Hello friends! Thank you all so very much. We’ve now made it up to 55% of our total goal! In 8 short days the campaign for the 4th Audra album will end. If you have a moment to help share our posts on social media that would be absolutely fantastic.
We are totally thrilled that Greg in Connecticut selected the ‘Choose Your Cover Song’ perk. We’ll be recording a special one-off song chosen by him on a CD with custom artwork - limited to 1 copy! Since we created the campaign, I was excited about the possibility of recording unique versions of songs chosen for us. Cheers, Greg - thank you again! There are 2 more of these still available and they do come with a Signed CD or Black Vinyl plus your name will appear in the album credits.
And now for the fifth song title reveal…
I don’t usually discuss what a song I've written is about, but it would sadden me to have the meaning & inspiration of this one go by unnoticed. These are dark times and everyone has a struggle at some point in their life. For some, they are launched into the world with cruelty and hate.
Back in the late-90s, one of the shop owners off of Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe used to book us to play in a gazebo that was in the courtyard outside of his store. Bart and I would perform original songs & covers for 3+ hours to friends, fans and passersby. There was one person that would be there each time.
He was a young man, a few years older than us and always had a bag of his belongings with him. He’d stay and watch our performance and although he was homeless, he’d walk up at the end and put some coins into our tip jar. I would insist that he kept the money, but he said that our music made his world better for those moments and it was worth it.
One night we chatted about his life. When he was a teenager, he told his parents that he was gay. They told him to leave and never come back. He had been living on the streets ever since.
Sometimes we’re so focused on our lives and miss what’s going on around us. Everyone has a story, everyone has a past. We walk and don’t look down, crushing a leaf underfoot. Discarded. Forgotten. Childhood dreams lost.
Later that night back in May 1998, I wrote a poem for him. I still have the original in a journal that also has the original lyrics to songs like ‘In Hollywood Tonight,’ ‘Spiked with Black and Rum,’ ‘In All Our Androgyny,’ ‘Venus,’ ‘In a Dark Room,’ etc. - all written within weeks of each other. I would say good times, but not sure anymore how good they were. Creative and prolific times? Definitely.
The next day I set up our 4-track tape machine in the garage and put down bass, guitar and vocals in one take. I still have that original demo.
My brother Bart would always remind me of how much he liked that song, so in 2006 I re-recorded ‘Petal’ in hopes that we would build on it for the next release. That never happened, and it just sat dormant until after the fourth album sessions had already begun in July. I messaged my brother and said I think ‘Petal’ should be on the new album. He responded with ‘I AGREE.’ So I got to work creating charts for the bass and guitar parts. We recorded it and another song in a single 4-hour session. The cinematic keyboards that you’ll eventually hear on the album were played by Bart and are - in my opinion - breathtaking. They were improvised live and enhanced the emotion of the song so much.
As far as I recall, ‘Another Fallen Petal’ has never been played live.
Thanks for reading, Bret