Jan 21, 2009
Celia’s Garden
Hey folks – hope your week is going well – I’ve spent quite a bit of time in the studio these past few days, putting the finishing touches on a couple of the tunes and taking them over to Jeff Saltzman’s place for some mixing. He’s doing some mixing on a song called “Susan Be” (which is up on the blog as well), and one of our favorites of the new songs called “Celia’s Garden“.
The lyrics are based on the paintings of Childe Hassam, a 19th Century impressionist painter from Boston, who spent his summers in Maine at Celia Thaxter’s Garden…(in fact, the song opens with a playful reference to the “poppies on the Isle of Shoals“). I had such a great experience writing the “Ballad of Winslow Homer“, based on Homer’s paintings, that I wanted to try it again with a song based on Hassam’s work. There’s so much imagery and texture, even in the titles of the paintings – it was a ton of fun to write and even more fun to play, and I hope it comes through in the song – it’s definitely one of our favorites. Click below to listen (or download) and let us know if you like it -
The Dimes – Celias Garden (DEMO)
Have a great rest of the week and we’ll see you guys soon -
Johnny
I love the “Obla-Di-Obla-Da”-ness of the opening…it’s great!
Nice work boys… – Dc
Thanks Duncan! This was most certainly one of the most fun songs to record yet…
I spent today at the Portland Art Museum and actually got to see the “Isle of Shoals” painting and couldn’t help but think of the song. Nice work once again, boys.
Very cool. I’d heard that the Portland Art Museum had some of Hassam’s work, but I didn’t know they had that particular one…that’s awesome. I’ll have to go check it out
[...] at the Comet Tavern on Saturday night (Jan. 31st) for our first show of the year. Look for a few new songs to make their way into the set, as well as some old favorites we haven’t played in a while. [...]
[...] Childe Hassam’s “Isle Of Shoals” paintings, which is mentioned in the song “Celia’s Garden“…and he was right…though it’s not the “Isle Of Shoals” painting [...]