I am not by any means a morning person, as Oscar Wilde said; “Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast”, however this morning it seems especially difficult to divest myself of the internal balaclava I am apparently wearing. I believe a thick and virulent cold is taking up residence.
Head in to the studio in a slight fug. On arriving I find that Franny has recorded the acoustic guitar and vocal for a new song. I’ll call this the sad one. We decide to work on this and hold off on the beatle-y one for now. It seems that everyone has hit something of a wall today, tiredness and mild confusion reign. We plough on though. Andy has the misfortune of coming up with a lovely but very very difficult piano part. This takes the best part of the afternoon to do and Andy is a trooper throughout. The part sounds almost classical and really sets the tune up beautifully.
We add some vibraphone as atmosphere, and then go about adding little bits and pieces in different sections. This is one of those tunes that I think of as more of a construction than a performance. In fact the more I think about it the more I realise that each of the last three albums has had one song on it which was constructed in a similar fashion (Last laugh, Dear diary and Paperclips). I should stress that the similarity lies not in the songs but in the way the recordings were assembled.
I add a bass part and we stop for dinner.
Dinner tonight is fucking awful. “Tinseltown” you should be ashamed of yourselves. This isn’t food, it’s abuse. Mind you with a name like that we really should have known better. It is made all the worse as we eat it watching Gordon Ramsay doing something rather clever with a sea bass. I find roasting a whole one with saffron, garlic and root vegetables all in one roasting pan makes for a really simple but delicious supper.
Anyway, we head back in and have a listen and all is sounding rather good. Franny suggests we call it a night early and, as my brain now feels like it is wrapped in a thick hand knitted jumper that is quite muddy after being used as a goalpost down the park, I think this is a rather good idea. Andy and I head off around 11, he is an excellent driver by the way, although I am still slightly unnerved at the sight of him in the driver’s seat.
I am almost beginning to feel shamed in to joining the driving club, although I might, instead, start pretending I don’t drive for ethical reasons. That’s all for tonight I’m afraid. You’ll see us tomorrow. Pip pip.
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