This is another example of my brother's lyrical genius. When you have words like these, the melody just writes itself. In yet another case of severe self-indulgence there were all sorts of keyboard and guitar things I wanted to get into this song, at times there are 3 keyboards, 2 guitars (acoustic and electric) as well as 2 or 3 vocal tracks along with 2 drum tracks (one for the beat, one for the fills) and the bass. I was/am heavily influenced by bands like: Kansas, Styx, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Boston, Yes, Rush, Pink Floyd, and in terms of songwriting, much more than any other: Elton John. With that bunch as mentors, it's no wonder I often wrote melodies with notes I had absolutely no hope of singing without resorting to some kind of techno-trickery.
This is one of our earliest songs and one of my earliest recordings and sadly, has experienced some tape-degradation, although I still find it listenable. In order to hit a couple of the highest notes near the end I had to slow the entire song down (the porta-5 4-track cassette recorder had that feature, my new dp-02cf does not, but these days there are pitch-correction boxes to help, although you have to get close to the note to make it happen.), sing the notes and then restore it to it's original speed. Vocals were never my strong suit, but the melodies in my head had/have to be served.
During the "intro", the whispering sound is me taking a light-hearted stab at the backward masking thing, which I thought was just ridiculous and silly at the time. So I simply turned the cassette tape over, and whispered a few lines of the song into the mic while the intro played backwards. I really was just messing around, but decided to leave it in there, both as a reminder of baseless paranoia and because it adds to the percussion in some strange way.
In the place where the days are made, former men watch each change of age.
Would this child, in changing sweeps of turn...
bursting in and over me...things I learned.
Would there too, things I never knew...
something new, everything she'll find first.
Find places, in the countries pleasant to your mood.
Find places, God and happenstance, the sudden truth.
Find places, cold hands and happiness, willing to...
Find places...
In the place where the days are made, former men watch each change of age.
Would this child, in changing sweeps of turn...
bursting in and over me...things I learned.
Would there too, things I never knew...
something new, everything she'll find first.
Find places, fallen down and wild birds picking through.
Find places, precious hoping and hoping all past you.
Find places, past my own and what I used to do...
Find places...
Find places, your own walks, and dreaming too.
...places, because it's right for you.