CD#5-Barlow Shanghai
Whoever said “Never meet your heroes” never got to write songs with John Perry Barlow.
We met up with Barlow when he was in Chicago. He was in town catching up with friends of his who happened to also be friends of ours and as these things tend to sort of keep on happening to those in these sort of oddly shaped circles will attest while they keep on bumping into these types of things over and over until they become Expected and Obvious in the end we got to talking after a Show and decided to work together.
Ok, so now we’re doing a record with Barlow. How does one ease into something like that? For me, I figured I would take it slow, and feel out the situation. Personally, I prefer to sit back silently, watch, assess and come to a logical and correct conclusion.
So Barlow asks Paul about a song Paul’s been working on. I should point out at this time, that the song had no Music, so Paul was going to Barlow with some lyrics that he thought were worth working on. I thought then, and think now about how brave that particular maneuver was.
So Paul tells him the title “Triolet”. Barlow says, “Isn’t that the 8 line thing with the 3 repeated lines?’ Paul says “Yes” and I damn near fell over.
As background, I should point out that while I have always been the more avid reader of the two of us, Paul is a language and verbal Freak. In High School he was voted “the Resident Vocab Monster” for his facility with learning definitions, synonyms and antonyms and basically ruining the curve on Vocab Tests. More to the point, he subscribed to this Word-a-Day thing that sent you an obscure Word everyday online. One day he got Triolet and fell in love with the pattern. It’s like a Haiku, but cooler…
I should also say that, outside of Paul, I am the only person I knew at the time who knew what Triolet meant. Full Disclosure-I should also say that the only reason I knew what it meant was that Paul sent it to me with the definition and some examples.
So, when Barlow knew it off the top of his head, I realized that we were in the presence of a guy who didn’t just get lucky once in a while-No, we were standing in the room with a giant. A Giant who wanted to work with us.
I immediately stopped assessing and got to work…
Speaking strictly for myself, I can only say that it was a Joy that I consider my self fortunate to have experienced. He was Brilliant, Fast, Confident, Informed, and unbelievably easy to be around. He treated us like his Equals. We knew that wasn’t the case. To his everlasting credit, he absolutely Did. Not. Care.
Of all the things I took from working with him, That’s the thing I’ll always treasure the most. And try to emulate. And will most likely fail at.
For those who didn’t get a chance to meet Barlow, I’ll tell you that on a personal level, he was everything you think he’d be, and then a bit more. Funny, sarcastic, brilliant and warm. The kind of guy who had a million great stories but didn’t feel the need to tell you them unless the conversation required it.
As a Songwriting Collaborator he was a great team player who liked to hear other opinions and work with them, but wasn’t afraid to speak up with the solution to the problem when he had it. Which was predictably often. There were sections of songs which had fought Paul, Hague, and I to a lyrical draw for years that he solved in less time than it just took you to read this paragraph. This was both Inspiring and Demoralizing to us. However, sometimes, when those sections of those songs come up in Live performance, I remember the man and how he just spit out the answer that had been so elusive. In those moments, I only feel the Inspiration part.
As an Artist, he got to check that box about leaving the world a better place than it was before you got there. And that’s the Biggie right there…
More Barlow Shanghai stuff…
Yes, there’s a hidden track.
Yes, it’s a Barlow and Paddy song.
Yes, the Lyrics are at the top of the Lyrics page.
No, I’m not going to tell you how to find it…
…and that’s because, if we learned anything from Barlow is that the fun part is the Journey.
RIP John Perry Barlow, and Thanks.
We miss you.
-Chief
