I have always felt a debt of gratitude to Randy Newman, showing me that the “I” in a song does not have to be the songwriter, naked beneath a single […]

I found an unfinished song the other day. It must be at least twenty years old, maybe thirty. I finished it. What struck me wasn’t the song so much as […]

There are songs you admire from a distance, and some you promise yourself you will one day learn properly. For me, one is Waterloo Sunset. A small miracle disguised as […]

While driving to Guelph to give a talk to a fresh batch of graduate students, I had an old song in my ears, something off Ram. I gave in and […]

Magali was crying recently or at least teary. She was listening to Cat Stevens. Something from around Tea For The Tillerman. I asked her what it was in the lyric […]

He found the best lines in bathrooms. In the cracked stalls in clubs and bus stations, places where people had something to unload. The writing was uneven, hurried, often cruel. […]

While driving back I started listening on random to Spotify and Hot Chocolate’s I Believe in Miracles came on. I never noticed the string machine but this time I realized […]

I liked Jen’s advice after the Hugh’s room show. She felt like it would be a better set if the end included something emotionally different than what I had been […]