From libertad to San José
We drove the roads they paved the way 
From Trinidad cross the Rio Negro
We wondered how they made those places home
Pulling together and just about holding on

A mile or two from Trinidad
A camel stopped us in our tracks
Another stranger in this brave new land 
Swapped sweet cattle grass for desert sand
Rolling with the punches 
And just about holding on

Cinchando juntos, la van llevando
(Pulling together, they’re just about holding on)
Cuatro por cuatro acelera pasando camiones cargados, lentos largando calor en la plaza independencia botijas jugando, banderas flameando! Atraviesa la tierra, es una arteria, alimenta las calles del vecindario.
El ganado se junta bajo un árbol cualquiera buscando la sombra porqué los rayos te queman
(Four wheel drives speed up overtaking loaded trucks that give off heat
its hot in the Independence plaza
kids are playing and flags are swaying (the road) cuts through the land like an artery
nourishing the streets of the neighbourhoods
the cattle gather under any tree they can find
looking for shade because the rays burn)

The city swells in harmony
(Ahí viene la llamada)
A dog & traffic symphony
And people flock from wide & far 
Applaud the sunset from the busy Rambla
Rubbing together
& Just about holding on
Cinchando juntos, la van llevando 
(Pulling together, they’re just about holding on)

JUST ABOUT HOLDING ON
RECORDED by Gerardo Alonso at his studio in Montevideo MIXED by Steve Stewart at Waves Studio, Cambridge
VOICE & SYNTH Joanna Eden
BASS & BACKING VOCALS Andrés Lafone 
ACCORDION Hugo Fattoruso
DRUMS Albana Barrocas
GUITAR & BACKING VOCALS Guillermo Hill

Just About Holding On is a journey song. But while On the River Plate zooms out to all cities, maybe this zooms back in time; when was the first journey along this road, or the land that now forms the road? How did it feel to be the first. How did you know you’d reached your destination, your home, your new land. A place to ‘settle’.

Coming from a place like England with its long and well documented history where people always just ‘were’, the experience of settling a place feels like something which never happened here. The people and the land just seemed to evolve together. Of course they didn’t but maybe we just have so much history that we don’t dwell on the first humans to move here.

So driving from Montevideo to Paysandu on the north-west Uruguayan border with Argentina to see keyboard legend Hugo Fattoruso and his partner drummer Albana Barrocas in concert with Japanese percussionist Tomohiro Yahiro, I had 5 hours to think, drive, look, sleep, muse on first journeys.

Just about holding on

This is a lost gem of 21 year old Bonnie Raitt singing an unplugged cut of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock".  Recorded in March 1971 at the Jabberwocky Club in the basement of the cafeteria at Syracuse University. The gig was recorded by WAER radio but was never released on her albums.  Its considered a bootleg and hard to find.  Many current music stars like James Taylor played here because WAER would do these broadcasts "live" to the New York area.

Woodstock, B Raitt

My daughter asked me to make my version of one of her current favourite songs.  Had a ball creating this at home with expert assistance from Andrés Lafone on bass and Charlie Price on drums.

Still Feel

UK Singer-songwriter, mentor to Sam Smith

Just about holding on

Joanna Eden

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