Song and a Chat

Episode #152: Diamond Of A Moment  (Song plays at   3:15) Before I recorded this episode, I had a fairly raucous, loud band practice for a couple of hours, In contrast, Diamond Of A Moment is a very gentle ballad. This turned out to be a very relaxed episode. It was pleasure to sing and play the song. I hadn’t sung it for years.   I decided to add a vocal harmony, a cello/bass string sound and ano...

Episode #151: Mystery  (Song starts at 3:24 ) This song (#499) was originally titled ‘The Medium’ I wrote it about the time I went to visit a clairvoyant person for the 1st time. I decided to change it to ‘Mystery’ at a later date. I guess I thought the new title might get the song listened to more. Crash Test Dummies had a song about this subject, on a great album of their...

Episode #150: Carry Me On  (Song starts at 3:13) Hi, on this episode we are looking at Carry Me On, song #237, composed 1992 (you can find it online as part of the album ‘Righto’, on www.petepascoe.bandcamp.com . I will remix it one day and it put it on the other streaming platforms). I’ll also take you underwater with some snapper.   I live on the Mornington peninsula, Melbourne, Aust...

Episode #149: Hope and Forgiveness  (song starts at   8:44   &   28:28) As I recorded this episode, I was feeling so energised. The creative flow was happening. I’ve just been away camping for 2 weeks. Being out in nature really does it for me. 2 weeks was a complete reset. I take you to my campsite, sitting outside my tent as I talk about the Australian animals that we were surrounded by, the...

Episode #148: Man In The Mountain    (Song starts at 5:06 & 7:36)    Welcome to a time travelling adventure. On this episode, we’re going back to 1988. That’s one of the great things about being a songwriter. You get to move about in time within a song. You get to act, imagine, be emotional and tell stories. It’s a blast. I enjoy composing a variety of music. I’ve sold 5000 CDs of mellow piano...

Episode #147: Where Lovers Part    (Song starts at 4:24)     On the last episode (Sure Does Fly), I mentioned a riff reminded me of another song. As it turns out, that song, Where Lovers Part, Song #30, was written the same year (1987). It came about when I felt the need to get some feelings out. It’s about the ending of a relationship, the emotional reactions needed an outlet. You feel stuf...

Episode #146: Sure Does Fly  (Song starts at 5:22)  Relationships are often the catalyst for spot of songwriting. Going way back to to 1987 now. I wrote this song for my brother. It’s quite a personal song, focussing on old memories – particularly an image of a summer evening in New Zealand from my childhood. The blackbirds were singing, the colours were starting to drift toward the purple s...

Episode #145:   Natural Rhythms    (Song starts at   4:44) I was fishing at the beach, chatting about things that came to mind – including the song featured on this episode – ‘Natural Rhythms’. I recorded these bits and pieces of me talking and have included them on this episode.  I mention the tides. I guess it was the peaceful feeling of being by the ocean. This brought t...

Episode #144: Pigs Flying    (Song starts at 5:00) On this episode, I take you down to the beach. It’s the place I go to relax, before I head home and do something creative – like composing a song. I also love being beside rivers, but since I’m lucky enough to live the near the ocean, that’s where I head. When I come home, I feel the creative mood come over me. Back in 1997, when I recorded...

Episode #143: I Can See Your Eyes    (Song starts at 3.39) A demo of ‘I Can See Your Eyes’ (Song #551) popped up unexpectedly on my iPad as I drove along to my teaching job the other morning (I may have got up a bit to watch some World Cup soccer). As I was driving, I thought wow, that’d be a great song to feature on an episode. So here it is. Back about a decade ago, I was recording &...

Episode #142:  Give It Back (Song starts at 3:29) Welcome to a very relaxed episode. I was in a mellow mood, the evening I recorded it. I’d just finished a commissioned painting – predictably, it took me a bit longer than I thought it might. So it was after midnight when I started recording. As a creative person, something I really keep an eye on is: I like to get things done. Finished. Soon...

Episode #140:   Some Freedom    (Song starts at 5:38) Welcome to a fairly zany sort of an episode. The song freedom came about when I showed my co songwriter Mr Paul Dredge with some lyrics, back in 1996. Paul had his guitar in hand. He looked at the words: I’ve stepped into a normal space I’m sniffing out the rat race It ain’t so bad, I know I’ve had Some freedom Paul jumped straight into a reall...

Episode #140:  Leaving Song    (Song starts at 3:36) “I’m amazed it’s 2022”! That’s what I said – and how I felt – for a moment, when I’d been chatting about this week’s featured song on this episode. I was lost in the song. It took me back to 1992, when I wrote ‘Leaving Song’ (Song #242). Bizarre. Those 30 years have passed by so quickly. Actually, I’m not sure whether qui...

Episode #139:  Burdens    (Song starts at 7:16) Looking at another original song on this episode: Song #238.   ‘Burdens’ came about when a friend passed away, back when I was 24 or so. Us songwriters are lucky. We can get a mountain off our shoulders from time to time, by putting our feelings down in words and music. It releases tension, allows for healing – and it becomes more than therapy...

Episode #138: Patchwork Of Promises    (Song starts at   3:40) Back in 1999, a black and white photo was sitting near my piano. There’s something about a black and white image – it seems to capture and convey emotion almost more than full colour. Emotion is what I need to begin writing a song. It provides the impetus, the inclination to bother to pick up a pen. You just need to make a start...

Episode #137:   Dawn Chorus    (song starts at 3:45 & 27:57) I had a busy today. For a while there, though, I was sitting in my car. So listened to some music. One of the albums that came on was Tasman Bridge. Written and recorded by myself with Paul Dredge, it’s an album that’s close to our hearts – it was the first time we’d tried to write songs together internationally. Paul lives in...

Episode #136: The Roughest Cut    (song starts 5:30 & 27:57) It’s been a beautiful, pristine, blue sky, early spring day today. But as dusk happened, the night fell, the wind started to get up. I don’t mind that. In fact, listening to the wind when you’re safely indoors is pretty relaxing, Music has the power to lift your spirits. The same with lyrics. The combined force of music and lyrics re...

Episode #135: Everybody’s Sleeping      (Song starts at 5:02) Hi there & welcome. I’ll tell you what, I was really relaxed when I recorded this episode. I’ve been doing a bit of exercise… I mowed the lawns today. But apart from that, I went for a bit of a bush walk. I’ve included some audio which I recorded as I walked. So you can come for a walk with me on a peaceful track. It’s good to...

Episode #134:   Alien Song    (Song starts at   5:00) The rain came down gently as I hit record for this episode. I have a corrugated iron roof on my studio. I don’t mind that, as it keeps me in touch with nature… I get to hear the odd parrot squark – or the wind …or the rain. It’s pretty relaxing, isn’t it. What’s that got to do with songwriting, I hear you ask? I find the quiet   – a...

Episode# 133:   I Wonder    (Song starts at   4:34 ) I finished a nice gig outside this week with the song featured on this week’s podcast episode. I Wonder, song #689, came up as I flicked the pages of my repertoire book. A very generous fellow, who I’d noticed was sitting listening and relaxing had just come up to the piano, gave me a nice tip and said “one more song please?“ I include som...

Episode #132: Sand In My Socks    (Song starts at 8:22) For this episode, I have included some audio from the actual songwriting session of this song: Paul Dredge on his acoustic guitar, me ‘winging’ a melody, then us harmonising together. So you’ll get to really hear how this song came together. I wrote the lyrics first: ‘Got sand in my socks, reminds me of yesterdays walk by the ocean, my shocke...

Episode#131:  The Flow    (Song starts at 3:28 ) So where does a song come from? Well, it comes from…being in the flow . The morning I wrote the lyrics, I’d just woken up and I was still half asleep. Snippets of dreams were floating around. So it’s a creative sort of flow I’m alluding to here. But the dreams were not what I wrote about. I looked around the room and started with: ‘When you pull the...

Episode#129:  The Long Haul    (Song starts at 5:05) It’s been a long time since I wrote the song Secret Lullabies. I use the riff as my theme music for these episodes. That particular song was song number 3. The long haul is song number 614. I wrote it in 2014. Yes, there’s been a few years & a fair bit of water under the bridge. It’s been a long haul. What inspired this song?… yep, you guess...

Episode#129: You’re Going To Be OK    (Song starts at 3:06) Welcome to another episode, I hope you’re having a great day wherever you are n the world. I am, living here on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne Australia – it’s a busy day, plenty on. I mention this because no matter how busy I get, I have a sort of a pact with myself that whenever a feeling that a song may be coming through,...

Episode #128:   Goodbye To Say Hello    (Song starts at 4:46) Welcome to another episode. Where does a song come from? It’s something I’m fascinated by. This has lead me to producing 120-something episodes. That amazes me. I wasn’t sure I’d get past my first one. But all we need is a start. And away we go. Isn’t that like just being human… we make a start and…. we make it up. The great songwriter...