So beautiful. Bop Bop Beautiful yeah yeah.
And when the morning star becomes the twinkle in your eyes.
And my heart rejoices in the grace that gives us life”
I sang the words, as I strummed the guitar and experimented with different chords and melodies. It was a strange song to be working on as it didn’t really fit the profile of what I typically write about.
I usually write personal gospel songs so I can sing them when I go busking, but a friend had notified me via Facebook that Cosi was looking for songs, written by South Aussies for his show “South Aussie with Cosi”.
I was in the middle of writing a song about how the most precious and beautiful things in my life are the relationships right in front of me; it was actually about my wife. The song had a “positive” feel to it, so I thought I’d throw in a few Australia type lyrics to see what would happen. The changes seemed to create a great song about my “relationship” with Australia and I loved singing it. With all the negativity in the world, it was great to remember how awesome it is to live here in Australia.
I told my friend via Facebook that I thought I had a good song, but I couldn’t send it to Cosi as it needed to be “professionally produced”. I knew her hubby was a sound engineer, and we’ve known each other for years (as far back as early Life-FM days), but I didn’t want to bother him. He already did audio engineering as a job and who wants to work on the weekends?… for free? We are both busy family guys, so I didn’t ask.
Needless to say, my friend said that her hubby would love to produce it for me, and so the process of recording and production began.
I started with the usual song “rough take”, and recorded it as if I were on the street busking (It would later be erased). Damian (the sound producer) then added a solid drum track, and from that I was able to record the other instruments and vocals. I borrowed a bass guitar from church, and also used an ancient keyboard that the church had actually given me ages ago.
It was difficult for me to record, as my wife and I are in the process of building a home so we are renting and living out of boxes. Everything is everywhere. The place where we are renting is also on a main road so it’s virtually impossible to get a nice quiet place to record.
I had to use my small walk-in wardrobe to record, as it’s the only place in the house with a quiet “dead” sound. It’s a tight squeeze to fit all the gear in there, but I managed to record the acoustic guitar and vocals; and even managed to record trumpet in there too (thanks Mike). Where there’s a will there’s a way.
After all the audio was recorded at my house, I sent it to Damo so he could refine it and work his magic. He added other instruments and sound samples as needed and transformed the sound. After the first mix, we had great positive feedback and people loved the song, but there was some criticism with a few of the initial words; they were too deep and reflective, they needed to be more concrete and obvious.
Receiving critique is not an easy thing (for me anyway). I mean, who has the right to judge my song? But I took a deep breath and tried to listen with an open mind to what my Mum and Auntie and Damo’s wife had to say. I went back to the drawing board to write new lyrics, which meant I then had to re-record and sing the vocals all over again. It was a lot of messing around and hard work but I’m so glad I listened to them. Thanks guys.
“You’re so beautiful.
So beautiful. Aussie Beautiful yeah yeah.
And when the morning sun paints the sky in golden light
The kookaburras laugh and watch the kangaroos take flight
It took ages to produce the song, as both of us were sick at various times, and family life and challenges made it difficult, but we kept going and it is finally finished. My first properly produced song which I still love to sing, even after hearing it a thousand times.
During the recording process, one of the other things I enjoyed creating was the cover design for the song. I tried various designs, starting off with an image of my kids playing on a Hills Hoist. Then I tried Vegemite on toast and even snags/bangas on a barbeque. I eventually settled on the image of burnt toast, shaped into an outline of a map of Australia, on a plate with bark and leaves as a dinner setting, making the word “Oi”. I reckon it turned out pretty cool.
Cosi still hasn’t verified if he will be using it in his show, however I have plans to write written (sheet) music so that school choirs or brass bands can play it if they want to. I’m just grateful that I could write this song, and feel blessed that I am free to sing my songs in the street with joy and without fear.
I hope you like the song too.
Thanks and God bless
Bri.
The song is available in iTunes and CDBaby.
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