This is post 5 of 30 featuring live, single-take demos of each of the 30 songs I’m considering for my upcoming studio album. Each potential album tune is accompanied by a B-Side, to make each post a virtual 45 single (remember those?).

These are certainly not two songs I expected to wind up with this early in the month. Hopefully the weekend will bring more surprises (along with some time to rehearse).

Song #236: Saving Grace (live demo)
Never previously recorded

There are a lot of interesting things in the subways in Paris – mariachi bands, marionettes, and women genuflecting with silent poise. I wrote the chorus on Champs Elysees, sang it on every Metro line we took, and then wrote the first verse and the bridge on the back of my Eurostar ticket en route to London. When we got back home I walked directly to piano and played it without so much as a chord chart. Afterward I simply had to make all of the internal rhymes match, learn it on guitar, forget it on guitar, and reconstitute it in CADGCC just to make things difficult for myself.

Song #58: Novel (live demo)
Last recorded for Trio in October of 2000

Directly between writing the two 1999 songs that have stayed with me for the past decade – Bridge and Other Plans – I wrote this one. I discovered that once you leave yourself open to writing songs sometimes your feelings come out through them, and suddenly you have a song about something you weren’t planning on ever telling anyone about. Aside from its single Trio appearance I think the only person I’ve ever played it for is Lindsay.

If you dig one (or both) of these songs, please leave a comment – your feedback will have a big effect on the songs I ultimately choose for the album.