This is probably the most ambitious thing I’ve tried yet, in terms of arrangement, on my home recording set up. The tune came to me whilst I was cycling to work, the idea for the lyrics has been kicking around since I was on holiday in January 2007.

This recording marks the debut of my new toy, a bass guitar that I bought for the princely sum of £20.00!! I was planning to borrow a bass guitar for this recording, but Elmo from China Dogs offered me this, and at that price I could not say no. It’s a really quite horrible looking thing, made by Stagg but it plays & records okay, just don’t think I’d want to be seen with it in public.

To me the song sounds quite Hollies-esque, especially in the vocal harmonies, though I really was going for an ‘XTC/Dukes Of Stratosphear’ kind of feel, especially in the bass part. I’ve never recorded a song in which I’ve indulged a really noodly bass part, so I threw every note at it that I could.
Having recorded the basic track, it occurred to me that the middle-8 would suit a Beach Boys type of arrangement, so I added in an extra middle 8 and dropped out the drums, re-recorded the vocals in falsetto and added a block of vocal harmony, although I have no qualms in admitting that I cannot arrange vocal harmony layers anything like Brian Wilson would.
In an attempt to get that ‘Carol Kaye bass’ sound I stuffed a huge lump of foam rubber under the strings at the bridge, rolled the tone off, played it with a pick and added a bit of reverb. I think it’s pretty convincing.

Please let me know what you think, I do appreciate that the song has a rather strong element of pastiche about it, is it any the worse for that?

Instrumentation -

Rhythm Guitar -Peavey Generation XP

Lead Guitar - ‘Vintage’ Les Paul copy

Bass - Stagg Fusion Electric Bass (twenty quid, yes!)

Organ - Yamaha PSS580 home keyboard

Drums - Courtesy of the Boss BR-864’s internal drum machine.

Tambourine - nicked from the Strand Theatre 11 years ago.