Recording and Song Stories-Here I will randomly divulge some background info on recording or writing songs

First up-Out of Control
How in the world does a Public enemy sample end up on a Lisa Lawrence CD…you may ask?
I know there were those days of soft gentle folk music that would lull you all to sleep..and don’t get me wrong…it’s not gone. It’s just not on this track. The story goes like this: It’s day 3 of recording and it’s another beautiful summer day and we’re about to start a new song. So I start playing the riff and singing “Out of Control” to Scott and George in the studio and Scott says…”I hear hip hop on this.” Well, aside from my fascination with “Yo MTV Raps” in 1987, my knowledge of hip-hop is quite limited. So he pulls out this CD of Public Enemy samples and I listen. We pick one out and Scott does all this super cool computer stuff and low and behold it ends up on my CD. I love it and I send it out to the guy who once called me the “Brittany Spears of the folk scene” at an open mic when I wore a skimpy tank top..Thank you.

Next-up Share the Ride-The vocals were recorded in one take. I went into the sound booth to do scratch vocals at 5:15 and the studio session ended at 5:30. I did the take and Scott comes through my head phones saying..”I don’t think you’re going to have to do that again.” I guess in the world of music where everything is overdubbed to perfection, I felt pretty good about that. Don’t get me wrong, it took about a day to get Summer “05 right.

Better and Better: Yes, this song, like Out of Control may catch you by surprise. However, long before I had an appreciation for Bob Dylan (which was only quite recently), I was telling all my friends that Milli Vanilli was the greatest band. I can still bust out Madonna’s dance for the song Holiday and if ACDC “you shook me all night long” comes on anywhere, anytime..I will dance!So if this song makes you want to dance, don’t fight it. Your secret is safe with me.
Ps. I was trying to channel James Hetfield when I try to scream at the end of the bridge. Hope that doesn’t offend any Metallica fans.

Please Don’t Go- To hear the real story behind this song you will have to come to a show. I am not going to give away all my secrets via the interweb. However, I did learn how to play the harmonica for this song on the CD. The beauty of the studio is that you get to do things separately. When I try to play the harmonica and play the guitar and sing..well I’m still working on that.

Songwriting 101- Be prepared. Inspiration can strike at any moment and writing on a piece of paper while driving on the Mass Pike at Mid-night is not recommended. Please either 1.Invest in a small hand held recording device. 2.Discover the recording function on your cell phone or 3. Pull over.