Body Stalking. No one needs to know what the cat dragged in. Exactly. The early sessions were quite straight forward. Everything mapped. Bed tracks, scratch guitar and vocals. The chorus melody came first thanks to a pattern I had been working on. I’m notoriously bad for playing guitar in front of the big screen. An old movie on, sound down. A western this time. Things really came together when I brought the ideas into the studio. A verse pattern took shape. I loved the contrast so I kept at it. It’s usually at this point in the studio that a song’s immediate worth is determined. Is there something there? Can I work off this? Can I truly manifest this? To fruition? Or do we send it to the vault? This song comes to the album courtesy of “Calendar Girls”. The working title for this little ditty was Bodies Talking. Then Bodystockings, Bawdy Stockings and finally… Body Stalking. Freud would approve. And everything came together seamlessly. Like good stocking should. I guess. I would be working on a section and new lyrics would come. Or vice versa. Magical for me. The chorus wrote itself. Shock and awe. The good kind. And that’s when I went looking for a happy East/West marriage. I found the gong first. I wasn’t thinking “Black Betty” by Ram Jam. I was visiting “This Is Japan” by Jack Green and “Discovering Japan” by Graham Parker & The Rumour. I wanted contrast for the answer back section near the end of the song. I wasn’t quite sure how to color it. I finally decided on two separate vocal treatments and then combined them. I’m very happy with the results. And I get to be a slacker on stage. Just singing the body stalking line in that section. Artistic license. I absolutely adore this one on headphones. I love having the phones on when I’m looking for placement. This guitar at three o’clock. That guitar at nine o’clock. I was quite surprised when this one was chosen. Off the beaten track. Out there. Life offers many surprises and things can get comical at times. Blown. The way lyrics are perceived by others. Case in point. “Life gets better when the troops come out …” I thought of it as your tribe coming out to a show to support you. A friend looked at the body of lyrics (pardon the pun) and assumed the line to mean something else entirely. I’d go into it further but this is a family show. He did have an excellent take on things so I hired him on as technical advisor. Keep me away from those double-edged lyrics. Thoughtful soul. Those of you that voted for this song will be pleasantly surprised, I think. This is one of the songs I was particularly keen to work on should it be chosen. We went to town on this one. Everybody pitched in. A bit of a gong show, really. Perhaps it’s true. Life gets better when the troops come out… xoRJ
from
Kizza Me Now 2019,
released May 20, 2019
RJ: Lead Vocals & Electric Guitars
Astrid Ash: Bass Guitar
Rhett Black: Drums & Percussion
Beaverdell Humes: Zither & Keyboard Arrangements
Backing Vocals courtesy of CandyLand Glee:
(RJ, Astrid, Beaverdell & Rhett) Rhett helped out with the
whispers. The creepy ones … that’s our Rhett
Cakes, cookies, sweets & treats: SugarMountain Confectionary
Coffees and Teas: Mulberry Cornershop
Rhett Black & Beaverdell Humes appear courtesy of
Meet The Blacks and HOH Records.
A division of Horace Media 2018
Special Thanks to Hollis Kinglan and HOH Records
Art Direction and Cover Design: Hirografix
Special Thanks to Mark, Don & Mel @Hirografix
Cover Photo: The Stavely Collection
Recorded & Mixed @CandyLand Recorders. Wetaskiwin, Canada
Produced by Robert James for The Kingsway Group
A division of Horace Media 2019
Lyrics reprinted by permission. Angry Lion Publishing.