In Divine Eyes

Good luck of the day to you. We are in luck. I found an important tape. This is the master tape of a session Scot recorded right before we left San Francisco. For those of you who have been following the blog you might remember that I have played a kickass version of this song in “full-Folklore” ensemble. He recorded this track after all the demos had gone out. All the booking agents in town had said, “No thanks.” All the friends who could have done something, had projects in the works already. This track is pure Scot.

I love how he set his voice up first in the mix. If you listen closely you can here him breathe. You can hear him lick his lips; something he did unconsciously when he was deep in his creative process. I likened it to a creative antenna that would come out. If you might notice that he’s changed the words—for the better I think. From “There ain’t no waltzing bears in seventh heaven,” to “There ain’t no warhorse man…” So much more meaning to me.

What he didn’t change was the fact that he wanted to roam the river. He grew up on the Mississippi. He was drawn to the ocean. He headed west young. He went so far as the leeside of Kiwahi, to meet the ocean, but at this time in his life, I could see his water self go back to river-scale. That was 1994, when we moved back to Iowa on a trial basis, and soon after that to Bloomington (IN, in the mid-west you must stipulate, there are several, including coincidentally enough, Muscatine, whose original name was Bloomington!), permanently.

I direct your attention to all the delicate little parts he’s created in the background. This song is like a Faberge egg. An elegant treasure. As for artwork, I went looking for a water piece. It wasn’t hard, but I especially loved this one for today, as it so succinctly turns worlds around. Finally, we have something other than transparent acrylic. Clearly we’ve got some nice thick, fat, opaque acrylic in the sky, or is that the water? This works wonders for cutting things out, sometimes covering over something you didn’t like. Enjoy!