If a spaceship came to take you away, would you go or would you stay? I asked myself that very question, looking up at a billion stars on my way from Penticton to Vancouver as an angst teenager. Obviously unhappy with my situation, I yearned for a UFO to stop us right there on the Crow's Nest Highway. Ready to jump ship & skidaddle to another galaxy, I drifted far away from the norm as I wrote this spaceship, folk-rock tune. The boppy rhythm mixed with a wild, freeform fiddle makes this track unforgettable & possibly the weirdest song in the Smokeywine collection. (Smokeywine.com)
After scouring through our old photo albums, I pulled out the ones of me as a teenager; around the same age as when I wrote 'The Visitor'. That was another lifetime ago. Fast forward to meeting Mark Sheldan, the strangest fiddle player I know. We let him loose in the barn studio in Maple Ridge on our first album, 'Country Love' AKA 'This is Us' recorded in 1994. I debuted my Fender Telecaster guitar that my good friend Cecil bought for my birthday, cranking out the grooviest rhythm I could, even putting a few harmonics in here and there. Mark picked on his old Guild to fill in sweet little leads and the fearless way he worked that fiddle in the lead solo is filled with stuff you won't believe. When we play this on stage, Mark has to quickly change from guitar to fiddle for the break only. People are usually stunned when they hear his Charlie Daniels style of crazy fiddling.(marksheldan.com) Our recording engineer, George Mallot did such a great job working with us to get it just the way we wanted. And I was picky about it...go figure? It was all done by hand back then and I remember all of us having to turn knobs and slide levers up simultaneously for the big finish. It was quite a system; done on cassette tapes that we later remastered into digital.
This is the second cover for the first album by 'Smokeywine' the duo. Man, we look tall and skinny in that photo - I had to stretch it for the size of the CD. That was twenty-five years ago, playing in Penticton at a senior dance with my mom and dad. Our costumes consisted of a pile of hats and other assorted accessories. Check me out in that leather mini dress, long black coat and cowboy hat. Whooee! I had balls back then. Still do, I suppose. Today, I learned that I have listeners in Chicago and Detroit - two places I'd like to see one day. Also people heard my songs in Teofilo Otoni and Sao Goncalo, Brazil. I hope this blog finds you all in a place where you want to be. Until next time, Love, Laugh and Dance! ~*.*~ Lea Sheldan
#LoveLaughDance #YearoftheGreatRelease #LeaSheldanBlog #singersongwriter #ListentoThis #TheVisitor #SpaceshipFolkRock #SmokeywineDuo #AlienSongs #Fiddlemania #CountryLove
To listen to 'The Visitor' right now, click here:
https;//twistedgitarco.wixsite.com/leasheldan-1/songs
To hear Mark Sheldan's new release, click here:
https;//twistedgitarco.wixsite.com/marksheldan/my-songs
If you have Spotify, please download here:
https://open.spotify.com/album/72B5N9EgbZuIMQh2aayXmk?si=yb1WBVsGRjaC2N77SQrZew
Sing along with the lyrics below:
The Visitor
I think I saw a visitor
He came down from the sky
I didn’t stop to wonder why
But man that ship could fly
I looked down at the alien
I knew what he was thinking
He waved his arm and he let me in
We took off as fast as lightning (I said)
Take me to another star
If I stay here I’ll go crazy
Please make sure it’s very far away
I wanna leave today
We left our planet far behind
And flew right past the sun
Dreaming of another kind
Me and my friends would have some fun
Checking out the new wave, it’s more than bizarre
Living in a new space is better by far
Opened up my eyes I’ll never see the same
When I get down to Earth, I’m gonna play a new game
My little buddy, he showed me things
That you would not believe
But when I figured the outs and ins
I knew it was time for me to leave (she said)
Take me to another star
If I stay here I’ll go crazy
Please make sure it’s very far away
I wanna leave today
I said, take me to another star
If I stay here I’ll go crazy
Please make sure it’s very far away
I wanna leave today
Yeah yeah, take me far away
Take me far away . . .
Comments