ABOUT THE CD

Watchin’ the World go by is my first CD.  The title track is an original song that I wrote about 3 years ago and really never thought I’d record.   Our band was rehearsing and while the guys were working on an instrumental - I sat down on an amp, put my chin in my hands and lo and behold – this little lick came into my head.  I was really tired that night so I guess that’s why the song has a laid back feel.  I can definitely say that I was influenced by Louis Armstrong when I was forming this song. In fact, it was his warm, gravelly voice and trumpet I heard throughout the whole process.   When it came time to record there was some discussion about putting a light hip hop beat behind it.  In retrospect it was the right thing to do.  The beat gives the melody and lyrics a more contemporary feel while still managing to keep it lazy.  Terry Townson’s gorgeous trumpet playing brought to life what I had heard in my head when writing the song.

Another of the original tunes, I Still See Your Shadow was collaboration between Rob Weaver and me.  He wrote, what I thought, a beautiful, sad melody.  When he asked me to write lyrics I felt the tune dictated what the lyrics should be and I tried to give them justice by making them as haunting as the melody.  Dave Say added his own beautiful interpretation with his soprano sax.

Reunion Island is a tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean.  I’ve never been there -but read about it and it just sounded so exotic to me.  The title is also a play on words as the subject of the song is about a reunion of 2 lovers.  Rick Kilburn, my producer, and I thought that this might be a ‘throw-away” song but decided we’d finish it and see how it evolved.  All doubt was removed after Daryl Jahnke blew us away with his guitar solo and Themba Tana added great percussion.   The song now takes us on a trip to the land of sweet ocean air!

Keeping in the exotic travel mode, I wrote Let’s Take the Train for some nostalgic reasons.   When I was 8 my mother, Shirley and my Aunt Nola and I travelled from Ottawa to New Brunswick by train and then on to PEI for my grandparents 50th anniversary.  It was a very exciting trip for me and those were still the days when we dressed up a bit for train travel and had lovely meals in the dining car.  Another influence was Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.  I read every Agatha Christie mystery when I was a kid and one of my favourites was Orient Express.  Dave Say captured the feel with his great horn arrangement.   I wanted it to swing in order to keep the feel of a song from an earlier era -when luxury trains still did the Paris-Istanbul run.  One of these days I’ll take that trip!

Da’dru’blu (short for Daily Drudge Blues), well, the name says it all.  I think most of us sometime feel we’re in a rut and our daily routines need a lift.   The comical lyric about seeing Elvis or winning a Jag is really about getting out of our reality by daydreaming for a while.  Imagining something bigger and more exciting for ourselves can break the monotony.   The ending resolves the daily drudge dilemma by admitting that, realistically, a holiday will do the trick.

That Night I wrote in ¾ time with a 4/4 bridge.  I had a hard time- vocally- getting the timing and phrasing right on this one.  Rick suggested we give it a Ray Charles feel – which Rob did beautifully on piano.   Daryl’s guitar really filled it out and gave it a touch of country.  Some of my favourite Ray Charles songs are the songs he recorded on his Ray Goes Country album – love that stuff!

Wasn’t That You is another collaboration with Rob.  He wrote the catchy tune and I supplied the lyric.  Rick wrote the scat melody for vocalese which gave the song a little more interest.  We originally thought this might be a ballad, but decided to pick up the pace and swing it. 

The cover tunes were all songs that I listened to and loved over the years.   We wanted Midnight @ the Oasis to have a sexy, fun feel to it.  Twilight Time is such a beautiful tune.  Rick suggested we give it a hip hop feel and I think it really worked. I thought it would be interesting to record Mr. Sandman slower and attempt to give it a more mature, experienced feel, rather than the younger, fresher sound of the original Chordettes recording.  Ill Wind is a torchy song that I hope evokes the feel of helplessness and frustration that can be experienced when love is one-sided.   I listened to a lot of Doors way back when and one of my favourites was Light my Fire.  When Jose Feliciano recorded it I remember thinking how cool it was to take a hit song and re-record with a whole different approach.  This was before the days of remix and it was still quite novel to hear different artist renditions that both became big hits. Baby You Got What it Takes was a hit recorded by Dinah Washington and Brook Benton. The song first came to my attention years later with a recording by Asleep at the Wheel.  Rob and I thought it would be fun to have a duet on the CD and chose one that we have performed many times over the years.  I’m Beginning to See the Light was an experiment in arranging.  Rob liked the ska sound and he and Rick thought it would be interesting to go Latin in the bridge and solos.  There’s a lot goin’ on – but it’s all good.  Lastly, My Baby Just Cares for Me is a song that we’ve performed a lot and has always been well received by the audience. 

Recording a CD has been a learning experience for me.  I was lucky to have a producer that is also a fantastic musician. Rick was very enthusiastic about the project the whole way through even, when at times, I was a bit discouraged.  

From the beginning, Rick, Rob and I were, for the most part, of one mind when it came to arrangements and how each song should feel. It was truly a harmonious collaboration.

I also had the pleasure of meeting and being coached by Corlynn Hanney. Corlynn also did a wonderful job on back-up vocals. I learned during this project that being a good back-up vocalist – especially in the studio -sure isn’t easy.  Miles Ramsay wrote the clever back-up vocals for 5 of the songs when he was very busy with other things and I thank him for that!

My good friend Elsa Bluethner painted the CD cover and back.  I liked the idea of Elsa capturing scenes from Watchin’ the World Go By.  It’s a very visual song and Elsa’s interpretation brings it to life.

Most importantly, I wanted the members of our band, my friends, to be a big part of this CD.  They are all unbelievably good musicians and I’m thrilled that I now have a piece of their talent carved in stone – so to speak!  Thank you Dave Say, horn arrangements, tenor, alto & soprano,  Brennan Saul, drums, Rob Weaver,  piano, vocals & arranging,  Rick Kilburn, bass, producer/arranger, and Ingrid Stitt, alto sax, for making the world a better place by sharing your music with us. 

Complete song list

1. Watchin' the World go By
2. My Baby Just Cares for Me
3. I'll Wind
4. Reunion Island
5. Daily Drudge Blues
6. Midnight @ the Oasis
7. I Still See your Shadow
8. Twilight Time
9. Let's Take the Train
10. I'm Beginning to See the Light
11. Wasn't that You
12. Mister Sandman
13. Baby You've Got What it Takes
14. That Night
15. Light my Fire