1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: Taking a Walk the music and mysticism. It's contained within 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: a word. Each word was a magic incantation when it began. 3 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: We don't we failed to see them now for what 4 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: they are. They were magic things that could only be 5 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: uttered by magic people when they were devised as a 6 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: descriptive labeling tool. To say, the word of something precious 7 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: was in itself an act of being precious or being 8 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:28,320 Speaker 1: with something magic. 9 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 2: Welcome to the Taken a Walk Podcast with your host, 10 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 2: Buzz Night. If you like this podcast, share it with 11 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 2: your friends and check out our companion podcast, Music Save Me, 12 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 2: hosted by Lynn Hoffman. Today, buzz gets the inside story 13 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 2: from the acclaimed singer songwriter David Gray. Buzz Night is 14 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 2: joined by David Gray on the Taken a Walk Podcast. 15 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 3: Now, David Gray, thanks for being Undertaken a Walk Podcast, 16 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,440 Speaker 3: My pleasure. So, since the podcast is called taken, I 17 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,639 Speaker 3: do have to ask you first if you could take 18 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,440 Speaker 3: a walk with someone living or dead, possibly in the 19 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 3: music side of things, but it doesn't have to be 20 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,560 Speaker 3: Who would you take a walk with and where would 21 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 3: you take a walk with them? 22 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: That's interesting. Assuming that there was a magical language dissolving barrier, 23 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,479 Speaker 1: I might take a walk with the mystic Roomy. I'd 24 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: imagine he'd have a few things to say he's just 25 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: popped into my head, and have a little wander. I'd 26 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:40,039 Speaker 1: take him along the coast of east of England where 27 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 1: I've got a house, which is probably my favorite place 28 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: to be. So we'd wander through the dunes and the 29 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: beach and consider the mysteries of the universe and everything 30 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: contained therein. 31 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 3: Just you describing it took me there, David, that was 32 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 3: just fabulous. Thank you so much. I appreciated. First of all, 33 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 3: we're going to talk about your thirteenth studio album, Dear Life, 34 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 3: and also you've been out on the past and present 35 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 3: world tour, and I have to tell you a story. 36 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 3: I live outside of Boston and I popped in just 37 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 3: a little while ago to my favorite restaurant called Helen's 38 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 3: Restaurant and conquered mass and the gentleman there who works 39 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 3: behind the oven came running up to me like he 40 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 3: often does, and he said, I have to tell you 41 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,160 Speaker 3: I saw David Gray recently in Boston. 42 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:36,519 Speaker 1: He was unbelievable. 43 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 3: He was just going on and on how fabulous you were, 44 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 3: and I said, I'm going to be speaking to him 45 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 3: in a little while, so then the waitress. 46 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: Comes over, you're going to be speaking to David Gray. 47 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:51,639 Speaker 3: So I was the buzz, if you will, of Helen's restaurant, 48 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 3: but more importantly, you were the buzz of Helen's restaurant. 49 00:02:56,400 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: Excellent. Well, I've got great support up in the Boston area. 50 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: I think that Irish influence has made it a very 51 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 1: strong it's always even going back to like early shows 52 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:09,920 Speaker 1: on the White Ladder run back in two thousand when 53 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,240 Speaker 1: we were just starting, Boston was a sort of stronghold 54 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: and it's remained one and people are very sort of 55 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: passionate readily, so I think in a way that's a 56 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: little more relatable. I think because of that sort of 57 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: Irish influence that feels very strong there. So yeah, it's 58 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: been a good spot. And that was the very first 59 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: show of this tour, so there was a lot built 60 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: into it. 61 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 2: It was. 62 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: A joyful occasion. We just had to go for it. 63 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: The rehearsal time was over, let it all hang out 64 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: on stage, which we surely did so I'm glad everyone 65 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: enjoyed it. That was there. 66 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 3: So I've heard that you were inspired by, among other folks, 67 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 3: Bob Dylan and Neil Young and Kat Stevens. Can you 68 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:05,760 Speaker 3: talk about how their storytelling styles have influenced your lyrics 69 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 3: and music? 70 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: Of course, yeah, I mean the sort of ambient influence 71 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: of the music my parents were listening to in the 72 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 1: early seventies when I was just a little boy. Definitely 73 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,080 Speaker 1: sort of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Rod Stewart, the Stones, 74 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: the Beatles, and my dad was crazy about like Tea 75 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: for the Tillerman and you know, Catch Bull at four 76 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: and several of those early Jesus Cat Stephens records. So 77 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,920 Speaker 1: they definitely seeped in. I think the sort of soundscape 78 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: of them and the kind of passion of them. I 79 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: know they were very mainstream, but they had a kind 80 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: of kind of very soulful lean so they were I 81 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: think that that caught my ear and the directness of 82 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: the songwriting they slightly questing, kind of spiritual questing style 83 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: of writing from Cat Stevens anyway. And then so that's 84 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: that has informed my awareness of what music could be. 85 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: Like intimate encounters with that music early on. Discovering Bob 86 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: Dylan was like it was like finding another continent. I mean, 87 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:24,120 Speaker 1: I think when I sort of when I was about 88 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 1: thirteen fourteen and becoming very I was very interested in 89 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: pop music. I took a road journey with my dad 90 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 1: through France and we had one cassette and it was 91 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,720 Speaker 1: Pavrotti on one side and the Greatest Hits of Bob 92 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 1: Dylan on the other. And I particularly loved the acoustic stuff, 93 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: so side one of that very first Greatest Tits record, 94 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: which went from sort of blowing in the wind to tambourine. Man, 95 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 1: I suppose so it ain't me, babe, it's all over 96 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: baby blue. You know the times they are changing, those 97 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:57,800 Speaker 1: sort of early kind of big Dylan cuts, if you like. 98 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 1: And yeah, the texture of his music, the minimalism, that 99 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: the abrasive quality of his sound, and there's just enough 100 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: delicacy to frame concepts. And his voice just took up 101 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: a huge space because there was nothing else to compete 102 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: with it. So those sort of things, but just the 103 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,719 Speaker 1: way he painted with words is so evocative and so unique, 104 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: and he was like a sort of he still is. 105 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,599 Speaker 1: He remains a kind of picasso Esque sort of figure 106 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:32,479 Speaker 1: in the way that with a few brushstrokes he can 107 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: make something happen, and there's a sort of total confidence 108 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: of any sort of earthy directness to what he does. 109 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: So I think that, yeah, I was utterly hypnotized, and 110 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,240 Speaker 1: I wasn't listening to that kind of music at all. 111 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: I was listening to the music of the day. But 112 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: then in parallel I began to discover these other singer songwriters. 113 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: There wasn't an algorithmic means of finding it out about 114 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: music when I was young, and anyway, I lived in 115 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 1: a very remote place. It has always been word of mouth. 116 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: So the other kind of cool people who might be 117 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: listening to something, you talk to them about listening to 118 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: Bob Dinner and they said, well, if you listen to 119 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:14,880 Speaker 1: Leonard Cohen, you go no. So then you have to 120 00:07:14,920 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: start listening to Leonard Cohen. And then it's John Martin. 121 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: Then it's Nick Drake, and then it's Joni Mitchell, and 122 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: it's you know, and eventually it ended up with Van Morrison. 123 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 1: So all of those things. I was avidly interested in 124 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: the writing Tom Waits as well, discovering Tom Waits's Asylum years. 125 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: I bought a compilation record when I was about sixteen, 126 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 1: and I love that. But I was listening to the 127 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: pop music of the time, and I was dressed in 128 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: sort of bangles and sort of lippy and kind of 129 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: backcomed hair. I was like a Cure fan, but I 130 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: was really really passionate about all that, and when it 131 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,640 Speaker 1: came to writing, my very first attempts at writing songs 132 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:54,840 Speaker 1: were like a sort of hybrid of Robert Smith and 133 00:07:55,880 --> 00:08:03,560 Speaker 1: Robert Zimmermann. That's fabulous, That's wonderful, Robert Zimba Smith. 134 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 3: That is marvelous. Well, congrats on your thirteenth album, Dear Life, 135 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 3: and of course the tour as well. The album is 136 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 3: wonderful and it's touching. You know, once again your signature 137 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 3: deeply personal way of looking at life's ups and downs. 138 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:34,600 Speaker 3: Can you share any personal experiences that shaped some of 139 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 3: the themes of this new album. 140 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,760 Speaker 1: I don't know about personal experiences, but I mean, I'm 141 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: approaching the age that my father was when he died, 142 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: So that's a strange thing to think. So I haven't 143 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,480 Speaker 1: got some sort of strange sense of prophecy that I 144 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:59,400 Speaker 1: will collapse and expire on exactly the same data or anything. 145 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,000 Speaker 1: It's just more that to think that this is the 146 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 1: point he was at in his life when he had 147 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: to stop and just before we came out on this tour, 148 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 1: my guitarist Neil of thirty two years it was diagnosed 149 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: with cancer and just a couple of weeks, shy of rehearsals, 150 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,239 Speaker 1: he had to pull out. So we've got this mortality 151 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: idea that's becoming stronger, informs more of the way that 152 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: you think. It's like an accent on the words that 153 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: your mind turns around, it's just there. I think it 154 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 1: sharpens your sharpens flavors. It's like it's like seasoning in 155 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: a way for your thinking. So you've got finite time, 156 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: finite resources, and so these things have definitely had a 157 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: profound effect on the way. Ever since my father died 158 00:09:55,160 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: and I witnessed that magical, strange and heartbreaking event, It's 159 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: changed my life, my thinking forever. So I've seen people 160 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,079 Speaker 1: born and I've left. I've lost a few friends and 161 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: very close friends and close family members too. So I 162 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: think that this weighs down on the writing and comes 163 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:23,960 Speaker 1: through into the song so some very directly. But I 164 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: think one of the things that rescues this album from 165 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:32,439 Speaker 1: worthiness is that when the images came, there's a lightness 166 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,319 Speaker 1: and a humor to the way that they're presented, so 167 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: that they're not angst ridden sort of that there's yeah, 168 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: there is a grace about the way that the subjects 169 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,680 Speaker 1: are handled. There's a kind of microscope and a telescope 170 00:10:48,040 --> 00:10:50,679 Speaker 1: being used, so it's looking at the minute shai of 171 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:53,960 Speaker 1: detail of life and feeling. And then there's a sense 172 00:10:54,040 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: of just planetary perspective, cosmological perspective almost. I'm using a 173 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,320 Speaker 1: lot of imagery from space and things. I mean I 174 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: read about all that stuff a lot. I didn't really 175 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: sort of pay attention at science in school. I found 176 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: it rather dull. But now I'm avidly interested, both in 177 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: the natural world and that becomes very scientific when you 178 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,960 Speaker 1: start to analyze things, but also just the nature of 179 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:29,720 Speaker 1: matter and time and things. As we start to learn 180 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: the sort of mind bending depth of what's out there 181 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: and the contradictory nature of quantum, the quantum world, it's 182 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:43,440 Speaker 1: I mean, I can't assume to understand even a fraction 183 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: of it, but I try and grasp the basic threads. 184 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: So I used the sort of short story writer's trick 185 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:58,200 Speaker 1: of slightly imagined perspectives characters that were placed, so there's 186 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,319 Speaker 1: female perspectives on some of the songs. After the Harvest, 187 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,520 Speaker 1: for example, Fighting Talk is like a dialogue between me 188 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: and I imagined me and songwriter and wife or loved one, 189 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: and so lots of different fassets have seen, so it's 190 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 1: lots of views of the same mountains. So that's that's 191 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:21,920 Speaker 1: kind of I didn't I didn't head out with with 192 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: with massive sort of ambitions of the scope of what 193 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: the lyrics were going to contain. But the songwriting gods 194 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 1: were kind and one thing I think that did inform 195 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:38,880 Speaker 1: or enrich the perspectives of the record was the COVID 196 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: lockdown and just stopping. And I did what a lot 197 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:46,120 Speaker 1: of creative people do when things gound to a whole. 198 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 1: I thought, well, guess what, I'm go down to my studio, 199 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: make stuff. Check this out. World stopped, Gray won't stop. 200 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 1: And after about three or four weeks of messing down there, 201 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 1: I found I was getting quite stressed because I was 202 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 1: already going I'm going to make an album, and I 203 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 1: was like, can you never stop? I mean, like I 204 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: was saying to myself, why this Surely this is an 205 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 1: opportunity to be with my family under unprecedented circumstances. And 206 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:14,880 Speaker 1: I've been telling myself the lie that I was going 207 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: to stop at some point and spend some time with them. 208 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 1: But so I just down tools, and I only really 209 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:25,240 Speaker 1: worked when I really felt like it, and let the 210 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: field go fallow. So rather than just the consolation of 211 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:33,319 Speaker 1: constant activity, I allowed myself to just exist for a 212 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,960 Speaker 1: while under these extraordinary circumstances. So we were in a 213 00:13:37,040 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: world where suddenly this event horizon that's always racing towards 214 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: us of the next day, the thing that's coming, the 215 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,520 Speaker 1: plan that the next year, the next six months, the 216 00:13:47,559 --> 00:13:50,440 Speaker 1: next six to six weeks, wasn't there. There was just 217 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: a sort of frozen line, and we just had the 218 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:54,840 Speaker 1: space and time around us that's always there that we 219 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: failed to see, and we had each other, and we 220 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: began to assess the sort of the riches that lie 221 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: just in our locale and just that little bit of time, 222 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:08,439 Speaker 1: the seasons of the birds singing whatever. And also we 223 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: were just watching a death, a death count. We were 224 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 1: watching a sort of mortality graph, and seeing as that's 225 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: the part of our culture that we suppress so so passionately. 226 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: You know, we are still searching for eternal youth and 227 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: eternal idiocy. It seems it's it's it's something that suddenly 228 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,280 Speaker 1: we were just staring at these stats on a sort 229 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: of city by city, country by country, global scale. So 230 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: I think that that period of reflection enforced reflection and 231 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: dislocation from this norm, this racing, rushing norm where you're 232 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: never really anywhere at any given time. I think that 233 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: played into my hands when I came well. It's tempting 234 00:14:55,480 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: to see a correlation between this huge slowdown, me downing tools, 235 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: and then when I did pick my tools up again 236 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: at the end of COVID, because I had the white 237 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:08,480 Speaker 1: Lander tool, which had been postponed for two years, coming 238 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: right at me, I knew I had five months to work. 239 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: I just began to work like a demon. And I 240 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: wish it was always like that. I wish I could 241 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: turn it on like a tap and this this stuff 242 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: would just pore out. It's never usually that simple, but 243 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: that's what happened this time, and I got into such 244 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: a flow. But I'm basically chiefly I'm a lyricist. The 245 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:34,520 Speaker 1: music supports the lyrics. I'm with Sinatra on that. I 246 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: think I see it all as a prop. It's a 247 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: stage set so that the words can happen. That's what 248 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:43,440 Speaker 1: the music is to me, and that's the sort of 249 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 1: that's the influence of Dylan, I guess right there, because 250 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:50,200 Speaker 1: it's it's it's so you can deliver the line. And 251 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: what songwriting is is looking for delicious space amongst chords 252 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: and sounds where their vocal needs to be and the 253 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,320 Speaker 1: story can be told. So you're sort of create eating 254 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 1: a stage set, a tableau almost, And yeah, this time 255 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 1: around that the lyrics just poured out. I've been in 256 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: a process of sort of simplification since I started writing 257 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:17,320 Speaker 1: as a teenager, to be less adjectives, less descriptive language, 258 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,840 Speaker 1: more simplicity. But this time around it just completely reversed, 259 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: and I went into these mad, kind of crazy multi 260 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 1: line rhyming schemes that were more like rapping in a way, 261 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: and lots of fast vocal deliveries. But the pleasure of 262 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: writing is obvious. I think in listening to the record, 263 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:40,200 Speaker 1: the joy of the music and mysticism that it's contained 264 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,960 Speaker 1: within a word. Each word was a magic incantation when 265 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: it began, we don't we failed to see them now 266 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:50,000 Speaker 1: for what they are. They were magic things that could 267 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: only be uttered by magic people. When they were devised 268 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: as a descriptive labeling tool to say the word of 269 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: something precious was in it self an act of being 270 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: precious or being with something magic. So I think they 271 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,760 Speaker 1: still contain these things, and when they're combined in these 272 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: strange chemical combinations, crazy things can happen, and that little 273 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: dynamo drives the obsession of my existence. 274 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 2: Really, we'll be right back with more of the Taking 275 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:27,480 Speaker 2: a Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast. 276 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 3: You take those themes and you kind of describe that 277 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:36,360 Speaker 3: of you know, the mortality themes and themes of resilience. 278 00:17:36,840 --> 00:17:41,640 Speaker 3: But within there, and maybe it's that aspect of awareness 279 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:45,879 Speaker 3: of what's around you that you described within there, there's 280 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:51,240 Speaker 3: also feelings of joy and optimism in there as well, 281 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:56,680 Speaker 3: and it's just marvelous how you deal with the complexity 282 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:56,919 Speaker 3: of that. 283 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 1: Thanks. Yeah, But I I think all working is is 284 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,639 Speaker 1: putting yourself in the way of something good happening. So 285 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,080 Speaker 1: I don't know why sometimes it works out better than 286 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:13,879 Speaker 1: other times. I guess it's the seasons of self as well. 287 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: They our own sort of shedding of skins, and you 288 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: know the changes that are brought upon us, and sometimes 289 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:25,200 Speaker 1: you're not you're still in a process of coming to 290 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:28,639 Speaker 1: terms with something maybe not completely ripened and your viewpoint. 291 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: But anyway, this time around, as I say, everything fell 292 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:36,360 Speaker 1: into focus and I had just huge amounts of pleasure 293 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,640 Speaker 1: and in the writing, and the writing is the tricky part. 294 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,439 Speaker 1: The lyrics are the tricky part of the process. As 295 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:47,960 Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned. Anyone can write music, it's it's 296 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 1: getting the song out, and they don't often land in 297 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 1: one go or I'm not often positioned to take advantage 298 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: of inspiration as it's termed. I normally have to stay 299 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: and then pick it up some other point later. Because 300 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: life is what it is. I've got a lot of 301 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: stuff I've got to try and squeeze into my life. 302 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: It rarely offers me just infinite opportunities to just think 303 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,640 Speaker 1: about what I want to do. Every day. There's usually 304 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: other stuff getting in the way, so I have to 305 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:18,400 Speaker 1: kind of find ways to pick up the loose ends 306 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: and pick What was remarkable this time was just how 307 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 1: easily that happened. It's one thing writing songs off the cuff. 308 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:33,200 Speaker 1: When it all starts to flow, that's great, But usually 309 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 1: most of my work is picking up other bits and 310 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: trying to finish them. And what was remarkable on writing 311 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:42,000 Speaker 1: this record was just how how much of that I 312 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: managed to do. I just I was like, oh that idea, Yeah, okay, 313 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: I've got one verse, I've got one line for the chorus, 314 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:48,679 Speaker 1: and it would be like right, okay, and I just 315 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: sit down and I just write my confidence levels. I 316 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: read a lovely line today, hang on, I might be 317 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:58,480 Speaker 1: able to find it. And this I thought was very 318 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 1: pertinent because I use the word tension. Attention is the 319 00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:10,199 Speaker 1: rarest and purest form of generosity. Absolute unmixed attention is prayer. 320 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:15,920 Speaker 1: That's simone bile. So I'd say that my attention levels 321 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:21,919 Speaker 1: were a heightened, heightened level. I managed to everything else disappeared, 322 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,640 Speaker 1: and I was just in this world for a sustained 323 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:27,639 Speaker 1: period of time, day after day after day, and it 324 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 1: allowed my reach to become much more natural. Anyway, these 325 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: I'm just trying to explain something I don't really fully understand. Well, 326 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:36,680 Speaker 1: you explain it well. 327 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 3: And it almost is like the equivalent of being in 328 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:45,680 Speaker 3: as they say, for you know, athletes being in the zone, right, 329 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 3: I mean you were in the zone. 330 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm trying to keep an equivalent zone on 331 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:57,120 Speaker 1: the tour I'm doing. I'm trying to keep in order 332 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: for songwriting or any writing or art to happen. Openness. 333 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:03,400 Speaker 1: It's a heart led thing. You have to be open, 334 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:08,359 Speaker 1: I think anyway. I believe at the very core of 335 00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:13,119 Speaker 1: what I'm doing, it's about allowing the deepest thing to 336 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,960 Speaker 1: be to become visible. So and that's a very awkward 337 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: process in the world we live in. It's it's a 338 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:25,920 Speaker 1: hostile environment a lot of the time. So it's I'm 339 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: trying to persevere and keep that to the fore during 340 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 1: all these concerts and not just play the songs and 341 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: get the lights working, but to actually be there for 342 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:41,880 Speaker 1: the audience and talk and bring them in to some 343 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:45,400 Speaker 1: of the stories and specifics to do with it. And 344 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:47,919 Speaker 1: not only that. For my band too, it's about them. 345 00:21:48,560 --> 00:21:51,120 Speaker 1: They've been playing with me for a long time. Yeah, 346 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: I'm trying to keep them emotionally available. When you've spent 347 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:56,359 Speaker 1: as long as we have together on the back in 348 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,280 Speaker 1: the back of a tour bus, inever to be the 349 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,880 Speaker 1: shutterest stuff to come down at some point like, oh Jesus, 350 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: you know such and such is on one. You know, 351 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: oh Christ, he's been at the vodka, you know, like 352 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:16,919 Speaker 1: quick into your bunks. It's like it's I'm trying to 353 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,919 Speaker 1: keep I'm trying to keep everything. I'm trying to keep 354 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 1: people there for each other because I think just somehow 355 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 1: the emotional presence is just vital to this thing that 356 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,000 Speaker 1: I'm trying to do, which is not just playing the 357 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: new record. I'm deep diving into all the old albums 358 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: as well, so like really picking tracks from places that 359 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,359 Speaker 1: I haven't been for a long time, so some of 360 00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: the stuff of Life in Slow Motion, New Day at Midnight, 361 00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: Lost songs, albums that I haven't been giving that much 362 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:49,600 Speaker 1: attention to. So it's it's really exciting, but making sure 363 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: you don't lose sight of the bigger picture. Just because 364 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:53,159 Speaker 1: you hit the right notes and you stand in the 365 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:55,879 Speaker 1: right place and the lighting man gets his cues, it 366 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:58,480 Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's the you're doing what you need. You 367 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:02,440 Speaker 1: need to be there, like there they're and at risk, 368 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,720 Speaker 1: so you need to be risking something. It's entirely risk 369 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: and reward. I want the audience to feel like something 370 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 1: just happened. 371 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 3: Can you talk about the collaboration on Plus and Minus 372 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:20,560 Speaker 3: with TALLYA Ray, What that was like? That song is fabulous? 373 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,879 Speaker 1: Thanks. Yeah, this is the song that's taken of all 374 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:25,680 Speaker 1: the songs I've ever written. It's the one that's taken 375 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 1: the longest to complete, so it's twenty years between the 376 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:34,520 Speaker 1: first time I played the chord sequence and Italian putting 377 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: her voice on to what was basically, by then a 378 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:41,080 Speaker 1: finished song. So it was lovely the way it worked 379 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:43,240 Speaker 1: with her getting involved. She's so young. I mean, she's 380 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:47,800 Speaker 1: the same age as my daughter. So and she was 381 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,439 Speaker 1: doing some event in New York and my manager just 382 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,680 Speaker 1: happened to see her. And at this point we'd finished 383 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,680 Speaker 1: the track. I got my daughter to sing on it 384 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: a bit. I'd done some of the bvs and we'd 385 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:03,200 Speaker 1: kind of created a semi but I couldn't find the 386 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:05,399 Speaker 1: right voice. We were trying to get certain people to 387 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:07,800 Speaker 1: do it, and then their schedules were just it was 388 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:11,239 Speaker 1: hanging around waiting for someone to find a day. I 389 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 1: was becoming frustrated and we just wanted to move on. 390 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 1: So anyway, he heard this Talia singing it this thing 391 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:18,159 Speaker 1: in New York, and he just so, I heard this 392 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: girl sing last night, and she's got a great voice. 393 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,600 Speaker 1: I think it could really work for what you've been describing. 394 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,080 Speaker 1: She's got quite a low voice. She could do the 395 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: low parts. And he said, and then When I talked 396 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 1: to her after the show to say well done, she said, oh, 397 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,280 Speaker 1: who do you manage? And I mentioned your name and 398 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,679 Speaker 1: she said, oh my god, I'm like obsessed with David Graham. 399 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 1: I'm listening to White Lader all the time at the moment. 400 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: So I said, wow, okay, and then we had a 401 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,919 Speaker 1: zoom call. I met her. I really liked her. She 402 00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:47,600 Speaker 1: had a picture of Amy Wyanhouse on a wall behind her. 403 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:49,639 Speaker 1: I thought, oh, yeah, I get that. Yeah, she's like 404 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 1: a North London girl. So but she was super cool. 405 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: I said, listen, obviously, tuning is important singing the song, 406 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: learn the part. Listen very carefully to the phrase it 407 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,760 Speaker 1: it's about rhythm, so very fast vocal. You're going to 408 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,120 Speaker 1: learn how to breathe. So if you're going to practice, 409 00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:11,840 Speaker 1: I believe you can sing in tune. So I said, 410 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: concentrate on the rhythm. She came to the thing that 411 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:17,919 Speaker 1: she'd really done her homework, so it wasn't an easy 412 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: song to sing. So I mean, I know because I've 413 00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:24,719 Speaker 1: recorded it myself and done various parts. So she was great, 414 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:28,199 Speaker 1: and she's kind of up for everything, but not in 415 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: a horribly ambitious kind of like tread on you with 416 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:44,640 Speaker 1: my Stiletto's kind of way. 417 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 3: Oh brilliant. Tell me about the makeshift studio and what 418 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,879 Speaker 3: impact that had on this process. 419 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 1: Yeah. I was forced out of my home studio in 420 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:56,040 Speaker 1: London because my awful neighbor was doing a refurbishment and 421 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: decided he was going to dig out his basement and 422 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:01,199 Speaker 1: my studio was down there, and it was ridiculous. It 423 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: was so loud we couldn't even think, let alone work. 424 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:07,440 Speaker 1: So I hastily turned my garage. I've got a house 425 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 1: on the coast up in Norfolk. I turned my garage 426 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,560 Speaker 1: into a sort of recording space. Well I say recording space. 427 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,200 Speaker 1: I basically just put a floor and walls in and 428 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:22,480 Speaker 1: we moved some gear in there. So I was sort 429 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,680 Speaker 1: of reluctant to use When I go up there, it's 430 00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:30,639 Speaker 1: generally a place for recharging and absorbing the world rather 431 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 1: than trying to make things. I might be ruminating on 432 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:38,199 Speaker 1: things that I'm working on and singing them to myself 433 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 1: and play a bit on my piano up there, but 434 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,879 Speaker 1: I don't sit down and work, So I was reluctant 435 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:47,919 Speaker 1: to kind of confuse the two worlds. But actually it 436 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 1: was the greatest thing ever because The sort of quiet 437 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,440 Speaker 1: that rains up in this part of the world is 438 00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: I'm on a nature reserve. I'm out in the middle 439 00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: of you know, you know, in a marsh. Basically we're 440 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:04,040 Speaker 1: just heading down towards the ocean, so it's a very empty, 441 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:10,600 Speaker 1: pure place. I think suggestibility is a key ingredient for 442 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,920 Speaker 1: the sort of self hypnosis that's required to make things 443 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:21,200 Speaker 1: to write. To suddenly be in a creative mood, and 444 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,439 Speaker 1: the moment I close the car door when I go 445 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:28,199 Speaker 1: up there, I mean it's my happy place. It's a 446 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,960 Speaker 1: world of stars, of wind through reads of bare branches, 447 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,200 Speaker 1: of the sounds of the geese on the marsh. It's 448 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:41,320 Speaker 1: a world of sound and spectacle and subtlety and nuance. 449 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,040 Speaker 1: And I immediately awakened the moment I'm in it, So 450 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:49,680 Speaker 1: I'm already in a suggestible state, more broadly than a 451 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:55,879 Speaker 1: creative state, a state of suggestibility. So the quiet that 452 00:27:56,040 --> 00:28:00,560 Speaker 1: was there was wonderful, and as as I say, this 453 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 1: kind of relaxed state of being when you haven't got 454 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 1: sirens and buses screeching and all the kind of angst 455 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,480 Speaker 1: that the city brings you basically freed from that. So 456 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:12,840 Speaker 1: it was remarkable and the other key thing was I 457 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 1: normally work a sort of rigid, semi rigid day. So 458 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: we'll normally meet at ten in the morning, have a 459 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 1: cup of tea, chat, start working about ten thirty, quarter 460 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:26,879 Speaker 1: to eleven, and finish at about quarter to seven, with 461 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,760 Speaker 1: a little lunch break and a few cups of teeth 462 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:34,080 Speaker 1: thrown in. But that would be my working day. But 463 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 1: up there, my producer came and stayed, so we'd work 464 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: like a three day cycle. So he'd come up on 465 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:45,719 Speaker 1: the first day. We'd work Tuesday and then stay Tuesday 466 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:49,240 Speaker 1: Wednesday night, but we'd go. I'd go and he'd be 467 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:51,440 Speaker 1: tidying up what we'd recorded, and I'd go and make 468 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 1: some supper. We'd have a glass of wine. And the 469 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 1: very first night that we were down there, it was 470 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: like it was beautiful evening, early spring, or it may 471 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: probably winter actually, to be honest and clear, evening. I've 472 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:07,800 Speaker 1: made some supper, we had a glass of wine. We 473 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,560 Speaker 1: were sitting there. It was about nine o'clock and he said, well, 474 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: should we just go back in the studio, and I said, yeah, yeah, 475 00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,840 Speaker 1: three hit let's do it. And so we had this 476 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:21,160 Speaker 1: We had this little space in the evening if we 477 00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: wanted it where we could go and try things out, 478 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: so not work on the track we were working on, 479 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 1: or just I said, oh, I've got this set of 480 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 1: chords and a kind of feeling that there's a fast 481 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 1: vocal that's going to go with them. I said, I'm 482 00:29:37,560 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: just working on this the other day and I didn't 483 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 1: really have a chance to look at it. So and 484 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:42,440 Speaker 1: that was after the harvest, and that was the very 485 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,320 Speaker 1: first night we were up there. So we just started 486 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 1: working and I started coming out with I didn't get 487 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,360 Speaker 1: the entire lyric, but I got these kind of soft 488 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: word ending its almost French word endings, so all these cadences, 489 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: and I thought, there's something here, this is new, and 490 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:01,480 Speaker 1: also I was almost it was like a semi wrap. 491 00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: He put this little drum machine rhythm in, and we 492 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: put these synths on and I put the guitar parts down, 493 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: and suddenly I came up with the second section, which 494 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:12,040 Speaker 1: is I Know that Love is Bigger, blah blah blah, 495 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:13,959 Speaker 1: and I was like, wow, well, you know this is it. 496 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: We're off. This is the stuff. So then I, you know, 497 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:19,000 Speaker 1: he left and I finished that song at the end 498 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: of the week, and then we finished recording it up there. 499 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,080 Speaker 1: But that was the sort of template. So we'd work 500 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:27,440 Speaker 1: on things during the day and then we'd have a 501 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:29,720 Speaker 1: sort of free hit in the evening till like midnight 502 00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 1: when we could work on other stuff. And that was very, 503 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,479 Speaker 1: very fruitful. So yes, it was a total breaking of 504 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 1: my my heavy compartmentalization was shattered by the new new 505 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:45,640 Speaker 1: world of being just up in the middle of nowhere 506 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:47,400 Speaker 1: with nothing else to do and no one else to 507 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: tell you what to do or come to bed or 508 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:53,320 Speaker 1: watch the TV series. You know. There there was nothing else, 509 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,280 Speaker 1: no distractions, So that was rather marvelous. Yes, it's like 510 00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:01,280 Speaker 1: the story of the puppet becoming a real boy. I'm 511 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:05,960 Speaker 1: sort of slowly turning back into a human being. I'm 512 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,720 Speaker 1: on the other side of bringing up children and having 513 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:11,320 Speaker 1: a career. I'm becoming human again. 514 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,960 Speaker 3: Congratulations on dear life, David Gray. I could listen to 515 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 3: you talk all day, I could listen to your music 516 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 3: all day. This is such joy for me talking to 517 00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 3: you on the podcast, and I just thank you for everything. 518 00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: My pleasure. Buzz say hello to the chaps at the 519 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: restaurant in Concord. 520 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:33,960 Speaker 3: I will thank you, David. 521 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,000 Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a 522 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:41,960 Speaker 2: Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends 523 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 2: and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking 524 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 2: a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 525 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 2: and wherever you get your podcasts.