Back when I lived in Winter Park, Florida I had a studio in the back of my house. There were lots of great times spent there working on recording mostly original songs, but every so often just to break up the pattern and have a little extra fun we would record some cover tunes. This particular version of The Beatles song Shes Leaving Home was one that I surprised Lane with. One particular afternoon I knew he was coming over to rehearse for an upcoming Yenravs Karma gig, so prior to him arriving I turned on the tape machines and recorded all the music bits on different tracks doing my best to recreate the orchestra score from the Sgt. Pepper album as best that I could using my Korg X3 keyboard (I still have it and it still works). Please understand that I have never been able to read music in its written form other than guitar chord charts so the entire music was dissected and then recreated by ear and this wasnt a cut and paste ProTools deal, this was old school. Once I was finished with the music, I added the Lennon vocal parts, doubling them just as Lennon did on the original recording and then putting them through some appropriate reverb to give them that particular John Lennon sound. So basically except for the lead McCartney vocal, by the time Lane arrived I had the song rough mixed and ready for him to add the lead vocal. I even had the lyrics written out and on a music stand in front of the studio microphone so it was all ready to go. Lane arrived and I told him that Id like to do a bit of recording which he was always keen to do. I handed him his headphones and when he stepped in front of the microphone he saw Shes Leaving Home written out and he said Are you kidding me, man? with a smile. He always loved this song and it wasnt the kind of song we could perform live since we didnt have a spare orchestra handy so he was pretty psyched to do the song. I did not tell him that I already had recorded the Lennon vocals which come into the song later because I wanted it to surprise him when he was singing the lead vocal. He put his headphones on and I opened his vocal track and started to run tape and he heard the score and got excited and stopped and said Hey, this is good,,,this is gonna be fun! He still had not reached the backup vocal part yet and knowing Lane, I knew he would react somehow positively. So he really got into singing the song and we were recording but as he got to the part where he sings stepping outside she is free...SHE________ and the Lennon vocals came in like a ghost singing We gave her most of our lives! he choked up and stopped singing and he looked at me and he had tears in his eyes and for me personally that made the whole thing worthwhile. Now he was really excited to finish the song as we both laughed about how I got him and in the following refrains every time the Lennon bits would come in I could see him struggling to keep his emotions in check to sing his parts. It was great. I have to tell you in all honesty that seeing those tears in his eyes did not really surprise me because thats how much he loved The Beatles and music in general and it was just one of the many moments that we shared, a drop in the bucket of time, each one as cherished to me as the next. Thanks Lane for all the good times, and even the bad times, because no matter what, it was all a musical experience of love. I hope anyone who hears this song now remembers and cherishes their time with Lane and with the other people in your lives now. Love is all you need. ♥
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 23:34:10 +0000
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