CW59
When I was in high school, a couple years into writing songs all the time, I remember realizing, like waking up out of a trance, I mostly write slow songs. A lot of ballads, a lot of molasses-slow rock feels. It wasn’t everything—e.g., early Pink Floyd 6/8* showed up a lot too (still does)—but it was true: my tempos skewed slow, especially for a literal teenager.
*I saw Kurt Rosenwinkel’s classic quartet two nights in a row in Boston in 2000, the year after I got out of college. My memory of the first night is mostly of Kurt ferociously shredding through the backwards setting on his Line 6. (And Mark Turner quietly practicing between the sets, crouched down with his tenor in a little hallway by the bathrooms.) But the second night it was suddenly The Next Step material (not released till the following year), a second guitar in weird tunings. I was in the front row when they opened with “Zhivago,” my first time hearing it—and that “Astronomy Domine” 6/8 was forever overdetermined for me. But I digress. 💕
I seem like an uptempo person—maybe less so as an adult, but not much. I talk too much. I am prone to over-the-top enthusiasm and excessive anxiety. I often whirl about, one way or the other. And yet my default pocket is languorous. I don’t drag—my time is good—but when I’m counting off, the BPM is more often than not not high. One person’s plodding is another person’s (me) courtly, stately, and sweet. Honeytime.
Starting an album (I Hope You’re Enjoying Scotland (2023)) with a song as slow and long as “The Slow Version”—and it feels even slower because it’s about slowness!—is funny to me. It’s like pulling out in front of somebody in a tractor when they’re the most geared up to go for a drive. You definitely have as much of the listener’s energy and attention as you’re likely to get when they’re listening to your opening track. It’s funny to use that up on something like this. It’s also a cool challenge to see if you can pull it off, keep them onboard anyway.
I actually wrote this song about a particular slow version. (While also intending it to be heard generally, with the prompt obscured.*)
*A backstory can be limiting. I’m particularly interested in the way that certain Beatles songs can get stuck in the little world of the story behind them. They get locked down. There’s nothing more effective than a viable meaning for blocking off the pathway to other readings. So why am I willing to annotate these old lyrics on Cadential Windfall, risk these dangers? Because not letting myself would also be limiting! I hope the spirit matters. I think of these annotations as moss on a ruin: as a mess on a mess. I.e., as more life. My intention is clarification only insofar as clarifying what the words are. As for the meaning of these songs, I hope this newsletter just makes things richer, more complex.
At some point in the 70s Jerry Garcia heard a live tape of Kenny Loggins covering “Friend of the Devil,” but doing it slow. I’ve (somehow) never heard it myself, but once Garcia did, he started playing the song that way with the Grateful Dead. The version of the slow version of “Friend of the Devil” I know well is from Dead Set, a 1981 live album recorded in September and October of 1980. (When Jerry sings “Spent the night in Utah in a cave up in the hills” someone in the audience gives a long cowboy yell—there’s a lot of cheering, but this individual stands out to me—and a chill always runs down my spine. Does this person… sleep in caves? The night before on their way to the show? I sincerely hope so.) I love it so much. It’s just my speed.
“The Slow Version” They really are the best And with them I get impressed With them I get impressed By lightning speed The feel is always there It’s more than just a dare It’s more than just a dare It’s guaranteed And it’s not because I’m old now I’m really not though anyhow I’m really not though anyhow And anyway I’ve always liked a track A few more clicks back Or how about a few more What do you say I like the slow version I like it slow I like that total immersion All that time between the notes When the tempo gets too fast I just get stressed I like that slo-mo golden honeytime the best I agree it’s good to keep things moving That it’s not good to let things drag It’s not good to let thing grind down To a halt So you lean into the bright I can tell you want this to be right If we have to lose them again You don’t want it to be your fault But you’re buzzing like a bee And I can barely see you I can barely follow at all What you seem to do Can we maybe take a pause Even just because Even just because We can afford to I like the slow version I like it slow I like that total immersion All that time between the notes When the tempo gets too fast I just get stressed I like that slo-mo golden honeytime the best I like the slow version I like it slow I like that total immersion All that time between the notes When the tempo gets too fast I just get stressed I like that slo-mo golden honeytime the best I like that slo-mo golden honeytime the best