Originally Posted by Knee Wobbler
I really love this song Andrew for its storytelling. And it’s a change of style as well, keeping it simple with clean acoustic tones, just adds to the reflective lyrics that spans a lifetime. The strings were really subtle, and work well.
Thanks Lee. This is one of my most non-metaphoric lyrics yet. I normally like to have some ambiguity about the lyrics, and sometimes take the view that ‘the words are just the vehicle for the music’. Not so in this one. I avoided vocal harmony on it because who in this story would be accompanying the painting? It’s a first person narrative. So you are right - a less cluttered arranged was required. Accidentally, the strings go a bit dark in the second half of the bridge and that matches the illness and dementia lyric - that was a fluke.
Originally Posted by Knee Wobbler
I’m looking forward to the Finger Licking Good version as I think that will also add to the overall production.
Yes, it’s coming along and I will release a version at some point in the future with my own finger-picking on it. In the meantime, the BIAB RealTrack served the song well and supported a post to this forum.

Originally Posted by Knee Wobbler
I thought perhaps the picture had been done by your talented daughter, alas AI again! It is a rather stern looking you, worthy of being hung in the halls of the Australian Parliament.
I am happy with the painting - it would’ve been creepy to have a smile. The unanswered question is - what is this picture doing hanging in the house? Am I an uncle or some long gone patriarch? I don’t know. If it was hanging in the halls of Parliament, it would have a voice bubble saying “What the hell are you doing approving the opening and extension of more gas fields?”

Originally Posted by Knee Wobbler
PS I was going to say no diminished or augmented chords were harmed in this song, but I realised there was an A aug. You do so like being augmentative!
You know I love augmented and diminished chords - they open up many options, but I usually use them for a ‘tension and release’ moment in a song.

Thanks again, dear friend, for your words and our shared journey through songwriting.
Andrew

Regards,
Andrew D
Adelaide, Sth Aust
Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/SQE4btVvNVkLq74e9
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewoftheantipodes