i wrote a song on the BNL/Guster cruise in 2006. i was influenced by some of the new sounds i’d heard on the ship. i wasn’t much of a BNL fan before that cruise (we went mostly for guster, and the caribbean, and they won me over), so i heard a lot of new music that week, including BNL’s side projects and the other bands onboard. the song didn’t (and still doesn’t) sound like BNL, but i tried some things out that i normally wouldn’t have. i tried to get “jazzy” with the bass part. not sure how successful i was at that, but it was at least something i normally wouldn’t have done, and i kind of like hanging out at the edge of my comfort zone with songwriting lately.
i finally put together some lyrics for it this last week, after thinking i’d never finish it. i like it. it’s got a name, too: “blue skies black”. i’d been calling it “ladyboat”, for fairly obvious reasons… it’s a rather scathing break-up song set to relatively upbeat music. there’s a sitar in the bridge, though that’s more the beatles and type o negative’s influence than anything i heard on that ship. the guitar solo is something i imagine harvey danger would have done, perhaps.
i’m thinking of adding this to the batch of songs i’d already decided on including on my upcoming solo cd. that’d make 12 songs, and that’s ok, i think.
