A letterbox drop

This morning, I walked round to Lachlan's house and popped the rough musical sketches of West Brunswick (The album), the one's you've been listening to, into his letterbox. Nine songs that in a few weeks will be ready to record. Nine songs? There are some I haven't shown you. I thought I'd leave them for a surprise when you finally hear the finished album.

Lachlan is a great sound engineer who co-produced The Bride. He used to be my next door neighbour. I hope he likes the tracks. I felt quite self conscious handing over my inferior recording attempts to an expert, but he's a good fella and won't really care one bit. We've talked about recording the songs straight to tape, like we used to before the advent of digital technology. I like old school ways, they're more familiar. Analogue creates a warmer tone and has some really interesting limitations that I quite like.  It is better suited to a musician that plays the whole song from beginning to end without dropping in than to a musician that likes digital recording because of it allows one to stop and start throughout the song.

The whole idea of recording to tape reconnects me with my younger self going to Bakehouse studios in Richmond in the mid 80's before it was Bakehouse. I recorded a demo of songs straight to tape  One or two takes for each song. 6-10 songs in one session including a mix down. Simple! I like that. I don't know whatever became of the demo. I do know I had no idea what to do with it after I made it.

This was before community radio had really taken a foothold so there weren't a lot of places to send demos to other than 3XY or Michael Gudinski and I didn't believe I was pretty enough or skinny enough to even get a look in. So for a shy, suburban girl like me, it was never going to be sent to anyone, I was too afraid of some sort of perceived cruel rejection. Truth be told, I just didn't have the guts.

So, my adult life has been as much about getting up the guts to do what that 18 year old could'n't.  West Brunswick is the next step along the way. It is as much for that shy girl of 18, who hoped for something wonderful but had no idea where that something wonderful was, as it is for the suburb and my friends who live there. I hope they all like it. Mostly, I hope that by the end of the process, I still do.

Onward and upward as Mr Lewis said.

Two Ukes, One Song and no rain today....

A Sunday song for you. Originally written for Carl Punnuzzo and performed and recorded by Carl Panuzzo and Penny Larkins.  When I first heard them sing this song, I thought my heart was going to grow so big that it would fall out of my chest and my soul felt like it was actually being sucked out into the universe. Was I experiencing what Mr W. at confirmation class suggested would happen at the second coming when the chosen souls would become light and spirit, enraptured forever? (Mr W. was into end times stuff - if you didn't go to church when you were a kid and you don't know what the hell I'm talking about, ask someone that did)

Not to be. That glimpse of heaven finished with the song. I was still in the pub, the beer was still in my hand and the Gods of Singing, I mean Carl and Penny, were still on stage. Bloody hell!

Well, this mortal, with flawed voice and two ukuleles and a touch of hubris, has had a crack at covering the song that I wrote - can you do that- aiming to pop it on the upcoming album? It's the exception to the "West Brunswick" album rule. Only Albion Street is mentioned, not the suburb.

I hope you like it, Carl and Penny, even though I reckon your version is the definitive one, I kinda like this one too.

The Ukulele Rain Song - Draft Copy
Recorded Sunday Afternoon in my lounge room on garageband.

The business of the build.....

Have you heard of that personality test where you find out if you're a builder or a director or an explorer. Well, turns out I'm more your explorer type, which is great news for a creative type. However, I'd quite like to be a bit more of a builder. Builders make structures that last, that you can live in and touch and walk around.

Being an explorer is a constant frustration to the more practical, builderly types in my life. All I can say in my defence is that I take after my father. Our family would all take a deep breath whenever he promised to fix or build something and prayed that he wouldn't take the end of his thumb off again. My dad was a great thinker and a fiend at cryptic crosswords, he was a brilliant community minded fella and a fine host who loved jazz and red wine. He just couldn't build or fix stuff although he'd sometimes have a crack. However, what was in his head just never quite materialised.

I can't really build stuff either unless you call stacking two desk drawers on top of each other to create a bookshelf, building. I find it hard enough letting my landlord know if there's a problem with my house. The thought of actually owning a house or worse, building a house, sends me running to the kitchen to shove my hyperventilating head into the paper bag I keep in the bottom drawer for just such moments.

It once took me two years to tell a landlord about the blocked shower head. While I was happy enough to "explore" other ways to shower, guests, and my daughter, got a bit pissed off when presented with the bath or bucket option.

At the moment, I am facing the task of building a website. A completely perplexing task that will require a tradesperson of some patience who can not only build the thing, but build it so I can use it without breaking it.

This Website will be an archive, a showcase, a repository, a gallery, a storybook, an album and a movie theatre. An artists space. So I place my ad:

WANTED

Patient, efficient, creative website builder.

Willing to work with a songwriter.

You will be greatly admired for your builder's skills

as you construct a user friendly artist's webspace. 

Must know what you're doing.

 She hasn't got a bloody clue.

 Though, she is pretty good with a blog. 

Website to be up by end of September.

Here's a song from the forthcoming album which is scheduled for recording in September, to whet your whistle while you think about whether you want the job. A taster of an arrangement for the title song, "West Brunswick" featuring ukulele and guitar, recorded on garageband in my lounge room.

SONG 7: A KITCHEN SINK LIFE

One of my brothers has a wife and three kids. Around the time he married, he uttered a profundity that went something like, love means doing the dishes together. It struck me as a great example of what it means to commit your life to a person. It's in the everyday mundanities that love is found. The rosy bits are nice too but as special treats along the way.

My parents did the dishes together every night after dinner. It was one of their relationship rituals along with closing their bedroom door to their four kids each night when dad got home from work so they could catch up for some uninterrupted adult conversation before the family dinner and bedtime work began.

They strengthened their relationship through their kitchen conversations, daily midday lunchtime check-ins and evening gossip sessions in the sanctuary of their room. They had met at a ball and never stopped dancing together. They also shared a love of entertaining and hospitality that gave them a reputation amongst my friends as hosting the best parties in Blackburn, which are spoken of to this day.

All that ended earlier this year. My dad died suddenly in February and my family are still working through our grief at his passing and trying to adjust to life without him. It's bloody tough. As an adult child I've found that there's an expectation that I'll just get on with things as if it was sad but over and done with now and I'm supposedly old enough to not really let it affect me that much and that I should be o.k. six months down the track.

To that I say, bullshit! Doesn't matter how old you are, losing a parent is terribly painful and I'm not o.k. about it at all. It has been the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Losing one of the people that not only helped bring me into the world but knew me like no other and loved me like no other is devastating.

My mum has lost her partner of 47 years and watching the pain she is enduring at losing a loving relationship makes for a double whammy of grief;  I have a deep feeling of powerlessness at not being able to offer her solace in the same way as the one person that could - Dad. I know many of you know what I'm talking about.

But, Song 7 is as much a celebration of a good, committed relationship as it is about loss. Inspired by taking a break from writing those "10 songs in 6 hours" to do the dishes. If there was one song out of the ten I would spend some time editing, it is probably this one. It took 40 minutes to write and needs quite a lot of work, but it's one that I reckon really deserves more time and a good edit.

CHORDS: A repeated chord progression with a descending bass line.

LYRICS:

Washed the pots and the pans
The plates that we ate from last night
There's no-one to dry up
So I leave them to drain on the sink

When I was a kid
And the table was cleared after dinner
Mum would fill up the sink
Dad would pick up a tea towel

He would stand and dry
As she cleared all the dirt form the dinner plates
They would take their time
Husband and wife
In their kitchen sink life

I'm waiting for James
To come home from another day working
I've been sitting all day
Fiddling about on guitar

When dad would come home
He'd go straight to his bedroom and change
As he hung up his clothes
Mum would lie on the bed and listen to his AMP tales

He would close the door
Lock out four children and speak like two adults
They would share the floor
Husband and wife
In their kitchen sink life

My mum called on Friday
She said, "I've had another hard week.
I know it's only been five months
But Helen, I miss him more than I can speak
I"ve washed the pots and the pans
The plates that I ate from last night
But there's no one to dry up
So I'll leave them to drain at the end of our kitchen sink life"

He would stand and dry

As she cleared all the dirt form the dinner plates

They would take their time

Husband and wife

In their kitchen sink life

RECORDING:

TOMORROW: I SONG ABOUT NEEDING A CUPPA TEA AFTER WRITING SONG 7

I HAVE AN EATING DISORDER

Those of you that know me, also know that I have always grappled with fluctuating weight. I have been 30 kilos heavier and 15 kilos lighter than I am now. The primary reason is that I eat to comfort myself. When I feel anxious or sad or excited, eating evens me out, so I eat what I need to stay alive and then I keep eating what I need to feel calm and counter whatever heightened state I'm in.

I ate too much the day I wrote those 10 songs in 6 hours. Well, on the binge eating scale it wasn't that bad; only one big packet of chips, I didn't succumb to following it with lollies, maybe a whole cake and possibly a pack of biscuits.

In the past, I would've eaten a family block of cadbury's, a large packet of chips, and whipped down the street for a souvlaki or hamburger and back for ice-cream and possibly a little more chocolate or a packet of timtams. I stopped eating chocolate five years ago when my cholesterol started creeping up.

Now, I can't eat like that, my body won't take it. I even lost an organ as a result of my lifetime of bingeing. I still miss my gall bladder.

I know many women and men who eat for comfort and that's why I thought I'd share this song with you. I haven't managed to completely modify my eating behaviour but I'm getting a bit better than I have been in the past and writing a song about over eating kinda helped too.


CHORDS - It's a three chord pop/rock song. A little bit ROCK in the USA I reckon.

LYRICS:

I have an eating disorder
I'm a disorderly eater
I"m not thin I'm not fat
But I prefer the taste of this to that
As long as I feel happy at the point of no return

I can scoff a pack of biscuits
But turn my back on chocolate
And if I walk for an hour
I am likely to devour
A big fat slab of hummingbird cake
And a bag of chips
And that batch of cookies I just baked

I eat a eat a healthy breakfast
Then if I get a little anxious
Or I'm bored
Or I'm sad
there's a milk bar and a cafe
Where they keep my happy happys
That I swallow quickly quickly
Before you all find out

I have an eating disorder
I have an eating disorder

RECORDING:



TOMORROW: SONG 7 IS ABOUT LOVE AND DOING THE DISHES

Lullaby Afternoon

As I write this, it's getting close to the afternoon slump when the whole of Spain take a nap, when the teacher's voice becomes a soporific drone and when I've almost inappropriately dropped off to sleep while teaching someone the C chord.

At the moment, the heater fan is whirring, the traffic has got lazier and a miner bird's whistle punctuates a lull in the afternoon. Song 5, "Lullaby Afternoon", is a quiet song written at 2.40pm on Wednesday 4th July.

If you notice, even this blog entry has a little afternoon laziness about it.


CHORDS: Another song that repeats a 4 chord pattern through the song.

LYRICS:
The neighbours home
I'd like to sleep
Play quietly
She won't hear a peep outta me

She's whistling
A cheerful song
Calls her cat
In a voice all honey seeded mustard warm

In our lullaby afternoon
Our lullaby afternoon

It's 20 to 3
Can I lay on the chair
And watch T.V
Or just sit and stare at the fishtank

Listen to Nth Richmond
The calls of native birds
And quiet housebound people
Who don't like to disturb the neighbours

In our lullaby afternoon

Our lullaby afternoon

RECORDING:

TOMORROW'S SONG IS ABOUT EATING DISORDERS - I WAS HUNGRY!

From Brunswick West to Kurrajong

I've never lived outside of Melbourne, except for 9 months spent in Fiji in another life. I was so homesick for the first three months that I cried nearly everyday and had a pretty rotten time of it. Once I was over that bit, I had a pretty good time. Upon my return to Melbourne all those years ago, I stayed  and other than moving suburbs, have never ventured far from this comfortable city except for holidays and band tours. But, over the last few years I've had a growing desire to leave this comfort of the familiar to experience other places and people on a more permanent basis.

At the moment, I'm thinking of doing the unthinkable, from a Melburnians point of view, and leaving my hometown for Sydney. Of course, the thought brings with it a myriad of anxieties and concerns. From, where will I work and how will I earn money? To, can I really handle the relentless traffic and harder edges of this glittering city? From, where the hell am I going to live? To, how can I leave my daughter? Even though she no longer lives at home, I'm still her mother so shouldn't I at least live in the same state as her?

But there's this insistent call of love and music coming from the north and that road to Sydney is only a few blocks from where I live.

Song 4 is about the call of the road.  The chord progression is unashamedly ripped off from another song but given that I don't mean to profit from the work, and will never release it commercially as it's only part of a writing exercise written in about 36 minutes, I don't much care.

CHORDS: A cliched progression of G D Em C cycled through the entire song.

LYRICS:
In six months time
I'm heading up the Hume
I need a new adventure
Need to fly a little closer to you

Melbourne's been my home
For all my little life
I"m growing tired of it's story
Growing tired of my southbound bass strait eyes

Oh the road leads me on
From Brunswick West to Kurrajong
To your mountain home and your bushman's song
Oh that road leads me on

Could I stay in Bondi Beach?
Afford a harbour view?
Get a houseboat on the Hawkesbury?
Or a chalet in the blue blue mountains?

Will the rentals be too high
The roads always be this clogged
Will I find the perfect house
Will I find another job in Sydney?

Oh the road leads me on

From Brunswick West to Kurrajong

To your mountain home and your bushman's song

Oh that road leads me on

RECORDING

TOMORROW: THE SOUND WORLD OF THE 3PM SLUMP IN NTH RICHMOND, SYDNEY