Leave On Sunday Morning

Lyric writing sessions used to be key when it came to songwriting. The purpose for us was to always have stockpiled lyrics on hand when we’d enter a jam session/band practice. We’d have words to pull from to attempt singing to any stray riff that found a home in a song.

Theoretically, it sounds wise. It did work in those situations mentioned above. Here’s the problem, if it was just Joey G and I hanging out those words hardly got used. If he had a riff he was working on through the week he’d present it at the lyric session.

Which always occurred on weekends when his wife and daughter went to her parents house. Friday night I’d arrive around 7:00 at his house, and would leave on a Sunday. When his family returned home. 

This was pre-studio about 2015ish. He had this old laptop he’d sit in the living room floor and that’s where we worked from. “We were sitting cross-legged on the floor, 25 or 6 to 4.” To quote the lyrics from 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago. 

My legs hurt just thinking about it how much it sucked. Borrowing his daughters pink Barbie lap desk to sat the computer on top of, so it would take some strain off our backs, from being hunched over for hours on end. It failed miserably, my back aches thinking about it the whole situation.

Anyhow I arrive bring in my luggage which is essentially a gym bag, my other hand carrying an 18 pack of beer. There’s a handle of whiskey or what ever flavor I brought that night inside the gym bag. Cigarettes, anxiety medicine, and booze. 

That’s not including Joey G’s stash of booze. Drinking and writing went hand in hand for our creative brotherhood. We’re both alcoholics at this point, folks. Just not owning it yet.

I lay my bag down on this loveseat he’s pointing to, then I take the beer to the kitchen. He’s usually about 5 beers in by this point. I haven’t had a drink yet. He pops the top on a cold one, and hands it to me. We toast, hug, and shoot the breeze for thirty minutes. 

Then it’s listen to a song or two, then we start writing. We always flipped a coin to see who wrote first line. Heads – me, tails – Joey G. Whoever went first was odd, the other was even. We went line for line like that in a 4 or sometimes 8 line verse, 2 to 4 line pre-chorus, 4 line chorus, another verse, repeat pre, repeat chorus. 

In a longer song more verses, all depending on music of course. Sometimes a bridge gets added, we had them I’d say 70% of the time. Those were basically our guidelines. We’re there exceptions to the line for line thing, it depended on the moment, sometimes we deviated from the formula, folks.

If he had a riff he’d always try it after we had a complete verse of words written. If it fit we’re writing a song that night. Each part musically and lyrically until it’s a completed song. 

So by 1:00 in the morning song is done. Running through it multiple times tightening up transitions, chord changes, etc. Tidying up the lyrics, if the wording or phrasing needs changes, syllables, etc.

Then I start coming up with backing vocal ideas, and we go through that process, tweak it where needed. If we had a studio at this point we’d start the recording process immediately. That doesn’t happen till late 2016. 

So on this night without a studio, we begin to record scratch tracks. Which are crude recordings of guitar, vocal, backing vocal. So that we can remember how we constructed the songs we wrote, many months from now, when he get’s the equipment for the studio and it’s put together we can truly record our work.

Just picture two grown men and a guitar, cross-legged on the floor, facing the computer screen of a laptop, that’s acting as their microphone while they sing into it’s little built in mic.

That’s how we did it for 6 or 7 months straight. Humble beginnings, indeed. The sun’s rising and sleep has not been had yet. Then we’d celebrate writing the song by getting drunk, which we never were far from since we’d been drinking since I arrived. 

By 9:00 a.m. eat some kinda meal, be a sleep by 10:00 on a Saturday morning. Wake up later that evening around 8:00 p.m., just to hang out, drink some more, return to bed. Then leave on Sunday morning.