Walk That Lake
By Cursory on February 18, 2024 9:45 pm
Happy week 7! One random motivator for this week’s track was a quote from Maestro, the Leonard Bernstein movie: “If summer doesn’t sing in you then nothing sings in you. And if nothing sings in you, then you can’t make music.”
While this seems a bit hyperbolic, and summer feels far away, it reminded me to appreciate my surroundings. I’m lucky to live near a (smallish, human-made) lake and I’ve been walking there often. Here’s hoping I don’t take it for granted and it keeps singing. Thanks for sharing what sings in all of you on here 
› Process/Instrument Details
‹ Process/Instrument Details
Hiding my word vomit down here…
Felt like a much more effective workflow this time around. I stayed focused on figuring out the structure of the song with acoustic guitar before recording any other elements. This made it so much easier to try out different versions of the electric guitar, percussion, bass, etc. Every once in a while I feel like a song needs slide guitar but I’m decidedly not a slide player, so it takes me lots of trial and error to figure out what I want and play it correctly.
Acoustic guitar tuning is standard but down 1 1/2 steps, so E down C#, etc. I initially wanted the acoustic guitar to hold down the rhythm alone but it felt like at least a kick was needed. I tried many different iterations of percussion, including full drums the whole way through and no percussion at all. Really low vocals always sound funny to me but felt like it kind of worked. Random whistling in the middle wasn’t really intended as a “part” but thought it fit the vibe.
› Lyrics
‹ Lyrics
got up the other day
walking by the lake
forgot what i was gonna say
it’ll come back some day
things may go exactly as planned
we’ll need again
see it’s how we change one day
Feel that water move
a warm wind zooming through
The geese think spring’s here soon
I hope they see the truth
Tomorrow may not follow a plan
Though I’d walk that lake again
Even if we both may change
I don’t know, it’s not over
And if you say… it’s true
If darkened days are over
I’ll walk that lake with you
