I remember the struggle I had writing the music and melody for this track after Kevan provided his original draft of words. It took much longer than usual for me to find what worked with the imagery in the story. I agonised over it.
This feeling kind of stayed with me into the recording process. The original demo didn't really work, and the simple guitar and voice arrangement felt extremely claustrophobic and a little difficult to listen to.
And I pretty much left it like that after adding a very simple accordion melody, putting it to the bottom of the pile of work, as you do with the worst jobs.
And then on 14 August 2020, Kevan sent me an arrangement he had started on 'A Child's Tale' with an insistent continuous four on the floor tom tom rhythm, which he pictured as the pounding of the child's heart or banging on the door by the father, as well as a couple of chords and melodic flourishes.
I have to say, it stopped me in my tracks, because now I could see the song working.
Over the next couple of weeks I added Kevan's chords and tom toms into my own software, changing and adding a few things, and inserting a middle section that seemed more necessary now. And I have to say, it sounds fantastic. More accessible and listenable, even at a lengthy 6 minutes and 54 seconds!
I have uploaded the work in progress to the A Child's Tale PAGE. I hope you enjoy it.
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