Day 1 - Saturday 10th February 

Don’t know why - Jesse Harris

The first of this ‘song a day’ series. The idea is to learn and record one song every day. Let’s see how long I can keep it up!

I took a few takes at the guitar because I kept getting the structure wrong. The vocal was overdubbed in one take. There’s room for improvement, but it’s about learning the song more than perfecting the performance or the recording.

A song a day

Don’t Know Why

Day 2 - Sunday 11th February

I was raised in Babylon - Yusuf/Cat Stevens

I only heard this song for the first time a couple of days ago. It’s the first of four that he played for an NPR ‘Tiny Desk Session’. No overdubs this time, and as a consequence the vocal and the guitar are panned left and right, but I think it’s more or less listenable. I’ll probably do some more Cat Stevens songs soon.

I was raised in Babylon

Day 3 - Monday 12th February

Don't Forget Me - Red Hot Chili Peppers

I suppose I'd heard this one before, but had never paid much attention to it. I didn't have time to learn the lyrics as there are a lot of verses, so I struggled in places as I was reading it.

I thought about getting out the loop pedal and doing some percussion on the guitar body, but in the end the delay effect on the slap did the job without complicating things. It would be fun to do a more complete version, with guitar and voice overdubs, but I didn't have time today, so this is the bare bones interpretation.

Don’t forget me

Day 4 - Tuesday 13th February 

Barricades of Heaven - Jackson Browne

I lost the original description that I typed up for this track. I think what it said was that I had to make some choices recording it; that I would have liked to do a more elaborate version with an electric guitar solo, maybe a bit of slide, but that instead I used the time to try and get a better take with just guitar and voice.

In the end, it was also a case of choosing between what was technically the best take, and what best conveyed the emotion of the song. Obviously I went for the latter, although I still feel I was holding back far too much with the vocals.

The only overdub is the little bit of backing vocals on the chorus. I first uploaded it without the harmonies, but when I listened back to it I really missed them, so I went back and recorded them really quickly.

Barricades of Heaven

Day 5 - Wednesday 14th February

May You Never - John Martyn

Okay, I'll admit that I haven't just learned this song in one morning. I learned it from Gareth Evans's Youtube channel ages ago, and thought I'd take the opportunity to polish it up a little. I thought I'd be able to do a better job of the vocals, but it turns out that Martyn's style of playing makes it really hard to sing! More practice definitely needed.

The intention was never to cut off after the second chorus, but I ballsed it up what had up to then been the best take and thought "That'll have to do for today."

May you never

Day 6 - Thursday 15th February

Starman - David Bowie

Once again, I didn't have much time today. Only 45 minutes at midday to record my 'song of the day' so I kept it simple!

Starman

Day 7 - Friday 16th February

Who Says - John Mayer

This is hard work. It's getting there, and I didn't have anything else to upload today. What I'm most proud of here is that I at least laugh at my mistakes.

Fraser McFadyen