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"The Man With The Child In His Eyes" by Syd Straw I cannot begin to exress the sheer and utter awe I
experienced during the
recording sessions on this song. It was just the four of us, Syd, Dag Juhlen on
guitars, Jim Meyering the engineer, and myself. I was in charge of holding a baffle
in between Syd and Dag so that Syd's voice wouldn't be picked up on Dag's guitar mic and
vice versa. It was a small but efficient room we were all crammed into.
As I sat at Syd's feet on the floor of the studio, I was really
pinching myself and thinking "No you are NOT sitting here listening to Syd Straw sing
The Man With The Child In HIs Eyes for your Kate Bush tribute album." (The producer
was cool as a cucumber. I couldn't let on that the fan in me was about to overdose
on the situation.)
I kept taking mental photographs. This is one of my favorites:
Syd standing
at the mic and holding the LP of The Kick Inside album. I had the lyrics printed out
for her just in case, and even though she knew the words, she preferred to read them off
the back of the album cover. It was how imagined so many of us singing along
to Kate in our private concert halls, the bedroom
When Syd did her harmony vocal I thought that Annie Lennox must
have walked in the room, because when Syd sings low like that, she shares a certain tonal
uality with Annie. But of course it wasn't Annie, it was Syd just
being amazing.
Syd Straw was a complete gift to this project.
I am beyond grateful and honored for the opportunity to have worked with a true
master.
- by Thomas Dunning
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