A week ago I was a bundle of nerves waiting for Lize and her mum and sister to arrive at my home so that I could teach her the song I had written for her for Reach For A Dream. After chatting to her mum Lorette, we decided that I would suprise her with a song about her best friend - her jack russell 'Julie'. Now - of the over 300 songs I have written - one for a dog was going to be a first for me! I got Lorette to send me pics of Julie & Lize as well as ancedotes about their relationship. Before I knew it I had a song coming together that was so catchy that my poor boyfriend and a friend visiting from the UK couldn't stop singing the chorus!
But... the true test was going to be Lize. Her whole family along with Julie arrived last Monday and after we had broken the ice with juice & biscuits I sat down and sang the song to her.
She was very shy and nervous but seemed to really like it, and finally joined me at the piano to sit on my lap and learn to sing it herself. It was a pretty emotional experience to hear this little 8 year old girl start singing a song to her puppy, and everytime the chorus "Oh Julie..." kicked in we had Julie at our feet wondering why we were calling her!!! By the end of the afternoon we were all thick as thieves and she was ready to go home and practice for the recording studio the next day.
Tuesday saw me arriving at Selwyn Shandel's studio in Seapoint nice and early and the two of us got started on recording the backing music for the song. He is a wizard in the studio and before I knew it "Song for Julie" had piano, guitar, bass & drums laid down and we were ready for Lize. She and her sister Estelle had decided to sing together on the choruses and the girls arrived ready to tackle it. I think they were overwhelmed to be in a studio with gold & platimum records on the wall and to hear the backing track now complete. My sister had brought her studio manager Terence along to film the day and he did a stirling job getting it all on tape (a video will follow soon)!
There wasn't a dry eye in the house when Lize started singing & I kept her company in the studio to help her get her pitching right etc. She is a very brave little girl and just got on with singing into a mic for the first time in her life really well! Estelle joined us for the choruses and it was so cute to hear the two of them singing together. It was an incredible experience and now we are editing all the footage to be able to give her the song and a video to remember the day by.
What a priviledge to be able to use my songwriting in such a rewarding way!
