Episodes

Episode #11: Tomorrow – Today – (Song at 9:36 & 23:10) I committed to writing a song each week years ago. There wasn’t ‘that moment’ where you go: “right I’m now going to start writing 700 songs. Nope. It was start-stop. ‘The dabble’, as it were… I just had feeling, had a go. Then it becomes something more – it gains it’s own momentum. I think you get lucky early – often – when you take a leap of faith, trust and just have a go. For example, Tomorrow Today is a song that came through very early...

Episode #10: The Main Thing – (Song at 7:35) This song, number 515, traces the trajectory of a (musician’s) life and marks the points where he prioritises his goals as he goes through a series of transitions – which pretty much sums up a lifetime. Along the way, his definition of the main thing keeps changing. I’m loving archiving these songs and I hope you’re enjoying them too. Alfred, the Labrador, makes another appearance this week – the Labrador we were looking after kept me company as I wr...

Episode #9: Second Story – (Song at 7:32 & 24:47) This podcast is evolving. It’s becoming a collection of songwriting tips, concepts. It’s also bringing anecdotes to the surface – stories I’d forgotten about, that had their origins at the time the song was written. Plus there are observations on the complexity of the human condition, the evolving self & the opportunity for growth – by working through the challenges that life presents as we push on. Art and Music are great mediums to document th...

Episode #8: Fall Asleep – (Song at 5:52) Continuing on with another song this week. I explore the songwriting, using pretty much ‘layman’ inclusive language. So non-musicians, non-songwriters that know nothing about the theory of music can enjoy hearing how the song came together. A song is like an emotional book marker in time. When I listen to an old demo like this, it takes me right back to when the song was composed, which was in 1988 (!) This ‘Fall Asleep’ demo was recorded in 2004. It’s w...

Episode #7: Culture To The Bone – (Song at 4:35 & 18:30) This song is about the concept of us all being swamped, almost overwhelmed by art, music and media from all around the world – at the expense of losing our own arts, and culture. My song writing buddy, Paul Dredge and I wrote this one. It came about after a mornings fishing. We were feeling very beach-y, by the sound of the groove of the guitar riff and this is one of the most relaxed melodies and vocals I’ve recorded. So the whole thing ...

Episode #6: Bindless Captive – (Song at 10:30) It’s 1982. I’m in my science class at school, being lectured on the names of cows stomachs. Predictably, as a young man, keen on the outdoors, the hunting and fishing, my mind started to drift. Out the window, the hills in the distance beckoned me. In my mind I flew over the city, over the river, over the hills to the farms and beaches where I’d spent so many hours observing nature: In silence, I’d stood, listening to all the sounds, recognising al...

Episode #5: Lifetimes – (Song at 4:26 & 14:08) This week I’m presenting an instrumental solo piano song, ‘Lifetimes’, written in 1987. There’s 2 versions here : The original demo and also the track released on my first piano album Eridanus / River Music. On the demo, this is my first effort at arranging strings – an orchestral type of arrangement using my keyboard, which I added after recording the initial piano on my upright acoustic piano. Lifetimes started out as chords and melodies scrawled...

Episode #4: I’m On My Way (Song at 4:24) Episode number four: I’m on my way, Song #341 written in1994. I wrote the lyrics sitting at the beach, in New Zealand. I used to stockpile these.I loved having a stack of lyrics waiting for whenever the mood hit me to compose a song. When I recorded this demo it was my first time using 16 tracks. Thanks to a friend, I was fortunate enough to be given access to a ‘B studio’ at night.. I ended up producing a solo album’s worth of demos, over a few weeks. I...

Episode #3: You’ll Remain In Me – (Song at 3:53) Welcome to Episode 3, this week we have : You’ll Remain In Me, song #170, written in 1991. Here I am in my studio in Melbourne. It’s midnight and you’re my intimate listening audience. I’m pretending I’m on a stage, doing a gig. I have license to talk. Which I do, presenting the usual back story to the song, the actual demo recording, then lyric analysis and some songwriting tips to follow. I enjoy talking about the songwriting process. Hopefully...

Episode #2: That’s Alright With Me – (Song at 4:17 & 16:35) We’re back!…my second podcast, ever: That’s Alright With Me, Babe, From 1993. Song #347. Written by myself with Paul Dredge (NZ) . This episode includes the demo version and the album cut – 2 for the price of 1 ! Here we have the result of two minds meeting & writing intuitively together, in the moment. I had the lyrics in hand. I’m winging the melody, looking at Paul’s fingers on the guitar neck – not sure why, they mean nothing to me...

Episode #1: Chocolate Biscuit Princess – (Song at 7:58) Welcome to my first podcast – ever! Hi there, my name is Pete Pascoe I’m a songwriter. I’ve written 800 songs. I had the idea that an ongoing series of podcasts would be a great place to present demos of songs – old and new – that might not otherwise get out there in the world. Each week, I’ll present another a song ( if you want to only listen to the song, the time where the song plays will be in each title). First of all, I’ll give you th...