I had a publishing deal at the time and was making demos in hopes of getting a record deal. The next day, while delivering packages in the downtown core, I wrote the lyrics and was quite proud of them. I started thinking that there must be a thread or a rhythm that runs through time and all the generations like a pulse or a heartbeat. I was in my late 20s I guess and was already feeling like an old man. I don’t remember whose wedding but I was sitting with my grandma watching the young cousins dance. The only other thing I want to say about it is that I played a short neck Rickenbacker guitar that wouldn’t stay in tune for love or money so it’s fitting that the first chord of my major label debut is slightly out of tune. Sometimes I wish I would’ve sung it straighter but thankfully, enough people liked how I did it that it has become my most covered song. In my own defense, I was just trying find my voice and to be in the moment. Well, nobody had ever said anything like that to me and so in an attempt to impress Mitchell, I basically tried to sing it like Little Jimmy Scott which I still find mildly embarrassing today. He had made a record for the jazz singer Little Jimmy Scott and had said that I tended to back phrase in my singing like he did. When it came time to record “Secret Heart” I was very impressionable and a little in awe of producer Mitchell Froom. It was like going back to my Buddy Holly roots and trying to write a song that he might’ve sung while at the same time honing in on what would become my basic style and approach to song writing. With “Secret Heart,” I didn’t want to go out of my way to say something simple. They were all so good at writing words and so it seemed to shine a light on my weakness as a lyricist at that time. I had been a regular at the various open stages around Toronto (mainly Fat Albert’s) since the late ‘80s and so I was hearing all these great writers like Kyp Harness, Bob Snider, Sam Larkin, and feeling inspired and depressed at the same time. This song was a bit of a turning point for me. If I can find any, I’ll link to some videos in the titles. There’s a section on his website called ‘Short Sleeve Notes’ where Ron goes into detail about his entire discography and I thought I’d put his notes up on here for his self titled album because I enjoyed reading them so much. Look the album up on Spotify or something and take a listen!Īnyways, this post is for the people who already know about Ron. This album is completely perfect! I think that the album is only almost perfect for Gerry because we saw Ron live in Glasgow in 1998 (I think) and he played the entire album live and it sounded EVEN better than the record! My pal Gerry thinks that this album is almost perfect and he’s usually always right about things but he’s wrong this time. I think he was actually in his 30’s when the album cover photo was taken. I got his self titled album “Ron Sexsmith” and before I even listened to it, I remember being knocked out by the cover.Ī small boy with really cool hair and really old man eyes! I first heard about Ron Sexsmith when I was about 15 and I thought his name was the greatest thing I’d ever heard! Like the late great Harry Nilsson, Ron just seems to make everything all right. How could he not be with a voice like that? Sometimes I think that he must be an actual angel or something… I find myself listening to a lot of Ron Sexsmith lately.
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