BASS Along: Over and Over Again

Today we are doing something special with our “Sing Along” series where we discuss how the songs from RESCUE came into being.  Today we BASS ALONG!  Clint Buck, greatest man in town and bass player for The Sleuth talks about the song “Over and Over Again.”

Lubbock, 2009

Hollis first played Over and Over again for me back in 2009, not long after we had started playing together while in law school out in Lubbock. That night, we were playing at a house party/open mic/jam session with several of our friends, which was exactly the sort of activity we all needed to blow off steam and have some fun. I brought my sousaphone out for a couple tunes!

The bass line came together pretty quickly. While Hollis played the verse chords—well, over and over again—I played around moving up and down the neck. Eventually, this line fell into place:

*Hollis's note--  I said to Clint: "Play something like the intro to "In the Meantime" by Spacehog."

For the chorus, I started (like I usually do when I’m learning one of Hollis’ songs) by tracking Hollis’ chords and playing the tonic generally in line with his strumming pattern. The second time through the pattern, I wanted the bass line to have more of a “wheels off” feel to intimate a grown sense of anxiety before falling back into the verse riff. After experimenting with a few different variations, this is what I settled on:

It was simple enough, but it sounded exactly how I wanted it to underneath Hollis’ guitar and singing. It’s a fun song to play, and I always think about the early days of performing with Hollis when I do.

Listen to "Over and Over Again" from RESCUE here:

Sing Along: The Balcony Song

I wrote the first lines of this song right after I graduated from college.  I didn’t quite know what to do with it:

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel it’s a
freight train drinking whiskey from a funnel

It sounded pretty unoriginal, but at the time “pretty unoriginal” was still original to me so I kept it stashed away in my special little notebook full of ideas and didn’t think about it for many years afterward.  This type of song isn’t really my style and drinking lots of whiskey is a stupid subject—especially a metaphorical freight train doing it.  It doesn’t even really make a lot of sense.

I resurrected this segment of a song for the 2011 Blue Light Live Singer/Songwriter Competition.  The Blue Light Live is a special place to me and countless other musicians and lovers of live music in Lubbock.  The Singer/Songwriter competition drew so many players not just from Lubbock, but from all over west Texas.  The song has been a favorite of mine to play ever since then and is inspired by Lubbock, West Texas, and all of the amazing musicians playing music out there.

When it came down to record it for Rescue, I liked it as more of a light rock tune.  I borrowed a 12-string guitar from the music store down the road to add a little color to the arpeggiated riff:

I call it the Balcony Song because I wanted a record of singing and playing it on the day I had fully written the tune and lyrics.  I recorded it on the balcony of an apartment I hated, hence the title of the video.  The name of the song “The Balcony Song” somehow to me sounds better than “Freight Train” or “I Can See the Light.”  Yuck.  It sounds like a declaration screamed from a balcony--perhaps as if someone is screaming at a balcony from below while having their belongings thrown out a multi-story window--something like that

Please enjoy “The Balcony Song” in it’s entirety on my new album, RESCUE.

Also, if you would like to watch the original video from the day I finished the song for the Blue Light Live Sing/Songwriter Competition, here it is!