The New World Sadness Record Record

The New World Sadness Record

Released: 2008

These songs came as a result of me trying to teach myself the guitar. After a while I realized that I could almost have an album, so I wrote a few on the Piano and started recording.

1.  I Invented Love

“I Invented Love” was one of the first songs I wrote. It occurred to me that love was such a remarkable event in our lives that it’s a wonder it pops up so often. Each of us is convinced that nobody has ever been to the same emotional heights as ourselves. I had this image of a scientist with his chemistry set coming up with the magical formula and the song grew from there.

2.  Life/Time

“Life/Time” was written about the time of a fairly significant birthday. I was feeling an increased sense of urgency and a sense of lost opportunity. I thought about a friend of mine who was struggling for motivation and managed to find enough material to write the song.

3.  Goodness Gracious You

“Goodness Gracious You” came from an experience that I have been carrying around with me for over 10 years now. It’s my shorthand observations of a funeral I attended and the way someone I loved carried themselves on the day under the saddest of circumstances. In a way it’s my monument to the person and the time.

4.  The Krusty Life

“The Krusty Life” was inspired by the seemingly perfect life of my beautiful friend, Krusty the cat. The universe will provide!

5.  I'm On Fire

“I’m On Fire” was a hit for Bruce Springsteen in the early 80’s. It always gave me a sense that Bruce might have suffered from anxiety attacks from time to time. I have had this problem too. I’ve always admired the intensity of the lyric in this song and I tried to imagine myself in bed during each part of this recording. The Perth to Fremantle train features as part of my nightly soundtrack.

6.  Tyler The Tightrope Walker

This song is a gloomy little number that combines the ridiculous notion of a suicidal tightrope walker with my own life as a performer. It’s not always easy to keep the joy of performing and to find the character within yourself that will get you through each night.

7.  The New World Sadness Record

“The New World Sadness Record” was the obvious choice for the title track. The album is filled with melancholy and this song has a lighthearted dig at that side of myself. It was fun to write and record and I will listen to it if ever I feel sadness becoming my dominant personality trait.

8.  Just Like Christmas Morning

“Just Like Christmas Morning” came from observations of a few relationships, including mine. In this time when youth seems to be the new god, I felt like tipping my hat to love that has stood the test of time and evolved along the way.

9.  Tucked Up Tight

“Tucked Up Tight” was written on Rottnest Island when my partner Jo had gone on holiday to Melbourne. I wondered how it would be if your sleep ritual involved a particular person always being there. I wrote the words sitting on a bench in Thomson Bay and later that night was relieved to find that I could sleep in my new circumstances.

10. Unbreakable

“Unbreakable” is a cautionary tale for anyone who has a tendency to lose their good judgment when in love. You know who you are!

11. Hey Full Moon

Whenever I play this song to anyone, I always self-consciously joke that I was having a very bad day when I wrote it. The truth is, I was just trying to write a song that had universal concepts like the moon, the stars and the sun in it to see what would happen. This song came to be and it seemed an appropriately quiet note to end the album on.