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Writing Songs
In The Shower'.....
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| Little did I know, in Portland Oregon on that
lonely Christmas Eve back in 1969, I was about to embark on a
journey that would take nearly 40 years to come to fruition. The writing of I'LL BE HOME ON CHRISTMAS DAY and I'M LEAVIN changed my life forever and put the wheels in motion that would carry me through a journey of unexpected twists 'n turns and incredible surprises. Culminating in a very small part of the HUGE legacy that Elvis left for us. And even more amazing after all these years, I now find myself touring Europe with an ass kicking Original Elvis Tribute Band playing Elvis' music and celebrating his life and love for great songs he performed over the years. I am meeting all the wonderful Elvis fans and being honoured by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet (23/12-’08 edition) for I'LL BE HOME ON CHRISTMAS DAY as the 2nd most important Christmas song ever. Amazing! Proving once again how life can be chocked full of surprises at any age. How sweet it can be sometimes. I remember the day I took a 12 string guitar into a glass shower along with a small stool to sit on, amusing myself with the natural echo in there. Wow! What a big sound the 12 string puts out, and how inspiring to hear all the wonderful overtones circling round my head as I played. I often did this in hotel fire exit stair cases while on the road with my good friend and great singer songwriter 'n performer, Sonny Charles. There was one hotel in Hawaii that was a favorite spot we often played. I would sit on the back steps just inside the fire exit door and play and sing; and sometimes a voice from way above my head somewhere up there would say, "Hey, that sounds beautiful" and then applaud. The 12 string guitar is an entire orchestra and a wonderful musical instrument for a song writer, especially in a huge echo chamber like that. On this particular day in my glass shower echo chamber, something was about to happen that would change everything. This song idea just started happening with a simple la la la that I played over and over again with these haunting chords that I'd never played in this particular order before. I just sat there digging on the sound and being in my own little world. I felt I had the start of a good song and the la la la part was just a start. I was thinking the la la's would soon be changed to words that would have some sense? I mean really? La la la? Silly, it seemed. The la la's were a no brainer to change, right? But the more I played and sang with this la la phonic, the more fun it became and I just went on with the composing. Before long I'd found myself singing about this past relationship I'd had in Portland with a sweet lady who really didn't quite understand a songwriter's ambitions. Her most likely bottom line was, she didn't want me to leave. She wanted me to remain in Portland and keep playing the clubs, not having an understanding of me wanting to leave, go to L.A. and chase my dreams. I understand this better now than I did 40 years ago. Digressing here. Managing to come up with a couple of verses, I played what I had for Sonny and asked if he wanted to write on it with me, as we often wrote songs together. He sang a beautiful harmony part with me on the la la's and we both kinda grinned at how cool it sounded and even suggested a third part would really be nice. I sang the first two verses I had going. He liked them and we got to the end of the second verse and stopped there. The creative muse was certainly in the room and ideas just started flying out of us! When we got to the end of the 2nd verse the next time we sang it, I went to a 5 chord and started spitting out some gibberish to a melody that was coming to me right then on the spot... I finally got it out... "I tried so hard each time, but each time we just can't make it. Sonny came up with "feeling fast vibrations and I just can't take it. Then right out of the eithers I sang "Livin’ from day to day chasing a dream" and suddenly we're building up into I'm Leavin’. Whew! What a ride that was and happened all at once! I'll never forget that moment. We were bouncing around like a couple of kids! :) We collected ourselves and sang the bridge again, this time Sonny said sing the build two times before you say I'm Leavin’. To this day I swear that was the coolest idea in the entire song. It truly put the stamp on it. |
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So boys and girls when you write your songs in
the shower, you must remember not to bump into the faucet. I did that once, and once was enough! :) |
| Happy song writing! |
| Mj |