Good day to you!
We’re going to be listening to one of my tracks from the past which I have been revisiting. The song is called “I only came for my Suitcase” and it was written by a very confused teenager a long time ago. The lyrics have hardly changed, maybe the odd word or phrase to make it more singable, but the tempo style and some of the melody has been substantially altered in a way which reveals a whole new emotional layer to the story.
So what’s it all about? Well it’s a rather callous tale of unilaterally ending a relationship and leaving somebody without giving any tangible reason that makes any sense. It happens all the time, I know, but doesn’t often get written down in verse and kept for posterity - eek!
Musically, in the original version (included further down), the delivery is fast and upbeat, with a syncopated strumming pattern on the 12 string guitar. The chords follow an enhanced version of the traditional “teenage ballad” format - C Am F G, so I started playing it on my old vintage “F” hole archtop jazz guitar sometimes, after I acquired that instrument from a local music shop in High Street North.
Revisit
The revisited version is slowed down, quieter, and more tender. You might even think it makes some kind of sense, as the melody reveals a distant sadness looking back, rather than the upfront gung-ho declaration in the present tense. Not that the tense has been changed, it’s still about “leaving today.”
Revisiting the old songs from the Paris era is a continuation of the project kickstarted by the opportunity at the Ventnor Fringe last year, to perform a set from a vintage Parisian bus. To give an idea of the unique setting, there’s an audience captured video clip on youtube embedded here:
This was the setlist for an hour’s performance with some interspersed explanations:
Wild World | Je suis un chanteur dans la Rue | Hold On Below | Sitting on the bank | Dream is Over Mazet Now That I'm Living Here | Doing it all Alone | Walking by the Side of The Seine | San Francisco | 2CV | Ca Cert a Quoi | Migration | Joan of Arc | Wild World |
I only came for my Suitcase
| Waiting | Je suis un chanteur dans la Rue | Last Subway Home | Wild World
Maybe I’ll do that set again one day, perhaps in one of the Arts Centres, and I’ve made a good start towards re-recording some of the songs as they have evolved to become now, as new material for my Bandcamp site. The first set, now complete is a 6 song EP called “Et Puis?” Here’s the cover art for that one:
Mazet
Now that I’ve learned a bit more about the Substack platform here, I can provide an embedded player so you can play the original song right now, if you have the earspace to do so:
You can buy the whole Album ‘Mazet' - Tapes Vol 2 for just £1
or the single track “Suitcase” from it, for £0.50p
but you can only get the new more interesting version as part of the EP “Et Puis” by becoming a Bandcamp annual paid subscriber, which confers all sorts of benefits and helps me to pay a very small portion of my monthly bills in order to continue making new music. The newly recorded EP includes 7 original pieces of Digital Art as well the following lossless “Wav” high quality music tracks:
Mazet 02:42
Wild World 05:10
I Only Came for my Suitcase 02:50
San Francisco 03:49
The Dream is Over 03:32
Ca Sert a Quoi? 02:27
Well that’s enough about one song. If you’d like me to write another feature all about just one song I’d be happy to hear your suggestions, just let me know which one by hitting reply by email or leaving a comment on the website
One last thing:
Gig listing
If you’re on the Isle of Wight this week, come and see me on Friday 18th March at Brown’s Cafe and Tiki Bar, Sandown. It’s a family event with free entry and food, various bands. I’ll be on around 8.30pm and bringing some Rowan Tree CDs with me. Events start at 6.30 until 10.
Have a lovely week,
Andy