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When I first set out to do this album I wanted only new material, songs that had been written since my first release. Then I bought a new acoustic
guitar towards the end of recording, and for the first time in years, I was able to play this old favourite from ten years ago. Well enough to record
any way. I decide to record it using a simple format and it ended up sounding good enough not only to include but to open the album up. "Zach" is
a nickname a girlfriend gave me years ago - from Dr Zachary Smith of "Lost in Space" fame.
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On a particular train I catch sometimes to work, a particular girl will sometimes get on. The first time she walked past me and sat down I was
convinced that she was someone I knew from long ago. I couldn`t see her face but her hair and her walk made me sure it was my friend. At that
time I was struggling with this song and so Girl on a Train (or GOAT as I came to know it) was born. She turned out not to be the person I thought
she was, of course, as I found out the next day when I sat facing the opposite way to see if my suspicions were correct. We still share a
carriage now and then, she doesn`t know she`s been immortalised in music. I love the Spanish feel to this song, and if I am ever to have an
instrumental hit single, this will be the one.
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This one got its title from laying beside someone in a strange house wondering what the hell I was doing there anyway. I lay awake for hours, too
polite to just get up and sneak home, afraid of the discussion this would bring. One of the few songs on the CD where an ethereal keyboard
seemed like a good addition. Play this one at three in the morning and you`ll know how I felt at the time.
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Named after the David Lynch film of the same name that I last saw on Boxing Day a couple of years ago, after being defeated by the traffic in my
attempt to leave the city and go and visit some friends in a small town to the north. I got halfway, then turned back. When I got home I rented the
video for the first time in years. I remembereded it particularly for the scene where Laura Dern ends up topless, and this time, alone on Boxing
Day, I enjoyed the drama of these two strangest of people. Their problems seemed much greater than mine. This song is full of drama too, with
haunting guitar echoes interlaced with strange rhythmic changes in the middle section.
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I wanted to name a song after the little brother of the lady I was going out with when I started recording this album. He was a talented guitarist
and took his life at 20 years of age. I knew better than to put his name to the song itself as that would have caused drama all round. The lady and
I split up a couple of months after his death. He`d hate the song probably. Oh well. Vale Michael Jex.
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No one ever asks me what this means, which I find strange, as it`s quite a different sort of title. It actually refers to heroin, a substance that was
in the news about the time I was writing this piece. It was, and is, a very emotive topic when raised in public forum. I know a little about it,
although not by personal experience, and I was annoyed by people who thought the answer to this scourge of western society was to "just say
no" and who would brook no argument otherwise. Almost a pop song, with sweet electric melodies using minor variations. One of my favourites.
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The last three words of a sentence I said to the lady mentioned above in Song for the Dead in a moment of desperation. I`m sure you can put the
rest of the sentence together from that clue. An acoustic piece with a good beat. It packs a punch.
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I don`t actually remember why I called this song by this name. It`s the most "produced" and up-tempo song on the entire CD, and I think I was a bit
hesitant at attempting something this big, from a production point of view that is, as it includes drums and the whole kit and kaboodle.
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I would just like to publicly state, for all the woman I know with this name, that this was not named after you. Any of you. It was named after my
budgie, a mauve bird who lived a long life and had to be put outside when I was recording acoustic guitars because of her incessant chirping.
This song kicked around for ages and I couldn`t figure out what to do with it. One day I woke up and Jennifer was dead. I buried her in the herb
garden and knew immediately what to do with the song - play the sort of twangy electric guitar that used to send her into a frenzy. So
long Jennifer.
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The first song I wrote for the album. I used to have a long winded and strange explanation of why it was called "Godspeed" - now I just say that I
like the word - it`s much safer. Every guitar I own is played on this track somewhere.
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On the day that I was working on this song a friend rang up and asked if I wanted to go to the circus which was on at a park near her place. I
regretfully had to decline but the song had a name from that day on anyway. A midnight shuffle sort of song, featuring a gentle wah wah melody
guitar over a jazzy drum track.
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Named after Don Quixote`s horse. I was reading the book at about the time I was working on this piece and eventually gave up in frustration at the
total hopelessness of the characters. The horse had some sense however...
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For the people of Kosovo, which was being torn apart when I was working on this particular song. I wondered what it would be like to have your
world torn apart in this fashion. I hoped I`d never have to find out. A longer piece and the one with which I had the most trouble. I like the end
result, however. Very moody and haunting.
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I was struck by the number of books that my girlfriend had in her bookcase featuring Zen. She claimed, and I believed her, that they were all left
there by her ex-tenants. Seemed like a good excuse for a song title anyway. Played in an open G tuning for the guitarists amongst you.
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Co-written with the friend that I never get to see on Boxing Day as mentioned in Wild at Heart above. I`m sure my love for strange time signatures
threw him a bit. He would play all these amazing little runs over my backing - and they never quite ended or started in the right place because of
the aforementioned time signature. I would watch and try to remember what he`d played, eventually turning them into the first solo. The second
solo, after the acoustic midsection, is all my own work. I wanted to remind people, without stepping outside the theme of the album, that I could
still rip off a mean solo on an electric guitar when I needed to.
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Something insidious that grabs you when you`re not paying attention and have strayed too far from shore. Stay between the flags! A good
ending for the album I thought!
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CD Information
