Category: song stories

The Story Behind Taipei Midnight Bossa

When I first moved to Taipei, I was being shuffled around to various A&Rs at the major recording labels. But still I had no  contract. Feeling down, I left my agent’s office one day and went for some sushi, which always seems to give me a lift. I had only a week left before having to return to the States and money was running low.

As I left the sushi place, I turned left and saw a small English language school and went in for an interview. They arranged a teaching demo and I got the job the next day. With the day job taken care of, I went down Shin Seng South Road to a small jazz pub called Bluestown. I brought my guitar in and played some Fingerstyle jazz blues for the boss. He put me on the prime spot, Friday at 9:00pm.

After the light jazz show at Bluestown which paid 300NT (about $10 USD), a get you thru the weekend life-saver in those days, I was introduced to a producer. At that time I had a choice: write some sappy love songs for a singer at one of the big labels, or take a chance on something I really love–being a music studio cat. I ditched the diva opportunity and headed over to his studio.

I ended up sleeping in the studio on the floor, borrowing a motorcycle to get to my part-time English job and returning in time for music sessions. One of the cases we got was Hey Song Cola.

After the Hey Song case, my boss had an idea for an album of romantic jazz music that would be released in Kmart in America, sort of a bargain rack item. He asked me to get started on a piece or two.

I went home, grabbed an ovation classical, and played the harmonics you hear at the beginning of Taipei Midnight Bossa.  In less than 30 minutes, the song  was finished.

Before I could bring the song to the boss, the company broke up and the case was canceled. Luckily, I kept the song in my head. Since I did it in my own free time, I wasn’t going to give it to them anyway^^.

Is Taipei Midnight Bossa original ? Good question. There’s a little bit of Dan Fogelberg’s Guitar Etude #3, but I also borrowed a lot from techniques I developed in my twenties, especially the harmonics. There’s also some Wes Montgomery octaves in there.^^ The sheet music to Taipei Midnight Bossa will be available sometime soon for those who would like to learn the piece. I hope to play this for you all at the next show.

The Story Behind I Lan Road

I Lan Road (pronounced ee lahn) came to me on a train to I lan City, where I had a job teaching english once a week. This job paid pretty good, and included my train fare.
The I lan line runs along the ocean on the northeast coast of Taiwan. That day, the waves were “rolling in so rough”, literally. I looked out to my left and saw the “turtle mountain island”, aka Gwei San Dao. That sight really impressed me.
Also, the train was chugging along at a pretty good clip, which inspired the drum pattern you hear throughout the song. The line ” I can be your man if you want me to” has a double meaning; it could be romantic, directed at a woman, or spiritual, directed at God. It signifies the act of commitment after being awakened by such beauty.
I went home and worked out the rhythm on Hammerhead, a freeware drum program. The piano and bass are all on the Korg 01W synth, along with some extra cymbals and drum fills.
I recorded 3 guitars, as I remember. There is the basic strum, the backpedaling riff in the middle, and the solo, all done thru a Zoom 505 pedal. I did the vocals thru a live type mic, not a recording one. I never use a recording mic for vocals, for several reasons, one  being that on that day, i didn’t have an exactly soundproof recording environment. Live mics tend to reject sounds farther back and to the sides (otherwise they’d pick up the whole band and would be useless).

Everything went  in one pass. I didn’t “MIDI-fy” the synth tracks, except for the drum pattern. All the tracks went into audio live. The guitar solo I left as is, though it could be better. The feel was right, and sometimes,that’s the thing.
So there you have it: I lan Road. Enjoy.^^

Noriko At The Piano

I have been planning to release some important songs that I had written back from 1991 onward, and I felt this one really had to be first. I wrote it in about 30 minutes on a piano alone, one day before I left Japan for the US in spring of 1992.

The song is built around 4ths and 6ths in the right hand, something I got from listening to Bruce Hornsby back in the 80s. That sort of chording has stuck with me all these years, even now. The two hands start apart, then meet for a brief time at the same chord, then move on. In that respect, it might be a tone poem of sorts.

So the two hands meet briefly, then move on. There is a happier part on the F chord, which makes up the bridge, and it signifies the time of meeting. The harmony is very empty, but in that emptiness, one can sense a person. The angel voices I added to bring the whole thing up a plane, but the song plays just fine solo. I have played it live many times without the other parts.

When I got back to the States, I kept the song for the longest time. I didn’t feel it should ever be commercialized because it was so special to me. Then, I pitched it to a TV show, but it never got accepted. Finally, it made its way to Taiwan with me, where it got played  in my shows and demos.

What’s the future of this song? I would hope that maybe it gets aired on a TV show or two. I think it fits certain types of scenes. I believe this song will find its place. It didn’t die all these years, and I think that’s testimony to the melodic strength of it.

Hope to have the sheet music out for all of you piano players soon.^^