Up Here With Me

  In 1974-5-6 my family and I were living in Eugene, Oregon. I had just gotten off the road working with my group Johnny Golden and the Family Jewels and I was looking to continue in music but in a creative, current way.  Johnny Golden had been a success built on the 50s craze which raged because of the film American Graffiti, and the spin-off TV series, Happy Days.  But, any success I might have with that group was a derivative success built on a music, although very fun, was in the past.     So, my friend Jeff Patterson  Jeff Patterson's blog and I set about to shape music which we would create from fresh musical experimentation and inspiration coming from more contemporary sources.  We met some people and jammed around a bit, but nothing seemed to be working.  I was working in Valley River Shopping Center where there was a music store.  One of the clerks there, Lee Smith, had a few friends, all ex-navy guys from the aircraft carrier, Enterprise, who were looking to put together an original music group, too.
     So, Jeff and I went to a practice one evening and met Greg Nance and Tom Kinsey and we messed with musical combinations.  Lee played hammond organ, Greg-guitar, Tom and Jeff played drums, and I played bass for this configuration.
     I don't know the exact progression, but we jammed a bit then I introduced "Told You Twice" which I had written while I was still in Johnny Golden.  The second tune I taught them was this one, "Up Here With Me".

Up Here With Me Video

     How this song came about was through a bit of daydreaming which most people might identify with.  For me, I had had a few different out of body experiences when I was teenage and beyond.  Especially when I was young I had this phenomenon and it left me with strange feelings.  One such time (of which I cannot speak in depth) I had a dream which paralleled a publicly heralded police incident.  It was as if I had been there, but I don't believe that I really had been there.  This is still an unsolved mystery to me.
     The opening phrase was very real and remains very real to me, "my mind is floating through the window, I'm a million miles from here" was written in the front room of my apartment as I was thinking about places far from there, the Himalayan Mountains, to which I imagined.
     This was truly a song made for a video.  The entire song is etherial.  If you listen carefully in portions you will hear wind chimes in the mix, an overdub that gives a true haunting feeling.
     Musically speaking, I was going beyond the normal pop song style.  Lots of minor mode sorts of things were here.  Upon careful examination I have seen in this a familiar musical melody which reoccurs often in my writing many years to come.  The jump of a minor seventh happens here as it does in a few later songs.
     But, what really catches my ear now is the final vocal high note.  Ending the song songs on a ninth chord with the main voice holding the ninth is not a common occurrence.  Actually, that note happened in the studio and was a total surprise even to me.  I didn't know it until I did it, which is something that has also followed me in my singing career.  Doing the unexpected.

     A little about the video:  The song was recorded in Eugene, Oregon at Raspberry Studios.  As written above I was the sole writer of music and lyrics.  The recording was a group effort by ME which was Jeff Patterson, Greg Nance, Lee Smith, Tom Kinsey, and myself.
     The compilation of photos you see in the video are an interesting photo montage of musical history primarily shared between Jeff and myself.  Jeff was always the keeper of the camera and historian.
     The first photo is of the second lineup of ME which included Dave, the bass player, who replaced me on bass and I took over on keyboards and rhythm guitar.
     A bit further along was a photo of Bee Bumble and the Stingers (who after a name change became Johnny Golden and the Family Jewels).  From left: Liz, Jeff, Lyle Annis, Don Patterson, and Taco (short for his Japanese name.......we sang "Smoke On The Water" in Japanese)
     A photo further along was in our group's recording studio singing background bits for "Marshall's Madness" another of my tunes that we recorded.
     A photo of guitar teacher:  Jack Frances.
     A photo of Jeff and my long time friend and brilliant musician:  Steve Elmer aka Mike Stands.
     A photo of The Diamonds performing in Sparks, Nevada for an outdoor gig.
     A photo of The Diamonds while in Malaysia.  Kota Kinabalu
     A photo of Juju Lund, a long time friend during a piano lesson.
     A photo of The Diamonds:  Steve Elmer, Bob Janssen (only for the publicity photo....ha ha), myself, and Jeff.


For more Dave Janssen music try:  "Julia"  Julia on Jango Radio

Please forgive me all who I have forgotten your last names.  :) I have always been bad with names. 

Darlin', Is That You?

     So often songs are written which don't really have a true "subject", meaning a specific and exact person or direct purpose from which the song takes inspiration.  But, rather the mind gleans bits and pieces of emotions and puts them together in the same way a mosaic takes bits of different pieces and reconstructs them into a full picture.  But, the individual parts might not make sense when taken by themselves.
     That is the situation for my song "Darlin', Is That You?"
     My family and I had just moved from our home for the past few years in Eugene, Oregon to the small city of Coos Bay, Oregon.  The move was especially difficult for my daughter Jennifer.  She had been very attached to her friends and wonderful atmosphere there and now was removed to a place quite different.  The town was a depressing place with lots of rain with few if any friends.

The school where Jennifer attended....two doors down from our house

     For me, I found work at Southwest Oregon Community College as accompanist for their choir.  Aside from this I thought that I would devote myself to writing more songs and do things which might develop into income (which didn't occur).
     I had left behind my musical friends and especially my good friend, Jeff Patterson, who was also now left without a musical group, both of us formerly of "ME".  I believe our intention was to now let our demonstration tapes be submitted to record companies with hopes that the group might reform if and when a producer or A & R director bite for our group's sound.
     I had purchased a piano which I had at my disposal to write on.  I put in a certain amount of time each day playing my old tunes along with fiddling with new melodies and lyrics.   But, again, I was all alone for the first time with no group to perform with. 
     With this feeling of distance from what had been a very fruitful musical undertaking I was the one on the edge of civilization.  I remember talking about Coos Bay being the end of the earth, or at least the US before the ocean.
     I began getting images in my mind of this lonely guy who would mistake a perfect stranger for a lover far away.  That is something that I have felt in the past with people of similar body type who "fool you" by looking like the spliting image of a past love.
     Musically I wanted to incorporate a bit of a Barry Manalow sound in the downward riffs in the chorus.  Strangely I also had a bit of a country riff going in the piano part that was just a natural our growth of the lyrical content.  Overall I did envision an orchestra playing in conjunction with backup singers.  Close your eyes with my comments in your mind and you will understand.
     I especially like the middle eight of this song. I truly enjoy the way it naturally grew out of the rest of the song.  Sometimes the middle eight is forever to write.  In this case it was easy.

Enjoy "Darlin' Is That You?"

Darlin' Is That You on Amazon.com