Writing an other album…
I won't let myself censor this album. Ever stretching Horizon - I didn’t know the words yet. I had this song in my mind shortly after I delivered ‘Phase to Phase’. I didn’t intend to expand the album with a ninth song. It was an extra track for my self, to put my emotions into. I didn’t want to load the album with disappointment and loss. I needed an open end. Near the supermarket where I would later coincidently meet Beep* (When her smile…) I stood on the open field and watched the nearby stars. And the song ‘I Believe’ came to me. Just then I realized there was an other album to make. That was, by the way, something I seriously struggled with. Write an other album… Writing a single song for a girl, okay, that is a way to go for me. Writing 8! songs that is special.. Writing 2 albums, God, what is wrong with me. But hey, this is a very beautiful story. I won’t let that be censored by the world (myself). I just give it life and that it may stay here in between all the other beautiful tales. Beautiful. That is my word. It is beauty. To Beep* it is nice. She uses low profile words to describe her values in life. She is much and much more worth than she depicts herself. But that is an other story.

Recreating the space of the Sagrada Familia
What a crowning work of art this song is, what a conclusion to this fine and beautiful story! I am so bold to state this myself. I visited Barcelona in 1997 for the first time. I remember I saw the Sagrada Familia in a comic book for the first time: Les Phalanges de l'ordre noir (The Black Order Brigade) illustrated by Enki Bilal it was. I was instantly drawn to the alien and organic curves by Antoni Gaudí. And there I stood face to face to this extraordinary church. Ancient before it is to be delivered in 2026 (yet another 7 years to go). And so I stood face to face and wandered admiringly through its interior for three times. And in August 2018 it was completed so far that I could sit comfortably in a bench lighted by the innumerous colours scattered by the stained glass Gaudí provided from all sides. But it was the light that entered the room through a window in the background, that told me that we are all made beautiful to each other, when we stand in each other’s light. Then in addition to that the organ started to send its sounds in the central nave where the huge treelike pillars hold the ceiling and reverberate the sound. It was then that Beep* came into my mind and made me somehow understand her magical attraction to me. So, it’s the scattered organ sound this massive song starts with. It’s the emptyness between bassdrum and reverberated snaredrum that expresses the central nave. The central nave that stands for the forest. The branches of its pillars that are home to the magical birds. Their song that tell me wether I am still in contact or not. That was an other thing: Will I let the birds come back just before the end of the song. Before the final chord. And I did! The final chord sounds, the birds make their way through its harmony and all of a sudden everything is possible again. And then the final chord closes this everlasting Day. So, does that close the everlasting day, or just this day? No need to be answered. But it shows, that still in life everything is possible. I'll keep that in mind!

Recording on a 4 track cassette tape
Three years earlier in 1987 I formed my own band again to finally arrange my 1980’s oeuvre the way I had in mind. It always was a struggle to find people in my genre with the right skills. Jazz musicians know how to play their instruments, Pop musicians in general are less skilled. But I definately needed people with a Pop feel! In those days there was no internet and mobility wasn’t as flexible as it is now. So I ended up (though still thankful) with less skilled friends with a Pop feel. ‘Dancing in the ballroom’ was one of 12 tracks we recorded this fifth day in May. A basic set up in a rehearsal room it was. We recorded drums, bass guitar, guitar and keyboards on a single stereo track. later we added stereo vocals at home. Although the recordings didn’t live up to my standards I was very pleased to finally hear my songs after so many years. I must admit that I was a perfectionist that could be a pain in the ass, my own included. I’m happy to say that I’m much more practical since I started writing songs again in 2017. Some day I certainly will take time to record a new version of ‘Dancing in the ballroom’, for it is very valuable song.

Superficial Thoughts, Deep Feelings
The musician always digs deep and gets touched deeply. Hopefully his audience experiences and appreciates that effort. So I finally I found time to write the story about Shennika. Not that she was less important, but she came last on the list and the time I spent with her was not that intensive as with Beep* and Fren. And intense with Fren it was. So I took my time with Shennika this time to see what it was going to mean. Along the way it appeared that I suddenly fell short of time! So I grabbed some old musical fragments - I have a 1000 good ones and more of them - and picked the ones that gave wings to my feelings for Shennika. A funny process, cause it really works. Fragments from the 80’s, 90’s and 2000 glued together and there you go: there is my musical image of Shennika. I had one song in mind, but it became two songs. I didn’t want to show the world a very nice girl and take her out in the same song. I sighed, cause it’s two times more work, but then I always take the effort for something valuable. Two songs it will be. As a musician I grab deep in my feelings to get the story right and go through a lot of details. When I sing about myself, that seems right. But when I sing about someone else, it feels out of proportion. That person may feel I make things bigger than they were. But. What I experienced with this mini-album is that it is a very beautiful story in its own right. Putting the situations I was in with her in perspective, in order, I experienced that I apparently oversaw some gestures, even then! A girl that follows, that is responsive, that covered my ass. These three elements were new to me! I remember element by element. But together in a row they amplify each other to a bigger meaning and correspond to a deeper feeling. And that surprised me..! In my urge to classify people and situations I describe a superficial image of what a person should mean to me. Wrong. I remember my brother called me 20 years ago that he was afraid to die of some disease I will not mention now and he told me he loved me. And that night I had a very heavy dreamlike experience, unbearable it was. We are so connected with our family and friends without being aware of the depth of it on a daily basis. So when we really fear to lose someone, we experience the full depth. Now with Shennika I felt not that deeply as with my brother of course. I just started to know her. But it was very promising to me. Grabbing deep in my feelings I brought out the full depth. And that touches me delicately. That makes Shennika real to me and valuable. I only hope that she will appreciate my gesture and effort. Cause she is a special girl, open and with a lot of sweetness.

This Song
A ticket to her heart. -This Song-. That was the original title of the song ‘Winter’. It in fact refers to the song ‘This everlasting Day’. What Beep* & Boop* experience together there, is called -A beautiful song-. It’s the only song with a full melody. ‘Phase to Phase’ shapes the boundaries of the song. ‘I Believe’ speaks about the likelihood of the sheer power of -Our Song- as it compares it to a pulsar. And in ‘In the Morning’ the birds echo -My Song- as they probably can fly freely from Beep*’s realm to Boop*s. What bonds Beep* & Boop* is given full attention in the song ‘This everlasting Day’. That song describes their early born love extensively. All the other songs of the eponymous album just provide the greater context and make it a great story. Paradoxically the song ‘This everlasting Day’ ranks the lowest on the charts... So on her 50th birthday in October Boop* sends -This Song (the full album)- in the thin air and in late November by pure chance I meet Beep* in my local supermarket, not hers, and make her aware of my special e-mail. Reading her face it must have got lost between junk mails. Anyway, the next three days the views of the 8 songs explode, peaking at ‘You Sweet Handsome Cool and Nice Man’ and ‘Colonial Brunette’ and funny enough a reasonable peak at ‘By your side’. In that song I give her a voice to speak out her feelings. A few days later I post the album on Facebook and her views get submerged. I don’t track who views my songs, but that peak was more than obvious. I’m glad Beep* listened and knows Our Song. It’s still in hibernation and so it still is a wonder wether it will seed in Spring one day. A ticket to her heart.