Vocals for "Skimming" are done.

This was tough, as we found out that even though I like to play around with time when I sing, the song was going over better if I stayed very faithful to the drummer. Also, I came in to the studio ready to blow the doors off the place, and it turned out that I was way over-singing. I had to pull back. This process of "pulling back" took us about 3 hours. It's kind of like being a pitcher trying to pitch 130mph, instead of painting the corners at a brisk unhittable 95mph. Blake sat there and waited for me to tire a little before we really started getting good stuff. When I calmed down, we got it, but by the end of the song, I was so exhausted, I'm not really sure what I put down. And when I get tired, I get impossibly critical of myself. Finally, I just decided that we got something that was in great pitch and rhythm, and the decision as to whether or not the take is translating the true meaning of the song would have to wait until we had fresh ears. Monday we'll listen down to everything.

Jen came by, heard it and thinks it kicks ass. She had the freshest ears in the room and I respect her opinion. Her dad was in the music business, so she grew up listening to the right stuff. She always surprises me.

The disc is tracked, completely. We went out and got bombed. Tonight is Dave Matthews at Madison Square Garden, Sunday we have Knicks tickets, and somewhere in all that I have to do all my xmas shopping. christ.

But the disc is tracked. In a way I feel as though I can die, knowing that these songs are realized as fully as they ever were intended to be. I fear small planes just a little bit less. I get to hand the baton to Blake for the mix. He can't wait. He's going to kick its ass.

The disc is tracked. I can't believe it.

The disc is tracked.

Vocals for "Grace" are done. Holy crap. They are amazing. The new line really works, and puts the whole song into a completely different light.

We decided to put a double chorus at the end, and I was concerned, since I've almost never done that. I worry that it's just a "repeat" and is boring both to sing and to listen to. Instead of just singing it twice in a row, I sang the first one straight, and then went off on an idea that took me way up into a whole other world... Blake was coaching, I was rocking, and by the end we were both crying. Blake grabbed the liquor and we listened to it about 14 times. It's going to sound cool.

Blake and I had to go out afterwards and have dinner, served by one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. I was on a cloud, though, I basically have no idea what she looked like. All I know is that I have one more day of singing, and just like when I play live, I know that I've left my best on that tape.

No matter what, I know I came to play, and I brought it. Every song, I know I brought it. I have no idea what people will think about what we've done, but I brought it. I can't wait to lateral the ball to Blake for the mix. He's basically salivating to get the sounds up and rockin. I'm psyched to see him work.

I brought it.

Word about the omens has been trickling in. Some were totally terrified by them. One guy just got married, and got a "wifebeater" tshirt. One woman got scared, because she got Emergency Drinking Water in a sealed survival bag. One guy handed back a big plastic pickle to me, and said, "Yo, I don't know what this means, but whatever, dude, I'm not down with it."

Of course, others screamed with joy, getting great weird objects, pocket Kama Sutra handbooks, frisbees, jewelry, along with gift certificates, free offers for lessons from personal trainers, guitar lessons, free CD's...

Are they wrong to be afraid? Are they wrong to be joyful? Yes and no, of course. They're not predictions, and they're not promises. They're omens...

Can't wait to get back in and finish this disc. Tomorrow...

Meanwhile, I just found out that Warren Zevon has been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Weird. I've never actually wished bad on someone, but when Warren threw me out of a dressing room in Albany, and off his tour completely, I was kind of wishing some not great things on him. I did nothing wrong, and I vowed to myself I'd never be like him, I'd never do something like that to an opener. Life is too short and music is too hard for musicians to be assholes to each other.

But you know, I can't say I know the guy...maybe he had reasons for being the way he was. Maybe he already knew he was ill. Maybe he was beaten as a child. Maybe he's just like that. Who knows what has been going through his mind? That new "Grace" lyric comes to mind... The ones who get it, and the ones who cannot help themselves. Maybe he can't help himself from being mean. And on another level it's plainly obvious that, with the cancer, he cannot help himself...

All of which is to say that I feel guilty for feeling the way I did about him. I apologize.

Backgrounds to "Strawberry Song" are done. Nothing big, just a few choice moments in the choruses, etc. The mix will tell all, but shit if that track doesn't jump out of the speakers.

On to "Grace". We hit the background parts, which are pretty trippy, and tried some kind of weird "hit a note and fall down, as if it were a tape slowing down" kind of effect. I don't know. I'm scared of it. But I was wary of the big guitars, and now I'm like fuck it. Turn 'em up. Still, one false move and you can kill your love for a song.

Speaking of, there's also a lyrical issue, here, and Blake and I had a LONG talk about it. I use the word "fuck" and it jumps out of the song, and is really distracting. I knew he's right, otherwise I wouldn't listen to him. He is right. Friends have agreed. It's not that it's a "bad word" (I've used it before), it's just that it conflicts with the music. It's hard to explain. It must change. The line used to read:
There's two kinds of people in this world I pretend to know so well
The ones who get it
and the ones who can go fuck themselves....

and now the third line is

...and the ones who cannot help themselves...

it's a much deeper line, now, more ambiguous, less "tough guy", and more open to interpretations. It becomes unclear whether or not I feel "I" (the narrator in the song) belong in one camp or the other. It's also more...more of what I actually believe.

Thursday we hit it again...

holiday show is over... went incredibly well. my voice feels good, people are singing the words. there's nothing more I could ask for.

two days in the studio, and my year will be over.

what a year.