You Won't Need Those Where You're Going
It's a song by The New Pornographers. It was and it will be. Is it right now? Sure. Why not? Part of an ongoing project, a work in progress.
This song was on the New Pornographers ‘Morse Code Of Brake Lights’ album. In my brain, it was a little experiment. I wanted to write a short minimal little ditty. It felt like a new thing for me. We are known as a “maximal” band and it felt like a left turn to be that quiet. I almost made the song a cappella but chickened out. Straight up cowardice, but minimal enough that it left the song open for later reinterpretation. Like now. Like what’s happening right now. Right here. I’ve posted a few rough mixes already of the work in progress that is yet unnamed, the New Pornographers album of reinvented songs. From Blown Speakers. We’ve Been Here Before. It’s a project for you but also a project for me. Like all of it, I suppose.
It feels like an appropriate day to post this. Inauguration Day. This song is about leaving behind what you don’t need. It’s about the people that left things behind for you. I started with the title, it’s what a cop would say to a criminal in an old film from the 40s or 50s, right before he puts the cuffs on him. Doesn’t really apply to real life, the criminals are winning here in objective reality, but I didn’t mean it that way. Today is a good day to remember what you need, remember the people that have made sacrifices for you. We can be good people in our little lives and hope that it reverberates outward into the world. Even if it doesn’t, worth doing.
We went into the studio on a tour day off, like we do sometimes, and knocked out a quick version of this. It was the last thing we did that day, kind of an afterthought. The only thing that remains of those tracks is the drums, but it was a good base. It’s fun to use a song as a jumping off point for creativity. Yes, that’s a very obvious thing to say, but there is so much to explore in arrangements. That has always been the fun part for me. So many tangents you can explore. Songs will turn into other songs. Bridges will jump ship and become the chorus of a new song. This one is still the same song. As of right now. The melody and phrasing has changed here and there. That’s a new thing for me: not being precious about the melody. Changing it whenever I feel like it. I know, I’m THAT guy now. I’m the only person singing on it at this point, that will change. I’m sure a lot will change. Maybe it will be a new song soon. Like when I turned one of my own songs into an Okkervil River cover. An example from my own life!
In the process of arranging this or any song, I learn something about the kind of music I want to make. What feels cool to me, what feels right? I was pushing it in a certain direction but with no clear intentions. I was just as shocked as anyone to hear it. I played bass lines until I found one I liked. I took pedal steel parts from another song and repurposed them (that’s the beauty of woozy pedal steel, it kind of fits everywhere, a psychedelic cloud of music). Used a Mini V and CS-80 soft synth. A mandolin chugging 1/8th notes, Ramones style. I liked the juxtaposition of Tubeway Army sounds with predominantly ‘country’ or ‘folk’ instruments. A good direction. Maybe not good business but the business part comes later. That’s not my headache right now.
I’d work on it for a couple hours and then go away, try to forget about it. 5 hours later, I’m closer to a listener. Even better when it’s the next day. The best thing you can do when you’re making music is to get away from the role of performer and go back to the role of listener. Those sweet glimpses of objectivity, that space, when you hear what doesn’t work but you also hear what DOES work.
I love this quote from the Frederic Tuten interview in a recent New York Times:
“I feel at this crazy time that I’m beginning again, with a wish to not repeat myself, to not repeat any formulas for fiction or painting. I write every day. The work could be terrible; it could be nothing. I could be fooling myself. The extraordinary thing is that I look forward to doing the work. I can’t wait to get down to it. I wake up in the morning, have coffee and write. After that I go to my easel and paint. It’s a rhythm that keeps me feeling alive. It eliminates any notion of age. You’re not old, you’re not young, you’re in the moment.”
It was on my mind all week. Trying to remember the joy and privilege of being creative. Remembering that it is its own reward. Living in that creative moment. It doesn’t have to be a hit. It just needs to be honest. Not confessional, though sure go crazy if that’s your thing, it just needs to be an honest expression of what you want.
It has been a tough couple of weeks. The LA fires, the loss of David Lynch, all the ‘other stuff’. The world is not in the best shape and it’s all one can do to just keep your own life together. Creativity does not solve anything but it can be healing. It is an expression of hope. You feel something is worth communicating, to whoever is willing to listen. The life pursuit. Never sure if anyone is listening but I’m listening. I’m approaching buddhist levels of rock and roll peace. Might be a temporary holding pattern but so far so good. Not young, not old, in the moment.
Song right here, on the other side of this wall.