Ageing can be terrible. Especially when it starts to affect your memory. Someone I know very well was telling me about a relative who had dementia. Their memory was slowly fading so they decided to go on what would be their last holiday to the place where they had their honeymoon many, many years ago. The reason for this was because it was a familiar and comforting place to be. Somewhere from the past and somewhere different to the nursing home.
This became the story for this song. What if a woman went to visit her husband in the home. What would they say to each other as his memories faded in and out? Where would they go? Somewhere safe, somewhere new, somewhere good.
I had a chord progression which I really liked. It was in 6/8 time and quite upbeat. Usually when I am writing, I start with a chord progression and then just sing whatever words come to mind (unless I’ve written the words first, which is rare). With this chord progression the first line I sang was “take me to somewhere new’. But it didn’t really go anywhere after that for a couple of weeks. Then randomly, one day I was out walking our dog and I remembered what my friend had told me and everything clicked into place.
The narrative took the form of a conversation between the man and wife. Originally I was going to sing both parts, but that seemed silly when I had the option of asking Georgia Batterley to take on the role of the wife. Georgia very kindly agreed and actually went the extra mile by recording several harmony vocals as well.
The man recognises his wife as someone he knows and loves. That’s all he knows. He feels safe with her but he can’t remember her name. The line “Just take me anywhere, as long as it's with you” is kind of heartbreaking.
The humming section was deliberate. It takes the pace down a little and gives the listener time to reflect on what is happening.
Whilst slightly ambiguous, I make no apologies when I tell you that the final line of the song (“take me away to somewhere new”) is actually the man saying that he is now ready to leave this earth. They have been on their final trip to somewhere safe and he is at peace. It happens to all of us this thing called death and my intention for this song was to convey a bittersweet narrative.
The original recording was much bigger with lots of electric guitars and strings, but once Georgia had recorded her parts, the song didn’t need it, so all of that was stripped out to leave a much simpler acoustic performance.
I hope this song resonates with those who have experienced the effect of this horrible disease and also that it is in some small way, a tribute to my friend and their family member.
.jpeg)
No comments:
Post a Comment