Time and time again, especially in my early years of songwriting and performing, it was suggested to me to do the following things to some of my (usually too high-pitched) songs:
1. Try it in a lower key
2. Try it faster
3. Try it slower
4. Make it a shuffle beat
5. Try it without drums or maybe do it just on an acoustic guitar
My blood would start heating up and my head would start spinning with defiance. I know what I'm doing. This stuff comes out of me flawless. I'm not changing a thing and once it's recorded the first time, whether it's a demo or finished product, that's it, as-is.
Oy.
I needed to get over myself, huh?
Not until the last 10 years or so and very recently have I been reminded of how wrong I was. With the release of The Beatles Anthology we all heard alternative versions of song after song after song. They tried them a million ways till they were just right. As amazing as the other versions were, they kept working-kept digging.
On the release last month of Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" and Blonde On Blonde era bootlegs, I cannot believe my ears. Even the stream of conscious genius that is Bob Dylan, was worked on and worked on and re-worked. Check out "Just Like A Woman"! It wasn't born as a chill, acoustic, low-key raspy-voiced, hush, mid-tempo lullaby, it was a romp-stomp ho-down of psychedelic bluesy haze! Like a lot of his other tracks, but at some point they realized this song was bigger than those.
How did they know that wasn't "where it was at"? They kept working, that's how.
Children, don't do what I have done. Don't pat yourself on the back till the work is done. And even then, let someone else do the patting.
Now, re-work that song.
Scot Sax
November 29 2015
