If I hadn't had some time to fill in my afternoons in the summer of 1986, my previously off-and-on home-recording activities might never have made the leap into a big focus in my life. But in the summer of '86, when I was working mornings, I needed a project in the afternoons -- aside from the afternoon naps, I mean. If I could work quickly enough, I'd have a finished 4-track "masterpiece" to play for Hilary when she got home each day. Allowing for the nap (and a snack), this might give me up to 3 hours per song to write music and lyrics, overdub all the instruments and vocals (and bounce tracks as needed), and get a final mix I was satisfied with.
Regimen turned to habit and momentum, and for the next few years I went through frequent cycles of copious musical inspiration and activity.
At a certain point I had started writing some of the songs for Hilary to sing (or sing with me), which would technically make a given project a "Silly Pillows" project rather than a "Jonathan Caws-Elwitt" project. There she'd be, courageously facing the sneaker that we used to prop up the microphone (a hi- top of virtually any color would do the trick), while I prompted with melody and lyrics -- hopefully to the correct song, if I was on the ball -- and adjusted the analog delay that we used in place of reverb (due to my artistic opinion that we did not own a reverb unit).
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Copyright © 1999. J & H Caws-Elwitt. Revised -- November 27, 1999.