Thursday, September 22, 2011

'Til You Find Your Heart Again

(K. laCour) This is the first appearance of a song I didn’t write, only produced.

Karissa was a girl who I worked with for most of the latter 00’s. Broke my heart. I wasn’t a big enough fish to get her signed and, after four and a half years of laboring fruitlessly, she quit the business. Quit! Nobody quits! If you’re in music, you’re supposed to do this until you die! I did! Well… I’m not quite dead yet, but almost. And I’ll guarantee you, I’ll keep going ‘til I am.

Anyway she’s a lovely singer/songwriter and a true original. This is one of the last songs we did together and sometimes I almost think the lyric is to me.

You look to me for rescue
You look to me for healing
You look to me for definition
But I can never do for you
I can never do for you
‘Til you find your heart again

If it is to me, by the way, it’s not entirely true. What I looked to her for was to confidently stand up and be the star her talent demanded but you can tell she was feeling burdened and overwhelmed. The song is probably actually to herself.

Karissa certainly wrote what she knew. As the last songs came in, they were even more heartbreaking cries de Coeur.

I’ll post more of them soon.

'Til You Find Your Heart Again

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Let Me See The Light

(Griffin/Royer) This is an 'accidental' song that occurred something like this.
1. Jimmy started the chorus and brought it to me some time during the pleistocene period.
2. He and I finished the chorus, but never got verses or lyric.
3. I finished Let me see the Light one night in a fit of inspiration.
4. I took the song to Jimmy who sheepishly admitted he had finished the song too, with another writer. His version was called The Healing has Begun. We agreed we would just keep our own versions.
5. I recorded the song with the Finnigans. Mike sang it, and Sean, who is quite a promoter, turned out half of Hollywood and a film crew to record the chorus. (Note video credits)
6. We didn't get around to editing the film for years. By the time we did, Jimmy had died and I didn't feel right about leaving his name off, so I added his name back to the credits.
7. The video turned into quite an event on the internet, getting tens of thousands of plays. Yeah, I know, Rebecca Black has more but this was pretty good for old guys.
8. Here 'tis.

Video


Finnigan Bros. album version

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Least You Could Do


(Robb Royer/David Miner) I’ll bet you Jimmy/philes have never heard this one or I’ll eat my hat. (If the unexpected occurs, a gluten-free pancake hat will have to be constructed) I can do it. Call my bluff if you must -- but be honest.

And if honesty is indeed the order of the day, and if memory serves, this is one of the songs that led us of out of the wilderness of alienation caused by a toxic, litigious presence finally fading from scene and facilitated by the early arrival of Marti.

Too cryptic? The fact that the song is written by myself and David Miner (who was a member of Tracks) but sung by Jimmy indicates some kind of melding of disparate forces, some new wind that led us next to Preacher on the Air, Shango, Throw the Bottle, Be That Way… the ‘Island’ period, if you will, a fresh breeze which followed years of confrontation and litigation.

‘Nuff said. Lyrix on this one for sleuths…

That was a meteoric climb
And you sure made it in record time
Well I should have known
I was your steppin’ stone
Now I’m very passe’
Since you’re makin’ your way
With the A crowd

You could have took the time to tell me
You could have took the time to tell me
That I never had, I never had chance with you
It was the least you could do

Now you’re appearing at the Greek
Babs takes you dancing
Chic, too chic
Now you’re never home
And you’re never alone
And I’m just in the way since you got your entrĂ©e’
To the A crowd

You could have took the time to tell me
You should have took the time to tell me
That I never had, I never had chance with you
It was the least you could do
The very the least you could do
It was the least you could do

c Robroy West Music / D Miner Music

Kudos to Reggie Fisher for making re-introductions

David Miner on Bass and Keys
Robb Royer Programming
Chuck Cochran Guitar
Mysterious friend of David on Electronic Trumpet
Jimmy Griffin Vocal

Least You Could Do

Friday, September 2, 2011

Say When

(Griffin/Royer) This is a song that will be familiar to many of you although it has never had a major release. It was written for a tour the last incarnation of Bread went on in 1998. Apparently Jimmy and I performed it together for some TV show around that time; I have no memory of doing it but there I am on the videotape so it must have happened.

We demo’d it around the time it was written and I remember Jimmy only took one pass at the vocal but it was nearly perfect. Jimmy could really sing that song. Later, when I finished up the Jimmy Griffin album after he passed away, I overdubbed Michael Rhodes and Shannon Forrest on bass and drums. There was still something missing, so I had the engineer for the project, Brandon Henegar, who is an excellent guitarist, overdub a weepy guitar. I finished it off with a light electric piano.

This is the song I wish we had back in the early days of Bread. Had it been there then, I’m almost sure it would have been the missing Jimmy Griffin Bread single.

Say When