Bakelite In The Moonlight
This recording started its life as an acoustic demo I wrote awhile ago. Recently it really started thumping in my brain’s jukebox. When that happens, I usually decide it’s time to let it outside to do its thing, always hoping that I don’t have to clean up after it.
The root of the chorus is how I think we all sometimes daydream about cutting all ties and silently slipping away. You know, that running away fantasy that may or may not involve a pickup truck. Apparently Neil Young had it. Maybe that’s where the fantasy comes from? Maybe it’s just me.
Revealing trade secrets, the original idea for the song was based on a tenor guitar riff which gives it that high, jangley bit off the top. It feels like this song could sub-into a kitchen party rave up. Maybe I’ll find a one of those sometime soon and try the theory out.
In the meantime, I’m content to just let this one out into the yard:
Cons At The New Moon
This is a track from Camp Radio’s first LP. I thought doing an acoustic version of this power poppy number would be a fun experiment. It’s always been one of my favourite Camp Radio songs to play. The riff off the top is a jammer and The Knack style break down as the song builds from the bridge has always been a rock and roll manoeuvre I’m proud of.
The backstory stuff: the New Moon was a restaurant in NDG (Montreal) that served as part of the backdrop to my time living there. I remember my friend Leesie finding a cockroach in a salad there too, and though that gave us pause, it didn’t stop us going for poutine when we were bringing empties back to the Dep across the street.
The part about getting shin splints running down that street in my Chuck Taylors is absolutely true and the ‘sweet breath offers’ and ‘hack poets, fumbling on’ is meant as a private tribute to another old friend who went on to do some pretty cool things. She still does.
Those are just some of the little moments that came together to make this song, which is selfishly meant as a vehicle to keep those memories alive for me.
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