In the lead up to the release of the new album I will be posting the lyrics to the tunes and explaining them a little, probably some more than others. This is not something that always sits easy with me as I like the listener to imprint their own meaning/interpretation on my songs, this is what I personally like to do with music I enjoy, however as the album has been a long time coming (pre-orders began in September 2019) I feel this is something the fans deserve.
1) Boy.
Whaddya say? You're here today, they only love what's gone away,
singin' for the faithful, rockin' for the few, stingin' from the hateful who envy what you do,
whaddya play? Well that's OK, don't expect to see it pay,
can't you just be grateful your mother's still alive,
'least you've got a plateful 'til the drugs arrive,
boy they're gonna praise you when you're...
boy they're gonna praise you when you're...
boy they're gonna praise you when you're...
boy they're gonna praise you when you're gone,
whaddya know? Not long to go, they only buy what's in their eye,
on another journey, on another ride, get to soundcheck early, buyout was supplied,
whaddya see from recovery? Are you like me? Simply glad to be,
playin' for the people who get what you're about,
from the bench to the steeple there isn't any doubt,
boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're gone,
boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're... boy they're gonna praise you when you're...
Written by R.I.McNabb © Peermusic (UK) Ltd. 2018
Ian McNabb: Lead vocal, acoustic guitars, baritone acoustic, electric guitar, bass, Mellotron, upright piano. Ciaron Bell: Oberheim OB-12. Dixie Daye: Backing vocals. Bobby Bilsborough: Alto sax. Tony McGuigan: Drums.
Produced by Ciaron Bell.
This lyric is dealing with the difficulties of being a musician who operates in the margins. I'm often saddened when artists who pass away are suddenly hailed as great masters of their craft and celebrated across the media and airwaves - when their time on Earth went largely unremarked upon. Their records begin to sell, more successful, higher profile artists begin to record their songs, but alas the recently deceased artist does not get to see any of this nor benefit from the financial rewards - absent and much needed - during their lifetime. Is it about me? I hope not.
I acquired an Alverez baritone guitar a few years ago. They still have six strings and the same relative tuning but the top string is B instead of E so you use all the same shapes but everything is a fourth down. This means if you play a G chord it's actually a D and so on. I started playing a sequence of "G" moving to "E minor" at a soundcheck (actually D to B minor) and singing a melody over it that I wouldn't have done if it were in G as it would be above my vocal range. This resulted in the opening line which I thought showed promise. I captured it on my phone and worked on it when I got home. There were more verses (which were recorded for the master) but we cut it down dramatically as I felt I'd made my point with the first two. This was the first tune recorded for the album and it was always meant to serve as an overture. I toyed with the idea of doing a reprise of it at the end but I decided that was a little pretentious and I had done it once before (on Merseybeast). The original idea was to have a brass band on the track but the Pandemic prevented this. I ended up using my Mellotron.
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