Hello again - what a fine weekend it was! If you discount the fact I was sitting in a small room watching cars go round and round in circles... But enough about the day job.
Molly Mae out on iTunes today! If you want to part with $1.69 that is....
SET IN STONE
There is a funny story to this song that goes something like this....
I was in Adelaide about 18 months ago for a couple of shows. As you may have picked up, I don't mind the odd touring excursion and on this occasion I had a day to kill in the city of churches. Is that what it's called? I think so... Anyway I like Adelaide, it's a great town. I could happily live there.
After taking myself for a morning trot, I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to maybe go to a park and write some music. A pretty sound plan you would have to agree - write for a few hours, hang about, show up to play my gig in the evening. I didn't have a particular destination in mind, so I figured I would stroll through the centre of town and see what I could find. There is me - walking through the Rundle Street mall on a warm summers day in Rads - suitcase and guitar in tow - and I suddenly have this great idea that I should, here and now, conquer my fear of busking!
Well not so much a fear, more a misconception on my part that there was something wrong with busking, and I probably wasn't going to enjoy it, and why would you bother etc etc etc... Anyway, I picked my spot, parked my suitcase, opened up the guitar case and away I went. A sparkling rendition of Sarah to kick it off (if I do say so myself). There was even some degree of passing interest by way of the occasional "slow-down" from Adelaide shoppers. I can't say if they were old enough to understand anything I was singing about...
Song No. 2 - I am two bars in, and this short annoying looking man in a shirt and tie walks up to me. I am sensing there could be trouble, so slow down, gently, stop singing, stop playing guitar, the man now 2 feet away...
"Do you have a permit?!"
You have to understand - if you could picture a short annoying looking man in a shirt and tie, and imagine he had small man syndrome, and then imagine what that type of person might sound like if he was about to tell someone to stop busking - that's EXACTLY what he sounded like. Really. It was amazing.
R: "Excuse me?" (As if I needed him to repeat it - play dumb Renny, that'll work...)
SALM: "Do you have a permit"
R: "Errr... no"
SALM: "Well you need a permit"
Apparently.
About here you can imagine the scene, and people are starting to look at me funny...
R: "Right, well I didn't realise. I am just here from Sydney for the day, and I thought I'd just play some songs for a little bit here. Won't really be here that long.
SALM: "Well you need a permit"
Yes. As you mentioned.
SALM: "And if you want to play, you need to go and get one from our permit office"
R: "Right, I see. How much are the permits? As I said, I'm only here for a day"
SALM: "Nine dollars"
Silence...
Still he waits for my next move. I am speechless. So the great busking experiment is rapidly imploding. Can I really not just play a few song on the acoustic guitar?
SALM: "If you want a permit, you'll have to go to the office like everyone else"
His voice is getting higher now. But not louder, just higher. More shrill. More grating. More annoying. More determined. This is an argument I cannot win.
R: "Ok well I guess I'll just have to pack up then, seeing as I am only here a day."
He looks. Nods. Waits for me to pack up my belongings.
At this point a lot of people have stopped to watch the Sydney-sider being run out of town, and I must confess even though I really didn't mind much about the permit-thing, I did trudge off in a somewhat dejected manner, as my little friend stood proudly in the centre of the mall and waited to make sure I made it right to the end and I didn't set up anywhere else.
Bureaucracy 1 - Art 0.
Not to be deterred, there was still half a day to kill and still enough time to pen my song, all though I have to say I was wondering how I would find the energy. It was getting a lot hotter, and walking around with my suitcase was starting to wear a little thin. Nonetheless, after another 20min, I had found a park with a nice seat, and I was strumming away.
Not that it was a great park mind you - I managed to set up adjacent to a fairly busy road, so there was quite a bit of traffic noise to content with. If you have been to Adelaide, you will know that busy roads are not all that common, so the fact that this was the best park I could find was somewhat indicative of the type of day I was having.
Finally - a line, and a melody....
"I'm not in love for the first time, and it won't be the last"
As is often the case, I get a line and a melody first then try and figure it out from there. At least I was away, but it wasn't going to be easy. The words were coming painfully slowly, I didn't really have any sort of "chorus", and the afternoon sun was increasing in temperature as the hours ticked by. After getting myself through about a verse and a half, I figured it was time to change location. The sun was giving me a headache, and the road (if you could believe it) was starting to get even busier than when I started.
As it happens, it was about this time that I needed to go to the toilet. And somewhat fortuitously, being a man and not needing a "toilet" in the truest sense of the word, I noticed a nice clump of trees not so far away from where I had been playing the guitar. That would have to do.
I won't describe the next minute or so, but I'll skip forward to the part when I was doing up my fly, only to turn around and see, directly behind me
A Police Car!
In the park, in the trees, miles away from anything that might even remotely resemble a road. Just there to see me take a piss.
P: "How's it going mate"
You can't be f... serious
R:" Ah yeah good thanks"
What could I say. I had been caught in the act. Defenseless.
P: "What are you doing back here"
I can understand his suspicion. I had walked over to the "toilet" with my guitar and my suitcase, it probably looked a bit weird. I couldn't lie.
R: "Ah mate I was just playing my guitar in the park, and then ... errrr... look I'l be honest with you I just really needed to go to the toilet and there were these trees and I thought no-one would notice and.... um....."
P: "I think you'd better move on mate".
R: "Sure"
And for the second time in the day, I was left to trudge off into the distance whilst the Adelaide protectionist forces watched me to make sure I did as I was told. At this point, you would think I was ready to give up.
Ha!
Another park - this time in a quieter street, but still the sun was getting hotter. Fortunately there was a big big BIG tree in the distance, and that, my friends, was where I was going to finish this song. Or at least get a lot closer to finishing...
About 30mins later, things are looking up. I've pretty much knocked out the rest of the second verse, and I've even got a bit of a chorus going on - At least a decent melody and a couple of words. Despite my series of setbacks, things were finally coming together.
Enter drunk aboriginal man with beer in Paper bag.
(I have nothing against Aborigines, I am part Aboriginal myself (true), but I am just setting the scene so you have the complete picture....)
DAM: "Heerrrloooo Mate"
For f... sake.
R: "Hi mate how are you?"
DAM: "Yeeerrrrrrp. Yerrr like... playin the guitar and stuff...."
Brilliant.
R:"Yes, that's right mate"
Dehydration heading really starting to kick in now.
DAM: "Rrrrriight. Yeah me mate... Errrr... me mate got the beers mate.... Over there.... Yeeeaah. Owe me money man. Guitar and errrr.... play meself man...."
Anyway as you can imagine the conversation went from strength, and my friend sort of kept coming and going for the next half hour or so. In between trips to find his mate with the beer I suppose... But somewhere in the middle of it all, someHOW in the middle of it all, I managed to finish off my new song. At least the important parts, and the structure. I am a big one for setting the structure you see.
There was some refinement to be done, sure, but the crux of a song was there. It had taken me a whole day, 2 near arrests, a conversation with a drunk aboriginal, and a mild dose of heatstroke, but I had created something worth keeping. I even sampled a few bars of it at the gig that night, although when I told the story I'm not sure if anyone really believed me.
And looking at it now it's hard to believe myself... But it's all true. Every single word.
And even after all that, I still like Adelaide. I think the redeeming feature was the $2 breakfast I had at Ikea on my next visit. But that's another story altogether.
---------------------------------
About the recording:
Set in stone was a really difficult song to record, because I was essentially trying to create a "Rock" track in a home studio. And having barely even done an acoustic track before this album, to try and create something with the power and energy that I'd imagined this song should have was a real tough ask. It has always been one of the stronger tracks live, so it was a matter of trying to translate that to the recording as best as possible.
In the end I followed my familiar trial and error policy until it started to take shape, and then continued to add instrumentation in the louder sections to try to give it more "meat" (for want of a better word). I am sure there are more efficient ways to go about it, and if I had my time over I could probably think of a whole series of things I could have done differently. But at the end of the day, I like to think the point of the song is still there, and let's be honest - after the amount of effort it took to write the thing in the first place, I should have known that the recording part probably wouldn't come easy. Still, I got there in the end. Sort of...
Special thanks to Simon Rudston-Brown on Electric Guitar.
Next week a solo song - "Wheel of Fortune". The newest one on the album.
See you then,
Renny
PS - Did I mention - Molly Mae is now on iTunes! Ah yes - I did... Sorry....
-------------------------
.. .. .. .. .. .. ....
SET IN STONE....
....
I’m not in love for the first time, and it won’t be the last.
I used to think we’d be just fine
Now those days they have well and truly passed.
....
It’s not the end of the road yet, but we’re damn fucking close.
We’ll never outrun the sunset
And I’m tired of crossing my fingers and toes.
....
Cause what we set in stone were borrowed thoughts we did not own
Oh how were we ever meant to see, or ever meant to know.
Cause what we set in stone, we never thought we’d be alone
Oh How were we ever meant to see or ever meant to know.
....
And I’ve looks to the heavens, and I’ve called out your name
I could walk to till the day’s end, but what’s the point when the night is just the same.
Never wanted to judge you, but you gave me no choice
I got nowhere to run to, I got nowhere to fall.
Cause what we set in stone were borrowed thoughts we did not own
Oh How were we ever meant to see, or ever meant to know
Cause what we set in stone, it took us miles away from home
Oh how were we ever meant to see, or ever meant to know
Oh how were we ever meant to see what we never could have known.
....
All I ever wanted was to take this world and make it yours.
All we ever needed was a ship to take us through that storm.
All those things we set in stone, those borrowed thoughts we did not own.
All those thoughts you take them home
But it never makes it, never makes it easier to go.
No it never, never makes it easier to go. ....
....
....
Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Keyboards – Renny Field
Drums – Matt Field
Bass – Pat Savina
Electric Guitar – Simon Rudston-Brown
