5:15 p.m. - 2024-03-23
Torn between two tempos

I woke up with a headache this morning. I think I've picked up a bug or something from all the recent travelling around and meeting up with randoms to do deals. It may even be from going daytime shopping when the stores are full of humans coughing and sneezing their way around the aisles.

Jam Social time last night was a muted affair once more. Jamie fell asleep at one point leaving myself and John to discuss a new song he'd written. It was quite good although a fairly obvious chord inversion from the last song he wrote. Same four chords but played in a different order. There's nowt wrong with that, but when Jamie awoke to the sound of us jamming he commented immediately about the similarities. John's lyrics are all usually about a sweet surrender with some girlie he is no doubt thinking about when he writes them. They are all very tasteful lyrics with colourful imagery about kissing erogenous zones and having sexual intercourse with a fantasy woman but he writes the lyric as if it's a hot beverage and a slice of sweet cake or apple pie he is consuming.

He lives within the safe boundaries of appropriateness that career grown ups do to maintain the reputation they percieve they have amongst their peers. He's never going to admit he did anything wild in his younger years. He's a nice guy though but I have my suspicions that he was as reckless as most men are at some point in their youth where women and love are all concerned. He plays bass after all, and still has a large motorcycle which he polishes every weekend without fail, but rarely ever drives it.

Anyhoo, Jamie took John's song and turned what was intended into something completely different. It was written as a fast strumming thing on acoustic. Jamie dropped the tempo to 100 bpm and I added a cool, very slick and funky bass groove. John changed the acoustic guitar to suit, then Jamie dropped in some 1980s feel synth, I them multi tracked some spaced out guitar licks using Jamie's strat and the GT100. It all sounded very Cafe Noir.

Cafe Noir or Le Cafe Noir was incidentally the name of a cafe/bar I used to frequent just off George Square in Glasgow city centre back in the 1980s when I discovered Glasgow city centre bars were full of good looking girls. No one ever uttered the Le as it was considered far too pretentious to do so. Le Cafe Noir was the Central Perk of Glasgow at the time. It was smart dress so I do remember it was probably the best dressed I have ever been in my life for the years I frequented that place. It also did live jazz music most afternoons, so was a great place to lunch and listen to a band while checking out the ladies.

Anyhoo, John's tune was then re-jammed at 110bpm which brought it back to nearer his original tempo. I kept the bass tight and slick but Jamie really struggled to come up with some good keys. When I asked John which version he preferred he said " I'm torn between two tempos".

I like both and will have a listen over the weekend to decide, he said. At that, we all had a tea break, and Mrs P kindly brought us a tray of warm hot cross buns filled with jam and cream. I expect John to write a song about another encounter with a girl while referring to hot cross buns by next week. They certainly were as inspirational as they were sweet and delicious. Thank you Mrs P.