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She's Starlight

from Brooklyn Boy In Paradise by Allan Thomas

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about

About the song:

During my 1994 songwriting sojourn in Nashville, I presented the basic chords and melody sans lyrics to my long time friend and songwriting partner Charles John Quarto, to see if he was interested in writing some lyrics for it.

After a couple of hours passed he presented me with the lyrics below. He called it 'She's Starlight' and was an homage to my second wife Rhonda, who left the world as we know it a few years earlier.

I first met Charles - and talk about characters right out of a novel - in Greenwich Village in 1967. He kinda looks like Albert Einstein with the hair on the sides of his head going straight outward toward the horizon, instead of back or straight down, even then as a young man he wore his hair this distinguishing way. Charles John was - and still is - an incredible poet and a fine songwriter too. Whenever I visited Nashville I would try to have a few songs without lyrics ready for any of the three songwriting partners I wrote with there. I always made sure to schedule a visit Charles because not only would he be able to come up with perfect lines in no time at all - or maybe overnight - but also for his colorful banter and insightful thoughts regarding a wide-range of topics including the esoteric and divine. Charles was singular, an individualist, and in many ways a total eccentric, which was certainly part of his charm. On a professional note, I admired the way Charles could conjure up the most beautiful imagery with his words and lines, as if he already knew them beforehand, and wished lyrics like that would come floating down to me so effortlessly seeming - 'cause believe me I'm working for every single line.


About the recording:

I recorded a vocal and guitar recording of the song in Nashville at the time Charles wrote the lyrics, but for this release have elected to use the original instrumental version.

This version of the song was recorded in the first Black Bamboo Studios on Kauapea road in Kilauea, just above Secret Beach.The session was a pretty simple and straightforward affair, with me first programming the Roland R-70 Human Rhythm composer for the drum and percussion parts. Keyboard wizard Michael Ruff and I played our parts live using the ADAT 8 track as the recorder, each of us in stereo. I overdubbed the lead melody over the track after and played my usual rig at the time, the Steinberger into the Digitech effects device into the Neve pre.

There was always an element of surprise when recording, or playing live for that matter - with Michael Ruff, and that is one of the most enjoyable things about working with him. His jazz-like intuitive approach to accompaniment works really well for my tastes, which have always leaned towards jazz. The "vibes" solo in the tune is a great example of this in action. You didn't see it coming, and you don't know where its going but it's all good. In life it seems to me, you only get so many "love's of your life" and it's the same with accompanists, who take your music to places you want to go but didn't even know existed till they played on it. I feel this way about Ruff, and Kessler too, good stuff, like a gift ever unfolding and growing deeper with age and experience.

I wrote the tune on acoustic guitar as almost always, but found that I wasn't getting the greatest guitar sound when attempting to record the acoustic. To remedy that I just played the Steinberger electric guitar into the Digitech effects processor, not being any kind of acoustic guitar purist or anything. It's all music to me, just use the tools at hand and don't get caught up in the politics of should's or shouldn'ts. Come to think of it, this is only recording ever of AT playing lead melody and rhythm guitar.

lyrics

She's Starlight

music by Allan Thomas
words by Charles John Quarto


The moon is like a skipping stone
Dancing on the the sea
Your kiss is like Saint Elmo's Fire
Makes rainbows out of me

We watched the world go churning 'round
In shifts across the bay
Big ships are in the water
But it's the sky that sails away

She's starlight now
She reaches me
Without me ever waking up or making believe
She's starlight now she touches me
Starlight starlight up my sleeve

There's magic in her silence
Music when she speaks
Angels in her innocence
Spilling secrets in the deep

She's starlight now
She teaches me
Without me ever waking up or making believe
She's starlight now she touches me

Starlight Starlight up my sleeve
Starlight up my sleeve
She's starlight now
She's starlight now


© 1994 Black Bamboo Music
CJQ Music - BMI

credits

from Brooklyn Boy In Paradise, track released February 10, 1994
Allan Thomas - lead & rhythm guitars
Michael Ruff - keyboards

Produced & Recorded by Allan Thomas

Photo: RJ @ Big Sur 1985

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Allan Thomas Hanalei, Hawaii

Aloha and welcome to my Bandcamp Music Store home page. Here you can listen to full-length samples of all seven Allan Thomas albums and three singles. Also to be found are credits, photos, stories and lyrics for all songs. Dig in...

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