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SHELLS

I wrote my song “Shells” back in 1972, shortly after leaving Blood, Sweat and Tears. This left me with no singer or band to record my song! So for over 50 years I thought and dreamed about, but never did record this song. I've always felt that “Shells” is my 'most creative/unique’ tune - quite different from any other music I’ve heard. It's a simple, child-like song in 6/8 time with a bit of a ‘sea shanty’ flavor to it. It was inspired by a book of beautiful colored seashells photos I bought while living in Mill Valley, California. The melody and lyrics flowed out from me very quickly one afternoon as I looked through the book in wonderment.

In the summer of 2019, I got the idea/nudge to record all or most of the 180 tunes (in various musical categories) I’ve written in my life. I simply wanted to document these tunes (just the melodies) as a ‘memory’ for myself. I chose about 130 of my strongest melodies to record and spent a number of days in the studio recording them on sax, piano, plus some synth sounds. “Shells” happened to be one of the last tunes I recorded and is one of the very few songs I've ever written lyrics for. I had never recorded myself singing one of my tunes in the studio and was ‘surprised' to find that I actually enjoyed listening to my voice!

After the recording, I mentioned to a musician friend that I was thinking about putting “Shells” online, just to share it. He suggested that I add some of my digital art to go along with the recording. While listening to the “Shells” recording, I looked through the many pictures I’ve created since 2004 and found a number of pieces that seemed to resonate (fit) nicely with my song. This music-visual presentation came together very quickly with the help and advice from a few good friends - experts with audio and visuals. I’m most thankful to them for helping me share this with you.