montreal

did you know
before g was born
jayme and i got to travel
all around north america
on a rock'n'roll tour bus

almost 2 months
with rhett erica danny d. and scotty p.
we played a lot of shows
even conan o'brien in nyc
he was really tall
we took a lot of funny polaroids
stayed up late
played video games
watched sopranos
listened to music
a party every night
we made lots of new friends
friends i'll have for life
like alex dezen
teddy boy
and lefler
we slept in our tour bus coffins
while we rolled through state after state
woke up in the afternoon
if we'd gotten to sleep at all
every day a new state
a new city
like captain kirk had beamed us there
none of the normal hassles of traveling
it was weird not actually seeing how we got there
we even went to canada
it was freezing cold
and snowing
i took a polaroid of jayme and scott shivering in the cold
with their coffees
i think of that picture when i hear this song
how many guys are lucky enough
to go on tour with their wife?
maybe a lot of musicians don't consider that cool
but i do
no led zeppelin "how to behave on tour" manual for me
not my idea of cool
those guys were idiots

the touring lifestyle is only good in small doses
even with a bus
it's difficult
not very much sleep
no privacy
living out of suitcases
filing one by one into the hotel "day room"
to shower and clean-up before you get back on the bus
and head to the next city
i hated the day room thing
it was weird
but sharing the whole experience with jayme
was awesome
it made being away from home for so long
not as difficult
this was something i'd always wanted to do
i didn't think i'd ever get the chance
but i did
and at the end of it all
in seattle
one balmy day in december
the 9th to be exact
we found out we were going to have a child
one year later i wrote montreal

the words were
in part
inspired by thoughts of jayme and i traveling together
during these pre-g times

"spinning records on the bus
montreal ahead of us"

this song is at the heart of beautiful noise
it's about what i think is the reason for being

love

simple as that
to me without it
we've got nothing
we are nothing
there's no point in hanging on to any of this without love
it is THE REASON
afterall
i was born in the summer of love

the melody came to me before one of the last happiness factor shows
at the old barley house
march 2003
i usually have my hand-held recorder laying around the house
for these fleeting moments of inspiration
they usually disappear into thin air if i don't record them
immediately
but this tune was strong enough to survive the gig
and come back to me 2 days later
when i had a chance to record the idea
the words came much later
7 months later
not until december of '03
2 days before christmas
1 month after gavin's operation