Mama's Jig
Lyrics came to me when I was in the shower; chord structure once I was out the shower and able to find my bouzouki.
I took it round to Marcus - the other half of The Cracked Man - half excited, wanting to show off something I'd created; half worried in case he didn't like it and I'd have to shelve it until I could find someone else who might want to develop it with me.
He liked it.
We started giving it shape, deciding when to add extra bits, when to pluck and when to strum. Marcus had an idea for a guitar riff to fit between verses.
An hour and a half later we had a rough recording to make sure we didn't forget the notes and the structure we'd created.
Damn, it's good (modesty was never one of my strong points).
Marcus emailed me an mp3 version of the recording and I've been playing it all evening.
I'd not been sure what to call it. I was torn between "How to Treat Your Woman" and "Family Advice" but Marcus suggested "Mama's Jig". That worked better.
It's difficult to express just how rewarding creating music with Marcus is. For sure, he's a talented musician - considerably more skilled than me - and has strong instincts for what will work and what won't - but apart from allowing me to create music I really like, it makes me feel validated.
When you take something you've created to someone whose talents you respect, and they like it enough to work on it with you so together you create something greater than either would have achieved alone - well, that's when life feels really good.
At some point over the next couple of months we'll get these songs properly recorded and put up online for downloading.
In the meantime, if you can make it along to House O' Hill, between Newton Stewart and Glen Trool on the afternoon of Sunday 13th April, you'll be able to hear all our songs live.
But if you can't get there, make sure you "like" our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/thecrackedman - to stay up to date with developments and future gigs
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