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Sebastian on Orange
I have a couple of questions regarding the details of John Sebastian’s contributions to the Orange album, if you don’t think they’re too intrusive.
How far along in the songwriting process were you when you found out that he was interested in working with you? Was it early enough that you actually had him in mind while you were composing “Once Upon a Time” and “Waiting for the Waiter” (and possibly other songs)? Or had you pretty much already written all the songs and were just looking for the most logical places for him to insert his talents?
Relatedly, did you suggest those particular songs to him, or did he listen to everything and choose those two to work on? Or was it more of a collaborative decision? And was it you or he (or both) who composed what he actually played?
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4 Replies
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Hi David,
John heard our music about a year prior to us starting working on Orange. He listened to some of our early originals and covers and expressed his interest in being involved in a future project. We were thrilled about the offer but it wasn’t until we started writing “Once Upon A Time” that we thought we found the perfect song for him to play on.
We did a rough demo recording and sent it over for him to record his blues harp parts in his studio in Woodstock. The song actually still changed drastically after that. In fact, “Once Upon A Time” started off a lot less psychedelic, with more of a back beat /merseybeat drive to it. It took some tweaking until we found the arrangement we were most happy with. John’s playing and phrasing was fantastic and we built more of the arrangement around his soaring harp lines.
We weren’t planning on having him play on another song but of course, when we wrote “Waiting For The Waiter” a few months later it was screaming for some more blues harp action 😉 So we sent him over another demo and asked if he would like to add his magic to it, too.
We didn’t set off writing either of the songs with him in mind but it became obvious very soon that they would both be perfect fits, so we left room for some harp. We gave him a very loose framework with room for interpretation for both, and he came up with the lines and riffs.
Hope you’re well and groovy!
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Thank you, Lisa! That’s precisely the sort of information I was interested in learning.
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Yeppers, John definitely fit in on those songs perfectly…I’m glad MLT left quite a lasting Groovy first impression with/on John that resonated … it all just jives fab….indeed!!!!
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Great question David, and fascinating to hear of the creative collaboration that went into it Lisa. I recall you mentioned “Once Upon A Time” was one of your most time consuming and involved songs to write, and I can see the complexity that was involved from your description here.
In fact, “Once Upon A Time” started off a lot less psychedelic, with more of a back beat /merseybeat drive to it. It took some tweaking until we found the arrangement we were most happy with. John’s playing and phrasing was fantastic and we built more of the arrangement around his soaring harp lines.
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