- Colleen M. Carano
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On Wednesday, March 18, 1998, the friendly people at UPS brought my brand new PC to my door. I quickly hooked it up, installed in my AOL software and signed on for the first time. Since Tanya Donelly is my favorite performer, I immediately did a search for all the web sites concerning Tanya and Belly. The first page that caught my attention was the Belly mailing list. I signed myself up for it and continued my search.
Next, I came across the Tanya Donelly Tribute CD web site. I couldn't believe my eyes! It has always been my dream to play Belly songs on a CD. This was my chance to fulfill my dreams. I was so excited until I read the deadline date, March 31. That meant that I would have to find someone to collaborate with who had a love for Tanya's music, some musical talent and most importantly, recording equipment in a little than less than two weeks. All my hopes were dashed. I figured that it was an impossible task. I decided that I couldn't make the deadline and put it out of my mind.
A few weeks passed and on the evening of Friday, April 3, I signed on to AOL to check my e-mail. There was a post on the Belly mailing list from Cris Aguinaldo concerning the Tanya Tribute CD. He was quite concerned that the project would not live up to the hype, because the deadline had passed and not many people sent in songs. He also said that he was sure that the deadline would be extended as long as people followed through with their commitments this time.
I knew that it was a sign and this time I had to at least make an attempt. I e-mailed Sung Shim, the person in charge of putting the songs onto CDs. I basically begged him to let me be on the CD by telling him that I could have the songs recorded and sent to him in Chicago by early the following week. I asked him to tell me which songs he preferred I covered and to let me know one way or another if he would let me be on it. He responded to my e-mail immediately, telling me that he would allow me to be on it and that he would extend the deadline to Wednesday, April 15. He let me choose the songs that I wanted to cover and told me to send them along with a photo and a short biography as soon as possible.
Once again I was so excited, I could hardly think! I sat at my computer for about five minutes trying to think of all the musicians that I knew. The first name that came to me was Greg Julius, an excellent musician and a good friend of mine. He was into Tanya's music and he had some recording equipment that we could use. I immediately called him and told him about the Tribute CD. He agreed to help me and we made plans to record the following day, Saturday, April 4.
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My only concern was that he had never heard "Dream on Me" before, but
I knew that he was an experienced musician and I had confidence that it would
end up sounding great no matter what. We decided that "Dream on Me" would be collaboration between Greg and I and that the second song I
picked would be an acoustic solo effort by me. We talked about a few
possibilities that could be used as my second song, but I decided to hold off
on picking one right away until we had developed the first one a little more.
Finally at around 7:00pm, we left the restaurant and headed over to his house
to begin practicing. Since he had never heard "Dream on Me" before, I thought
that it would be a good idea to play it for him so that way he would get an
idea of what it sounded like. I took my guitar out and began playing. He
immediately recognized the similarities between it and "Judas My Heart."
The next task was to figure out where I wanted to segue into "Judas." I played the songs over and over again until I was satisfied with it. Greg and I then began to practice and practice and practice. In fact we practiced the songs for about two and a half-hours straight. At last, around 10:00pm, we were satisfied with the sound. Greg set up his four-track and did a sound check. Soon after, we began recording.
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We recorded my acoustic rhythm guitar and vocals along with Greg's acoustic
leads first. We did a few takes, but by the fourth take my voice was
beginning to give in and we ended up keeping the first one. It was the
version that sounded the most natural. Next, Greg went over his acoustic
leads with his electric guitar to give the leads a fuller sound and make them
a little easier to pick up. Finally, he put a beautiful piano part over the
"Judas My Heart" section with his keyboard. Greg mixed it out and we listened
to the finished version. I was completely amazed by it. I felt so proud at
that moment. We were both very happy with the song and very proud of
ourselves.
By the time we were completely through, it was around 11:00pm. We were tired, drained and very hungry, but I still wanted to do the solo
acoustic song. We decided to go grab a quick bite to eat and discuss the next
song. While we were eating, I made a list of all the possible songs I could
do by myself. Greg said that he would have to hear me sing them in order to
offer his opinion. We finished out food and headed back to his house to begin
the process once again. It was a little after midnight when we got back. I
grabbed a seat on the floor and took out my guitar and began playing and
singing the first few measures of "Spaceman." Greg lit some candles,
positioned two microphones around me and put his headphones on. I had never
played the song on guitar before and wasn't even sure if I was playing it
right. I was just playing it from memory. I then decided that I shouldn't
try to cover a song I wasn't experienced with.
As soon as I stopped playing it, Greg asked me the name of the song I was just playing and I told him, "Spaceman." He then proceeded to tell me that it sounded so beautiful from where he was sitting that I just had to play that song for the Tribute. After he said that, I got really nervous. I had never attempted to play the song before. I sat there and figured out the entire song from memory. I played it one time all the way through and it did not sound good at all. I got really frustrated and told Greg that I couldn't and didn't want to cover that song. He told me that I sang it so beautiful and I just had to.
It was getting really late and I was getting really tired. He told me to stop thinking about it for a while and he began to play a drumbeat on his keyboard. He told me to sing something, so I began to rap the words from "Spaceman" to the beat he was playing. We were laughing so hard!
He turned on his four-track and we recorded what has now become known as the infamous "Spaceman Rap"
.
!!
All of the fun and laughing really helped me to relax before we began recording "Spaceman." At around 1:30am, Greg turned on his four-track once again and I played "Spaceman" all the way through with only a few minor mistakes.
By then, I was so tired and my voice was so worn out. I just decided to keep that take. I figured that it wasn't too bad for only my second time ever playing it all the way through. Besides, when I listened to it, there were a few parts of the song that I absolutely adored. For instance, I loved the echo that Greg had put on my voice and I loved the part when I stopped playing my guitar and I was singing acappella. Over all I was happy with the song and even if I wasn't, it was entirely too late to go back and cover another song or even redo "Spaceman" again. Greg mixed it out and he copied the songs onto two separate tapes.
Finally, at 2:30am on Sunday, April 6, we were finished. I packed up my equipment, thanked Greg and headed home. On the way home, I listened to the tape with our songs over and over again. When I got home at around 3:00am, I e-mailed Sung to let him know that I had finished my songs and that I would send them out on Monday morning. I was so tired from my big day that as soon as I was finished with my e-mail, I crawled into bed and fell right to sleep.
This was my story. I'm sorry that it wasn't very technical, I don't know the technical aspect of music as well as Greg does, so I left that part up to him. I don't have much advice to offer to people doing covers for the next Tribute CD. I guess that I would just say "have fun" and don't worry about getting it perfect, but most importantly, don't be afraid to TRY!
I know it sounds cliché, but it's true. Give it a try and even if it doesn't sound as good as you hoped it would, at least you can say you tried. Tanya will be flattered no matter what it sounds like. The only person that can play her songs close to perfection is Tanya Donelly herself. Although she did write them and knows them better than anyone else, she is human too and I'm sure that she even makes a mistake once in a while. Instead of worrying about perfection, just relax and have a good time. That's what I did. I went into this hoping that it would be more fun than technical, and it was. I looked at is as being an enjoyable experience and not a stressful one. In the end, it was both fun and stressful. I had such a great time in the process of helping this project take shape. It is a day that I will definitely never forget! It was one of the most memorable days of my life so far.
Anyway, now that I've become a walking cliché, I hope that my story was at least somewhat entertaining. It's kind of dorky, I guess, but it's the best that I could do. I hope you liked it! =) Colleen M. Carano (Contributor of "Dream on Me/Judas My Heart" and "Spaceman" on the Tanya Donelly Tribute CD)
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Square/8878/
(Contributor of "Dream on Me/Judas My Heart" and "Spaceman"
on the Tanya Donelly Tribute CD)