The Volume Knob

OK, so. As always, I want to take a minute to thank Zach for his fantastic story. The time he's spent and the vulnerability he was willing to bring forward talking about a tough time in his life were inspiring. If it's not obvious from listening to him, Zachary is an extremely intelligent and thoughtful man. Really a pleasure to have him on the podcast. If you're interested in his work as a lawyer (unsurprisingly, he's as articulate in that domain as he is when talking about the tabla) you can check out an interview that he did with Global Edmonton: here.

If Zach was apologetic about his lack of knowledge about the tabla, Zakir Hussein and Hindustani music in general, imagine how hesitant I am! That said, it was a pretty interesting journey learning a little about something I really had less than no knowledge about a few short weeks ago.  There's a full version of The Essence of Rhythm on youtube and, though I won't probably be returning to it, I think it's pretty easy to see the mastery in it that inspired Zach all those years ago in Calgary.  

Make sure you follow The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net.

And if you have a story about the song that saved your life be sure to send it to me at [email protected].

So excited that Nisha made time to share her story with us this week! 

Her work has appeared in some of the "biggest" venues in the personal storytelling "business" (hey, these are all relative terms, folks) including The Moth and Risk! If you're interested in more of Nisha's work you can check out her website and her different social media.  (You can even see here playing violin on her youtube channel!)

Though I didn't include it in the episode, Nisha and I had a pretty cool conversation about No Quarter and how the song's structure reflected John Paul Jones' desire to play long keyboard solos. The song is around 7 minutes long and there are about three-and-a-half verses of lyrics! 

Critics have made similar observations (and not only kindly). In fact, Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone called No Quarter "nothing more than (a) drawn-out vehicles for the further display of Jones' unknowledgeable use of mellotron and synthesizer."

Harsh.

FWIW, I've been rocking out to it a bunch lately and, with AC/DC unapologetically bringing back 1970s rock sounds  here in 2020, No Quarter has fit into my overall personal soundtrack quite nicely (along with a pile of Rush, for some reason).

As always, I strongly encourage you to listen to the full version of the song before and/or after you listen to this week's episode. You'll be glad you did! 

Make sure you follow The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net.

And if you have a story about the song that saved your life be sure to send it to me at [email protected].

Many thanks to James for his time, talent and vulnerability this week. You can check out James' music on his Bandcamp  page or by watching the video that he and his landlord (!) made for All of Arkansas the lead single on his most recent album Stars Blue Wheel. You can also follow him on the socials.  

As you may have gathered from Katie's review this week, Songs: Ohia is a band in pretty heavy rotation here at TVK HQ. Accordingly, when James proposed a story based on Farewell Transmission I was pretty excited. 

If you were listening closely, I used brief clips of two versions of the song in this week's episode. The album version and the demo which is all the more lovely for having been, seemingly recorded outside with the birds and cicadas playing their part. As always, I'd encourage you to listen to the whole song either before or after you listen to the show and if you, like me, end up falling hard for Jason Molina's work you might want to listen to Didn't it Rain , The Lioness (which has, for my money, one of the sexiest choruses ever recorded) or maybe this acoustic version of Hold On Magnolia  which has stopped my heart more than once during the production of this week's show. Such a great talent, taken too soon.

As always, you can get in touch with The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net.

Do you have a story about the song that saved your life? Send it to me at [email protected].

Claire's storytelling talents have been featured all over including several different episodes of Confabulation. So many thanks to her for sharing her time and talents with the show.

Paul McCartney has told interviewers that She Loves You  was initially written  in Newcastle while the Beatles were on tour with Roy Orbison and Gerry and the Pacemakers and completed at his home in Liverpool. He says the song was initially inspired the call and response pattern in Forget Him by teen idol Bobby Rydell (check out the Brylcreem in that dreamboat photo!)  I don't hear it, myself. But I guess that's why he's a billionaire OBE and I'm...not. As always, I'd encourage you to listen to the song before (and even again after) you hear the episode. I find it's especially interesting to hear a song as well known as She Loves you from someone else's perspective. 

Make sure you follow The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net.

And if you have a story about the song that saved your life be sure to send it to me at [email protected].

So many thanks to Kadi for her time, vulnerability and storytelling talents this week. 

You can hear another one of Kadi's stories (about a less than relaxing yoga retreat) here. She also has a  soundcloud ! Check it out to hear her young adult fiction podcast called YA! podcast. You can also check Kadi out @kadi_d on all the socials.

I'll See You In My Dreams isn't exclusively a ukulele jam. In fact, it first charted in the 20s! Since then it has been recorded by a virtual who's who (including Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Jerry Lee Lewis and Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys). That said it's easy to see how Joe Brown's version  from the 2002 Concert for George (Harrison) at Royal Albert Hall in London is a favourite. Though I love Ella Fitzgerald's version, I think Kadi's dead right about how Joe Brown's recording embodies the lightness a loved one's warmly-held memory. And now I won't ever be able to hear it without thinking of the Quran and sheep skin jackets. 

As always, I'd encourage you to listen to the song before (and even again after) you hear the episode.

Make sure you follow The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net.

And if you have a story about the song that saved your life be sure to send it to me at [email protected].

Many thanks to Charlie for his time and unbelievable sense of humour this week (the Tina Turner impression KILLED me). He really is a force of nature! 

I have to admit that musicals have never been my cup of tea. That said, in preparing this episode I've been left humming Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You ... a lot! The kids have complained particularly that the quartet melody has sneaked its way into the nightly lullaby.  As always, you should take a minute to listen to the music before or after (or both!) you listen to the episode.

Please get in touch with The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net (newsletters and interesting stuff soon to come to mailing list subscribers!).  Also, if you use Apple Podcasts to listen to the show, please take a moment to leave a review! It definitely helps others discover these tremendous stories.

Do you have a story about the song that saved your life? Send it to me at [email protected].

As always, many thanks to Arn for his time and vulnerability (especially for digging up his 30-plus-year-old diaries for me to virtually rummage through). You can learn more about him and his research into the interaction between resource companies and indigenous communities on his web site.  

The Whole of the Moon is an interesting track with some serious staying power despite it's rather dated sounding production. The Waterboys' lead singer Mike Scott has always been a little cryptic in his descriptions of the subject of the song. He's contradicted suggestions that it's written for CS Lewis  or Prince, telling The Guardian that "The Whole of the Moon is about someone like CS Lewis, who seemed to see so much and explore issues much more deeply than most people, or it could be about a Jimi Hendrix-type person who comes 'like a comet, blazing your trail' and is gone too soon, but it’s not specifically about anyone."  

As always, I'd suggest that you listen to the song in full either before or after you listen to the show. 

Please get in touch with The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net (newsletters and interesting stuff soon to come to mailing list subscribers!).

Do you have a story about the song that saved your life? Send it to me at [email protected].

Many thanks to Michael for sharing his story with us this week. 

You can read a bunch of his writing on his blog Radio Free Canuckistan  or by picking up one of his books.

Learning more about Condition is tougher. You can pick up a copy of their 1985 record Mumbo Jumbo (which features Play Me That Rhythm) on Discogs. There is little to no other evidence of the band on the 'net!

As always, you can get in touch with The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net.

Do you have a story about the song that saved your life? Send it to me at [email protected].

Thanks to Jeff for his time, vulnerability and good humour this week. 

You can learn more about him on his website.  You should also keep an eye out for his storytelling courses. He's an excellent teacher (he taught me!) who has been doing online work during the pandemic.

As always, I encourage you to seek out a copy of the song that inspired the story and listen to it either before or after you listen to the show. While you're at it, if you haven't already heard the synth-heavy original version -- released in 1985 by The Family, a Prince "side project" -- you might want to give it some time. It's one of those rare cases of the original being significantly less well known than the cover (on a list of many, but, some of my faves include The Tide is High, What a Man, Respect and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun).

As always, you can get in touch with The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net.

Do you have a story about the song that saved your life? Send it to me at [email protected].

Many thanks to Vesna for her time and vulnerability this week. 

You can learn more about Vesna's coaching practice on her website or by checking her out on Instagram. 

I had a B-L-A-S-T researching this week's episode. In large part because it gave me the opportunity to listen to literally DOZENS of covers of Stevie Wonder's Don't Worry 'bout a Thing.  If you're into falling down music rabbit holes, I created a Youtube playlist  so you can hear as many as you'd like.

As always, you can get in touch with The Volume Knob on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at our website volumeknob.net.

Do you have a story about the song that saved your life? Send it to me at [email protected].