Today I pulled a collection of songs that I recorded nearly a decade ago and put the finishing touches on two years later.  My recording of these songs was a dream come true.  My dear friend Jeff Carpenter was at the controls engineering away as we filled his studio with the best sounds we could come up with…I have no doubt they were exactly that.  As I was listening today I was more than pleased once again and the memories of those recording sessions just came flowing back.

Our sessions were the work of somewhat of a three-headed music monster.  I wrote the songs…words and music.  As cool as that sounds, it seems hollow without thinking about how these songs were shaped by Jeff Carpenter and Tim Krekel.  Jeff called the shots and made suggestions via his ear for the right sound.  Tim called the shots and led the instrumental charge with his guitar and his remarkable ear.  Though I wrote the songs and sang them, I still felt a bit like Minnie Pearl.  I was just proud to be there.  Jeff had recorded with Tim for years.  Tim was a gifted player.  If you have ever heard Jimmy Buffett’s song off the cd Son of a Son of a Sailor called Livingston Saturday Night…before the guitar solo Buffett calls out a variation of Tim’s first name.

I snickered to myself today as I listened to one of the songs we had recorded.

Traffic on the Back Alley is the name of the song.

This song is somewhat of a lamenting love song…the chorus goes like this:

There’s a side street in my memory that’s more than just a lane                                             Where things I never talk about come back to life again                                                         A place that’s all about the wrong and right                                                                             There’s still traffic on the back alley of my life

I had that chorus and a preceding verse that made up the original tune…that was all I had.

You see, when the recording process begins we cut what we call demos first.  That is when you run through potential songs to record.  It is a simple process.  Jeff Carpenter on one side of the glass and me and a guitar and a microphone going through songs and making simple recordings along the way to build on as we move along.

We must of went through seventeen songs.  I was pooped.  I was tired of singing.  My fingers were tired from strumming and finger-picking the rhythms out as I sang on for nearly two hours.  I was about to pack up for the day when Jefferson asked me about that “Traffic on the alley song”.  I had played him that one verse and that one chorus some weeks, if not months, earlier.  He remembered the tune.  That in itself was a bit flattering.  I then sheepishly told him all I had was that verse and that chorus.  That was it.  Then I looked at Jefferson and told him to hang on a minute.

I grabbed a pen and a piece paper and wrote out that verse and that chorus.  I studied it.  I looked at it for a few minutes.  Then I let happen what just was meant to happen.  I wrote out some of the most meaningless sappy lyrics I have ever written.  They just flowed out.  They made sense.  They worked.  I am just glad Jefferson asked about them.  It really isn’t a bad song.  In fact, I have had friends ask me about whom I was referring to in the song.  I have had a good time being glib about the answer.  The truth is so meaningless…but not without interest.

All the lyrics?

Traffic on the Back Alley

A Blue-eyed brunette from Pittsburgh/ A high school football game

Things that are forever gone that never left me the same

A Mustang I still yearn for/ An empty bottle of Jack

Things I’m not too proud of I wish I could take back…

There’s a side street in my memory that’s more than just a lane                                             Where things I never talk about come back to life again                                                         A place that’s all about the wrong and right                                                                             There’s still traffic on the back alley of my life

A girl I thought that loved me/ The things I did for her

The sacrifices that I made…why does it still hurt

I ran into her yesterday/ She smiled and said hello

And I thought there’s still so much she needs to know…

There’s a side street in my memory that’s more than just a lane                                             Where things I never talk about come back to life again                                                         A place that’s all about the wrong and right                                                                             There’s still traffic on the back alley of my life

Songwriting is a great mystery.  What wasn’t there ten minutes ago can become a part of your life.  Awesome.

Singing the Rights.

Danny Johnson