Rattlesnakes Notebooks
A compilation. Edited today, for clarity (I hope) with original publication dates.
A Notebook Project?
July 8th 2020
A little while ago I hosted one of those Twitter Listening Parties with Tim from The Charlatans, and Neil Clark. I dug out some old notebooks and took photos. Here they are again.
For a few years, now, I've been thinking about a notebook project, maybe a book, tracking the development of songs through the notebooks. I still have every notebook from 1983 until now. Maybe this could be an ongoing project. What do you think?
The Notebook Project is happening
Later, July 8th 2020
Damn. It's going to be a lot of work, and I'm not sure it can be an elegant compendium. The books are 3D, scanning may work sometimes, other times I'll need to take photos. I spent about 4 hours today separating the Commotions notebooks from the Post Commotions. But there are overlaps. I saw notes for 'I hate to see you', and 'Mercy Killing' from Mainstream notebooks...
I will not be commenting or analysing my methods. I will simply attempt to report the entries. Here and there there will be personal stuff, phone numbers, calendar notes, etc in the books which preclude me posting, but in all other cases, I will, even if I'm horrified by my process.
As technology evolved, my dependence on the notebook changed. Early days - everything was handwritten. By the time I made Standards, only the raw ideas were handwritten, the fine tuning was done in Scrivener (computer word processor app). So the volume of data available for this project will be less and less as we approach the present day. That said, I still have a pocket notebook, one one my desk here, and one beside my bed.
The process has begun
Jul 9, 2020
Our dining room table is the largest surface in our house that isn't the floor (my back cannot handle that), so dining room table it is. The Notebook Project has begun.
My 'Resume' 1982 or maybe '83
Jul 9, 2020
I already had the Forest Fire idea. In The Thick Of It was a Casuals song so is would be late '82, maybe early '83.
Note - Take me to the Church, and Are You Ready To Be Shocked?
Speedboat
Jul 10, 2020
It's well known that the song was inspired by the Renata Adler book, but looking at these notes, it's clear that there's more to it that that. There’s a synopsis! Very rarely did I do this. But it looks like I tried to plot out Speedboat like a short story. I got lucky. I failed. This is not a way I like to work anymore.
It's also clear from these notes and Rattlesnakes (the song) notes, I was intent upon starting a song with the phrase 'This is a story of wealth and beauty'. But I never did. Which, looking back, seems a good thing. I got lucky on this batch of songs. My editing was much better than my raw material. The final 2 images are the finished lyric which is definitely greater than the sum of its parts!
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