Recorded at The Ranch with Roscoe Wilson

"The beat of this city
Keeps me alive..."

Notes:

Chicago

Chicago or, to me, Blue Line (I half-heartedly tried to change it to Chicago but whimped out and parenthesised it) is a more personal one. It’s about a girl, it’s about a place. The place is obvious. The girl is obvious if you know, and if you know, you know. The ‘beat of this city keeps me alive’ actually comes from travelling through the city – through a number of cities really – the feeling of seeking out the next big place. The endless scroll of the American landscape, traced by a greyhound bus finger upon creased highway map lines. I hopped through a few places, saw a lot of land out of bus windows. The cities always called to me and the pulse… well, the beat, kept me going. I feel it’s one of those, I said it best in the song things. I see something in your eye is actually literal, but you’ll never understand unless you’re me or maybe one other person, or you are perceptive and happen to know me and that one other person. If you know, and you know, then you know.

I think the song took one rewrite but otherwise was pretty much in piece when it arrived. The line ‘move Chicago down the line’ turned out to be very apt, as at the time I was in Glasgow, and down the line, well… I’m writing this from Chicago. As Stan would say, ‘nuff said.
Roscoe also brought this one out. Gave it a full life. Roscoe’s guitar on there is exquisite, the bass really carries the song and the organ brings it home. Without it, it’s a straight up love song, to girl and city, both.

The Great Plains

I’ll never know if this was the correct B-Side, or second side at least, to Chicago. It makes sense to me in that in the first I was searching with hope, for hope, and in the second I am searching with anxiety, fear, trepidation, with some hope swept up in it all. It’s a complicated thing life. The future is definitely the most present feature in the song.
I’m gradually learning what I mean in this song, but honestly it’s still too close to really get into. Will I ever get closer, do I feel any different… It’s a questing toward something. Searching for something beyond my comprehension. I may be closer now, but I’m not sure.

I will say that the vocals and acoustic guitar were recorded in my Granny’s place, in the kitchen where the acoustics were incredible. I can feel the soul of that room in everything I recorded there. I miss that room.