The First 'Landing' Story
Hey there, thanks for tuning in.. its' been a minute! Here's a little something that has been rustling around my head for the last couple of days - heres a picture of my head for reference
Photography by Sara Jayne Prince
My favourite songwriters capture moments in time.
The detail in the lyrics and movement of the music creates such a beautiful tapestry of emotion and vivid imagery for us to escape into.
This is the role of songs and music – in my humble opinion, and our responsibility as songwriters. To share those experiences in the best way that we can by staying true to our art.
But what I have never really thought too much about, is where the first chime of the idea or concept for the songs were created, were they in the studio? Or like me, are they often immaculately unplanned and its just sheer luck that were not too busy to forget them the minute they surface.
I for one, have hundreds of random voice memos and lyric notes strewn all through my phone and scrap notebooks from the last 10 years of my adult life. Most of them came at the most inconvenient of times, driving to Woolworths or the next gig across the country, mid conversation with friends, as I’m about to play the first note of a gig, and last but not least – in the shower, it’s like your mind goes ‘oh you’re relaxed now, here’s all the poetry you’ve been holding onto for the last 3 weeks’. Any writer will tell you this, we don’t choose when to receive the information, it is just important for us to be open to whenever it sees fit to show itself to us.
I was reminded this week of the true story behind a song which I have been performing for the last couple of years. It is one of my most favourite pieces and has connected me to thousands of people around the world so far – Just between you and me, I will be releasing the album version of this song this year and I can’t wait to show you.
‘I have always told the story of ‘The Landing’ as a space I found close to my old apartment in Brisbane, this grassy park looked over the Story Bridge and the city and it was a place I found a lot of solace. For someone who suffers with an eternal busy mind, and often busy existence to find a place of genuine peace was a true gift. It was a space for contemplation, consideration, and meditation. And that is how I crafted the song to be, explaining the space, the view, the thought, the offering. Alas, that was not where the idea was born.. Pause for suspense.
I was talking to one of my closest friends, talented musician Daniel J. Lewis about the new recording I have been working on while we listened to the first mix. Mid discussion he said something that caught my attention, he said ‘I can’t believe I was there when this idea was first created, and seeing what it has grown into’. It would seem that this was a detail that I forgot, and he prompted me with the story.
On this particular afternoon, we were working together on song writing, and I was neck deep in a tangent on different methods of writing aids. Dan had recently started his journey into writing songs and we were discussing different ways to formulate ideas. We were working inside the apartment in New Farm and being such a beautiful Brisbane day we decided to venture out with one guitar out to the grassy space which later became ‘The Landing’. I was talking about visual triggers being the concept builder for a song, and in explaining my point I looked out over the city and softly sung over a simple melody
‘This landing has a perfect view
We’re hand in hand, just me and you
(This lyric was edited later in the rewriting process to ‘The sky’s alive with gold and blue’)
At 5:09 this afternoon
This landing has a perfect view’
And that was where it started, a moment of teaching. Without even knowing it, something started that day. Where it will end up, who knows. All I learnt is that it is important to keep my heart, eyes and ears open because you never know when the next song is going to hit you.
Cherish the moment,
J.LOVEGROVE