30 Songs in 30 Days – Day Twenty-Five – Separate Beds

Most of my songs are written on the guitar. Separate Beds is different, in that it was written on a piano at my Mum and Dad’s house, many years ago. I think I was 19. The piano explains why the melody comes in on the 6th of the D minor chord. I’d never have thought of that if I’d been writing it on a guitar.

There’s a version of Separate Beds on Pop Happenings Vol 4, which has a much fuller arrangement. The little arpeggio at the end (that doesn’t really work here, hence the fade out) comes from that version, where the pattern is played on pizzicato strings. It was the first song I put together using Cubase or its like, and I threw everything at it. Surprisingly, the arrangement isn’t awful (well, I don’t think it is!) when it really could have been. I plundered the orchestral instruments on the XG soundcard of my Yamaha CS1X, (which was a lovely synth – why did I sell it?) so there are mute trumpets, a double bass, oboes and a host of others.