No Place Like Home - Bob Nordquist & The Intangibles for Songs from Scratch Vol 2

This was a difficult task until I let go of the song. At first I resented having the four lines that I had to use in my song. Then I realized – this isn’t my song. I’ve been given a theme and these lines and basically commissioned to complete the song. So I looked at the lines again trying to figure out where Adam Levy was going with them. They felt like answers the wizard would give to the four requests from the four main characters. Then it was a matter of figuring out which line went with each character and filling out the story from there. - The wizard always felt like a con man to me. He’s like Professor Harold Hill selling band uniforms in Iowa. The lines brought a religious mysticism to the character. That, along with the wizard trying to turn the innocent Dorothy into his assassin, made me think of someone strapping explosives onto some poor kid with the promise of paradise (Kansas). - I think there should be some magic in songwriting and performing. Don’t let the audience see the wires and mirrors. But since the exploration of the process is part of this exercise I’ll try to open up a bit on my personal songwriting process - in appreciation for others doing the same. - I think the spoken word is musical. When you write a song lyric it already has meter and intonation and accents. The trick is to recognize this and to write your song to compliment the innate music of the words and never fight it. I started with the line, “From the ends of the earth to your own back yard.” When I look for a rhyming couplet I generally resolve with the line I started with, instead of putting it first. It keeps the constructed rhyme from feeling as trite. - So I had the first verse done and I started setting it to music. Originally I tried more of a jazzy feel in F#m with a lot of 9ths, but the song was pretty wordy and it wouldn’t support this, so I simplified it, dropped it to Em and everything came together. - The rest of the song fleshed out pretty naturally from there. My biggest problem with the four Adam Levy lines was that at this point I would normally go through an iterative process of tweaking the lyrics and the melody to tighten everything up, but I took the rules very literally and considered the lines to be carved in stone. - I wrote it on Monday the 18th, brought it to the studio on the 19th and brought in The Intangibles over the next few days. I’m very lucky to have access to such great musicians and people. By the following Monday it was done and mixed. The feel of the song changed a bit in the recording process. There’s a bossa nova beat hidden in there that I never envisioned and the flying monkey chant at the end I can take no credit for. - The Intangibles are: Bob Nordquist, Leo Whitebird, Brian Russ, Dale Engquist, Don Fitzwater, Johnny Ewaldt, Bobb Fantauzzo and Hilary Snouffer. The song was recorded and mixed by Leo Whitebird. - www.intangiblesband.com - Here are the lyrics. I hope you like it: - You’re not the first one to ask for a brain - Why would you want to be thinking that hard? - Everybody stops and asks you to explain, - From the ends of the earth to your own backyard. - You can do calculus and your long division, - But that won’t get you on the television - Don’t look so shocked that I hold you in disdain - You’re not the first one to ask for a brain. - - - You’re not the first one to ask for compassion - You search for love, but you better not start - You seek a vessel that has gone out of fashion - Mouth and mind drink all, but won’t fill an empty heart. - You’ve got a job and a can full of oil - Your parts may rust, but your blood won’t boil - I did you a favor now don’t look so ashen - You’re not the first one to ask for compassion. - - - So you want courage, where should I begin? - It’s only something that will make you roam - Fearless you’ll be searching when it’s all within - Energy and matter, namaste and ohm. - You’ve got your friends and your yellow brick road - And you’ll be part of every story told - I gave you nothing, but it’s no great sin - So you want courage, where should I begin? - - - What does Kansas have that we don’t have in Oz - Windswept plains and a fertile loam? - Stay here among us and take up our cause - When evil is gone every road will lead home. - Myriad formulas, nostrums and prayer - Just kill the witch and I’ll take you there - I can take you to Kansas I can take you to Rome - Forget who you are and every road will lead home - Myriad formulas, nostrums and prayer - All roads lead home… Little Dorothy - All roads lead home… Little Toto - All roads lead home… There’s no place like home. - All roads lead home… There’s no place like home.