You are obviously gluttons for punishment! Gluttons for torment and torture... you have encouraged me to record a new season of Radio Owlsnest. What the f..k is the matter with you? Wasn’t 2020 enough pain for you? My God - you are tenacious, resilient and obviously stubborn.... I bow to your thick skins ... no I didn’t say ‘thick heads’, I said thick skins! But seriously folks, I deeply thank you for your positive ‘OwlHead’ spirit and guile. In truth, I was secretly hoping that you wanted me to continue, as I found season one a joyful and rewarding experience. Searching through my archives and dusty song vaults over the last year has educated this veteran songwriter (who stupidly thought that he knew it all). I found a fresh reverence for the art of the ‘demo’, a deeper appreciation for the first ‘utterance’ of a creative idea, the unique first recording, the birth of a song. So thank you for pushing me on into season two; I feel like I’m rediscovering my early career all over again.
So what’s on offer in season two and today’s episode 15? Well, I’ve shaken a few things up. A new segment named, ‘The Wisdom of Bootsie’, makes its grand appearance, where questions from a confused world will be scrutinized, pondered and answered by the resident feline genius/mascot of IroningBoard Records. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s all about - what it all means - then the existential musings of the wondrous ‘Bootsie’ is a feature not to be missed.
I’ll also be doing an ‘8-bar dissection’ of one of my biggest hits that I wrote with Bernie Taupin, and I’ll be investigating my demo writing and production techniques on this particular song. Some of you songwriters and creatives out there might find this quite revealing on a few detailed levels.
In between the pathetic attempts at intellectualism, I’ll be spinning a demo that had Eddie Money telling me what bass guitar notes NOT to play. I’ll also be playing a very rare ‘Go West’ demo that promotes the internal ‘hidden life’, and I will be debuting a new song that tells the story of the Belfast ‘Men of Iron’ - the builders of the Titanic.
So here we are - back in the saddle again, and it feels good. I heard the call of the wild - the call of the ‘OwlHeads’, and I’m honored to be hosting this personal songwriter’s podcast for you all yet again. You guys make it really all worth it.
Martin
