"How Well"

[Deleted]

Although this song has been on my soundclick page for a while, I realised I hadn't done anything to promo it...

So, this is bit of a low voltage effort about a man who sees a “ghost” in a bar…

As ever with me: solo fingerstyle acoustic guitar, two Neumann KM184s in X/Y setup and Audio Technica AT4033 tracked separately for the vox. It's recorded via my Allen & Heath console and RME Multiface to Cubase Studio 4 with Voxengo and Kjaerhus plugins. Just a splash of deconvoluted Amsterdam Concertgebouw to put me and the song in a high class joint.

It can be streamed or downloaded here:

www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=5117963&q=hi

I hope you enjoy it and, as always, I would welcome comments and criticisms - particularly since I think this is destined for the next CD.

Zee lyrics:

How Well

How well
Do you know
The lady
In the beige coat?
There's something
Reminds me
I can't put
A name to...

I've been wrong more often than
I've been right, a terrible
Thing I know, I live with it
Every night. I know that it's
Just too bad, it's over and
Done with now. I couldn't go
Back again, even if
I knew how.

How well
Do you know her?
Does she keep well?
Is she sober?
There's something
Familiar;
But I might be
Mistaken...

I've been wrong more often than
I've been right, a terrible
Thing I know, I live with it
Every night. I know that it's
Just too bad, it's over and
Done with now. I couldn't go
Back again, if even
I wanted to.

© 2007 Dave Keir

[billhammond]

Dave -- Musically, I LOVE this song (although I wonder why there is that jarring chord at the almost-the-end).

I love how the lyrics work with the notes and the melody and the rhythm. It occurs to me that such a "story song" would just be killer in the middle of a live show.

And it's that story that leaves me wanting a bit. It's wistfulness, isn't it, the overall theme? Guy is with a buddy, maybe at a pub, sees a woman who looks vaguely familiar, asks the buddy what he knows about her. That becomes a vehicle for him questioning his own murky past, and history with women in general, presumably.

Maybe it's because I am an editor, but I want more FACTS! For instance, "beige coat" tells me something very visual and clear, but this is very general and vague:

I've been wrong more often than
I've been right, a terrible
Thing I know, I live with it
Every night. I know that it's
Just too bad, it's over and
Done with now. I couldn't go
Back again, even if
I knew how.

I might look to develop this part a little more, at least with some hints that there was indeed a relationship at one time between these two, even if it was only a one-nighter. I know that at 5-plus minutes the song is getting on in time, but maybe you could tighten the words here and there and still maintain that groovy interplay between the words and the notes?

I think it's marvelous, though, in terms of how it greets the ear. It just didn't totally connect with my brain.

[Deleted]

Hiya Bill!

You’ve made me think about this song afresh! Ha! Well, let’s see…

This song has two obvious scenarios:

1. Our hero is just about sure this woman is who he suspects she is. But it was long ago and she has clearly changed – looks, style, bearing – everything; enough to instil the hint of a nagging doubt! And, yes, he “did her wrong”.
2. Our hero sees someone who might be an old flame (wife, partner) but is more likely to be someone who reminds him of someone he used to know.

Our hero’s story lies somewhere in between.

What is certain is that the recollection of a specific misdemeanour causes him to reflect (in the repeated refrain) on the generality of his philandering life with belated regret. So the generality is an extrapolation from the specific.

Yes, I imagined the conversation taking place in a pub – or at a party – between two guys that maybe have just met, or been introduced. So our hero really doesn’t really know if there’s any relationship between the guy and the woman. I imagined that the questioning conversation in the verses is, apart from the opening lines of each, an internal one the hero has with himself. I think that perhaps he is curious about her ability to “sleep well”, and whether she is “sober”, because he does, and is, not.

Heh, heh! Facts, Bill? Well, there is much in my life I have cause to regret with respect to how I have behaved towards some people who cared for - and put their trust in – me. Maybe this song (like some others) is a confession. Catharsis. But – and it’s a big “but” – I sometimes extrapolate from some kernel that is journalistic to something more “vague” so that the song can almost be an empathetic listener’s own song by proxy! Or, to put it another way: I feel I must leave some out so that others can fill in the blanks – their own pieces of the jigsaw. I’m mixing metaphors, I know – oh, well. And I'm being fanciful, too, I suspect.

Another “but”: In “How Well” there is the tart taste of ambivalence (I like to think). You’ve cited one: the penultimate chord is a D major triad with a Bb in the bass, fingered:

6xx775

… resolving to D.

I’ve pinched this idea directly from the last bars of the 1st movement of the 2nd Symphony by the American composer, Howard Hanson. (You might know the music from the closing credits of the movie “Alien”.)

So the chord has a point – a new feeling of alarm. It’s a bit of a panic attack, ha ha! It reminds me of the occasions when I’ve almost dropped off to sleep and am awoken sharply by some trivial worry that has presumably been lurking in my sub-conscious just waiting for the moment to strike!

The other is the change of the last line of the refrain from “…even if I knew how” in the first, to “…if even I wanted to.”, in the second.

So maybe our hero can’t – or wouldn’t – mend his ways…

Bill, thanks so much for flattering me with your careful listening and insightful comments. I will listen afresh with what you have written in mind and with a view to seeing how the song might be improved.

[billhammond]

Fascinating insights.

I think you can add a little more character intrigue and story detail and still keep it ambivalent enough to apply to a wide swath of your listeners.

I freely acknowledge, though, that there is merit in keeping much of what we write vague.

(I think Bob Dylan is the master at wonderful detail that exists amid ambivalent meaning that causes all of us to question and ponder.... )

[Deleted]

I think you can add a little more character intrigue and story detail and still keep it ambivalent enough

Could be, Bill, could be. I'm going to leave the song alone and think about this for a couple of weeks and listen afresh in the light of my conclusions (if any).

Thanks for provoking these thoughts, Bill. All this is damn' useful!