I sometimes do volunteer work driving old people to hospital. I went to pick up one old lady and managed to arrive an hour earlier than she was expecting me. I thought she might invite me in for coffee, cake and a jolly chat, but she didn’t; instead, she eyed me suspiciously and ordered me to return in an hour. Fair enough.
Lucky for me, just down the road was a quiet park. I had my Zoom and electric guitar with me, set it all up, sat on the park bench and found the bones of this song.
Quite near to where I used to live, there is a very quaint, old-fashioned teahouse, set in some refurbished farm buildings, beside a craft centre and a couple of artists’ studios.
The walls of the tea house are adorned with paintings done by local artists, all for sale. Nearby is an equally quaint village church. So that was my starting point for this lyric. With carrot cake very much on my mind, I improvised some vocal lines and lyrics. Add kindness, sociability, nostalgia and dead people into the mix, and off we go...
I like the homemade feel of this one; the upfront untreated vocal, the way the song widens out in the chorus, and the sentiment expressed in the lyrics: almost like thinking out loud. A cosy, friendly song based around the notion of a cosy, friendly place
During the mixing of this one I realized something quite important. When I’m coming up with bushytunes, I’m not thinking about playing them live in front of a large audience, or hearing them blasted out over a PA system. No, I imagine them being played on people’s personal stereos, Ipods and such. My favourite way to listen to music is on earphones and I’m not alone. So my idea is that when someone is listening to a bushytune, they are probably doing it alone.
I suppose what I’m trying to say is this: the fact I’ve produced something I can share with other people, folks I don’t even know, in a fairly private, personal way, is very interesting food for thought, which, I presume, subconsciously informs my processes around the bushytunes project. Hmm.
A last point – there are quite a few songs I like that evoke places I’ve never been to, yet I manage to feel somehow nostalgic, cosy and comfortable around the songs - songs like ‘Waterloo Sunset’ and ‘Penny Lane’, for instance.
Anyone for carrot cake?
.
lyrics
Da de da de dum dum da
Da de da de dum dum da
This is just the intro bit
I’m da de dum-ing over
‘Til the real song appears
Here it comes
Take me for a cup of tea
And a piece of carrot cake
That would be so kind of you
So very, very kind of you
The best decision you could make
There’s a little place I know
The ladies working there all smile
It’s my very favourite place to go
but I confess to you
I haven’t been there for a while
Feels really safe
Feels like yesterday
Feels just like home
In a funny kind of way
They have paintings on the wall
Local paintings you can buy
Some of them are good and
Some are not so good and
Some are terrible
But at least the people try
Then I’d like some gateaux too
And a cup of chocolate, hot
I had to reverse those words
‘Hot chocolate’ to fit the lyric
Proud of it? Well, I am not
Feels really safe
Feels like yesterday
Feels just like home
In a funny kind of way
Da de da de dum dum da
Da de da de dum dum da
Da de da de da de da de
Da de da de da de da de
Da de da de dum dum da
There’s a little church nearby
We could stroll around the grounds
They’ve got lots of dead folk there but
Don’t you worry ‘cause the dead folk
Are all six foot underground
Feels really safe
Feels like yesterday
Feels just like home
In a funny kind of way
Feels really safe
Feels like yesterday
Feels just like home
In a funny kind of way
In a funny kind of way
Why don’t you come out to play?
We could go there today
Da de da de dum dum da
Da de da de dum dum da
Now the song is nearly done
It just remains for me to say
Your more than welcome, come for tea
And the treat will be on me
.
Once upon a time there was a crazy idea: to create, record and upload a musical track every day for a year. And the idea
floated round and round the planet, looking for a place to call home. After a long time of searching and wishing and watching, the idea chose to make a nest in the brain of a bushy fellow, coming to his aid and guiding him out of the doldrums, back to a magical pathway......more
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