I was walking along Willy Street last December and I saw the sign above in a door window. By the time I reached Schencks Corners I had written this chant in the rhythm of my walking. I did alter it from the original a little, but the inspiration is pretty direct.
It’s an interesting exercise in recording. I tried recording this song in a number of ways, mostly involving multi track arrangements and even with loops. In the end, it didn’t work, and it felt like a simple live recording would work best today, even given the challenge of pulloff triplets. Tom Pease and I have this discussion often. We are essentially live performers, and studio recording is its own art form. I’m grateful to work with Wendy Schneider at Coney Island when I need a real engineer and producer. Wendy is a master at recording, and a joy in her own right.
These words do seem like pretty good advice for the good life.
Later addition
Years ago I read an interview with John Cleese of Monty Python. He’d written a book about creativity, back before it was such a fashionable topic. What I recall from the interview is that he felt that creativity, or successful creativity anyway, was often simply a result of time spent on the project. He said something about how he felt that success on Monty Python was less about talent and more about how long you were willing to wrestle with the problem/idea. In one interview he said. “This is the extraordinary thing about creativity: If just you keep your mind resting against the subject in a friendly but persistent way, sooner or later you will get a reward from your unconscious.” Here’s a different interview with him. Or this one.
I recorded this song, working on it for hours, which doesn’t necessarily show in the final product. But then I slept on it and went upstairs and redid it yet again. Here’s the original version, followed by the newer one.
Eat Poems
Eat Poems.
Drink Love
Breathe Peace
Give Thanks
Let Go.
Newer version.
© Stuart Stotts 2018