Episode #225: One More Cup  (Song starts at 4:27 )

As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed producing this episode. Earlier this evening, I had a feeling I had some recordings of myself composing One More Cup – somewhere on one of my hard drives…

By some sort of miracle, I managed to locate the snippets of audio.

I put them all together on a timeline and as I recorded this episode, I listened to each new section in turn, much as the listener would do, discovering what I got up to. I found it at times surprising, fascinating and humorous.

These 3 things I would say are a 3 of the essential components required to compose. The sense of mystery, the intense focus, due to the passion and a sense of humour to keep the wheels on and rolling when you hit a bung note or take a wrong musical turn.

I wrote the lyrics sitting in a cafe. It’s the way I start my Mondays and Tuesdays: long black in a mug, considering my days ahead. Across the road, I see the school where I’m employed as a contractor, teaching 24 piano lessons in 2 days – each week.

You can appreciate my need to take a moment to mentally prepare.

Some days I’ll sit and type a blog post. Or perhaps a letter to Paul Dredge, my co-songwriter in New Zealand. or, as on this particular day, I may pick up a pen and starting writing lyrics, sometimes describing the scene around me.

These lyrics are  an account of the songwriter (publicly) going off into dreamland and returning. The morning rush is in full swing but not for me –  I sit here quiet in the shade..

Bliss.

What is also bliss is this: listening back to the finished version of the song, One More Cup is track number 10 on the album River Walking, written and recorded with my great friend and co songwriter, Paul Dredge , from New Zealand (where I’m originally from).

The arrangement of the musical instruments on the finished recording start to tell a story of their own really, so I’ve included some of the production work (isolated parts) on this episode .

So join me for a cuppa maybe, as you listen to this episode. I had one in hand as I was speaking, in between playing the piano to demonstrate the odd section.

It’s such a pleasure to be recording these episodes, particularly working through the songs on our most recent album.

I’m glad I had the foresight to record the songwriting process for One More Cup. I hope you enjoy hearing about the process…and listening to the finished version.

More about One More Cup / the album and lyrics here: www.petepascoe.wordpress.com

Here we go. Join me for one more cup.