Episode #218: All Through The Years (Song starts at 4:05)
I’m really enjoying recording these episodes (obviously I wouldn’t be doing it if I wasn’t). It’s my online weekly gig.
The song 'All Through The Years' ( #541) was written in 2007. To be honest I haven’t thought about it too much through the years. Ha..so many songs, you get busy. Keep composing. So it’s been sitting in my purple book til now. Handwritten in my handwriting - a code most people wouldn’t be able to decipher. Until now.
Anyway, I’ve given this song a bit of a run through occasionally perhaps. I never felt comfortable with the chorus for some reason. Thought it too simple in terms of the small amount of different chords used. Now I can see that that might actually be a strength.
Tonight - and it is tonight, here in Melbourne, I set up a gentle tempo with a click track and just played and sang it through, winging parts here and there, imagining other instruments carrying sections.
The outcome is: I’m pleased I’ve rediscovered 'All Through The Years'. And I’m glad I chose to record an episode about it.
The song started as a ‘words first’ effort. One of my children had a bad dream, so I got up to settle her, calm her down.
It’s a special time when you go back in the room as a parent, just to make sure they’ve gone to sleep again, taking care not to boot a child’s toy on the ground in the dark, you creep in watch for a moment in the moonlight, see their peaceful face as they softly breathe. You might whisper an ‘I love you / Goodnight’ and retrace your steps back out the door.
On this occasion, I didn’t go straight back to bed. I went into the lounge, picked up and pen and paper and wrote the words. Then I went to bed (jumping on the piano at 2am wouldn’t have made me overly popular with anyone in our household).
6 months later, I found the lyrics, found the same mood (important) and just played through a few chords. The music seems to match the lyrics and a melody came to me as I floated my voice over the top and away I went.
It’s a magic feeling - still magic after all these years...Paul Dredge and I have just released another folkrock album, by the way. Streaming on the the usual services. River Walking.
I bring it up because it’s an example of songs taken to the next stage. Arranged and recorded. So much fun.
I’d like to do something with All Through The Years, now that I’ve finally recorded a demo ( didn’t take me long: 20 odd years after the song was composed. Oh well).
I also mention my blog www.petepascoe.wordpress.com you can read the lyrics there and check out more of my music and art each week, including some writing about the first song on the River Walking album, Waiting.
I hope you enjoy hearing a little bit about how this song came together, as I sit and demonstrate parts on the piano singing away in between the chat,
Ok here we go. All through the years, ‘Rollin!’’.