FAKE PLASTIC TREES
Tom Yorke said, ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ was “a product of a joke that wasn’t really a joke, a very, lonely, drunken evening and, well, a breakdown of sorts.” The creation of the song, as Yorke recalled, “was not forced at all; it was just recording whatever was going on in my head, really. I wrote those words and laughed. I thought they were really funny, especially that bit about polystyrene.” What followed was a torturous recording process.
For me, the recording was brutal as well. It turns out to be a very difficult song and remains a high bar for me. I recorded it in Nashville in 2023.
HIGH AND DRY
Sunday Challenge April 2024. I hadn't heard this song in over two decades but when I did I gave myself 15 minutes to do a version.
Two jumps in a week
I bet you think that's pretty clever, don't you boy?
STRANGE CURRENCIES
I don't know why you're mean to me
When I call on the telephone
And I don't know what you mean to me
But I want to turn you on
Turn you up, figure you out
I want to take you on
When I call on the telephone
And I don't know what you mean to me
But I want to turn you on
Turn you up, figure you out
I want to take you on
These words, you will be mine
These words, you will be mine, all the time
These words, you will be mine, all the time
Song by R.E.M.
INTO DUST
A fixture in my headphones on safari in Tanzania, this became an exercise in how to make a Mazzy Star tune darker than it already is!
SO CRUEL
This is a B-side for U2, but man, did I just feel this one would be fun solo.
I AND LOVE AND YOU
Recorded at 'Snacky Time' studio in East Nashville. I took the cover photo the day of the recording while on a walk around the city before the evening recording session. Grumpy's Bail Bonds!
I like the version where I am working out my arrangement on guitar just as much (video below). You decide!
I AND LOVE AND YOU
Working out the arrangement in East Nashville before tracking the above studio version.