A few years ago I was invited to dinner by one of my best friends Jeff Scott Soto. He prefaced it by saying, we’re going to dinner with Roger Taylor from Queen, don’t bring any music, don’t say you’re a musician, don’t ask about Queen. To which I asked Jeff when had I ever done something like that to anyone I’ve ever met through him [never was the answer]. I got to Koi near the Beverly Center in Los Angeles a few minutes late. They had already had some drinks and the moment I arrived we got seated.
First thing that comes out of Roger’s mouth as we sit is: “So what do you do?” I turn and look at Jeff thinking – what the hell do I say since he’s put it out there that I can’t say I’m a musician. I pause for a second and point at Jeff saying “I do what he does.” Roger responds with “Oh fantastic. Anything I’ve heard.” From there on out it was much easier conversing. The song “I Want To Break Free” comes on over the loud system. Mind you, I’m really curious about the solo in the song and I’m holding my tongue knowing I’m not supposed to ask. That is until Roger blurts out, what the hell is this doing on the loud system? It was never a hit for us. Boom, open game. Both Jeff and I express how cool of a song it is and I got in the question “Is that Brian on guitar or is that someone mimicking Brian on a synth for the solo?” Roger chuckles and proceeds to tell Jeff and I the inner workings of how and what Queen did when recording. I’ve written a book about my musical life and the story about this dinner, the song and what Roger told us is in it. You’ll have to wait to find out what he told us.
I Want To Break Free
I want to break free
I want to break free
I want to break free from your lies
You’re so self satisfied I don’t need you
I’ve got to break free
God knows, God knows I want to break free.
I’ve fallen in love
I’ve fallen in love for the first time
And this time I know it’s for real
I’ve fallen in love, yeah
God knows, God knows I’ve fallen in love.
It’s strange but it’s true
I can’t get over the way you love me like you do
But I have to be sure
When I walk out that door
Oh how I want to be free, baby
Oh how I want to be free,
Oh how I want to break free.
But life still goes on
I can’t get used to, living without, living without,
Living without you by my side
I don’t want to live alone, hey
God knows, got to make it on my own
So baby can’t you see
I’ve got to break free.
I’ve got to break free
I want to break free, yeah
I want, I want, I want, I want to break free.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving in the States. I got to spend time with friends and family which is always a bonus. I got a little sidetracked in getting this demo done (I’ll explain in a bit). However, my third song finalized is In Disguise. Got it done last night.
First off, last week one of my best friends, Jeff Scott Soto, was in town for a couple of days. He’s on tour with TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra) as one of the lead singers. Nothing like getting a call to come hang out with him and then meet several of the other awesome singers (Nathan James, Dustin Brayley). Monday night was a fun night of bar hopping, some alcohol, and hitting the stage where a blues night open jam was going on. I think we freaked out the band. They took it in stride and we had a blast on stage. The TSO show itself was a sonic and visual spectacle. Go if you can!
Then the holiday and a couple of days of down time. Leads me a couple of days behind where I thought I’d be.
In Disguise was a co-writing thing that involved myself, Johnny Elkins, and Lindy Robbins. Being the musical guy in a room with a couple of lyricists that I had just met was a great experience. I played traffic cop on all the words they were putting together, along with coming up with the music parts and helping with the melody. We got a real winner of a tune that came of it. The original demo was sung by Lindy herself – who is no slouch of the singer: She Got Pipes!
This tweak for my version ended up taking two days. I can’t sing quite as high as Lindy so I had to figure out what key I was going to put the song in. I tweaked the tempo slightly. Then I had to lay down all the parts again in the new key. I put in my vocals and mapped out some of the extra parts that I’ll be bringing some of my TSO singing buddies to sing background on this bad boy in the studio. It’ll be a bit more beefed up, a little more ballsy, and a hair faster than the original demo. In listening back I can also hear some additional parts of some horns and maybe in the bridge a bit of dub bass. Hmmmm…
Anyway, consider another one down and ready for final flight. Because the third song finalized is In Disguise and it’s a super keeper. Tomorrow has me choosing another song to dress up for pre-production goodness. Stay tuned to find out what song it is and… how soon I get it done.
— Jody