(Paul Brady)
This is the song that made me feel I was beginning to get the hang of songwriting. Written on a solo tour of Holland and Belgium in 1978, it started out as a folky acoustic guitar based piece. I was then and still am a huge fan of Steely Dan. Although it sounds nothing like them, Fagen and Becker were in my head when I began to adapt the song to the piano, especially the instrumental section. I first performed it live on an upright with my back to the audience at The Ballisodare Folk festival in 79. Recently I started to play it again at gigs. This mix is from the original vinyl pressing of ‘Hard Station’ in 1981 which has an intimacy not quite there in the CD remix. Betsy Cook plays piano… I was too nervous back then to play it in the studio… and the late great Jimmy Faulkner on electric guitar.