like a country yarn (and it’s a cardinal sin to rush a country person’s yarn). It’s connection, self worth, reflection. It’s a rite not to be dismissed.

To catch some of those feelings in the words was fun.

When I sat at the piano the next day, I had a gentle smile on my face. I knew I had a story, some feeling, all of which was a natural fit for me.

When the words feel that way, it seems the music flows easily. And that’s just what happened.

There were quite a few words...as you can see on my blog www.petepascoe.Wordpress.com.