The Other Place

Lyrics:

When I die
I’m gonna come back to earth to haunt you,
So that I
Am not so lonely on my cloud,
In the sky,
Where I’ve been sitting playing harp tunes.
Don’t you cry,
I will come back to help you out.

Is it too late
To unlock the pearly gates?
Should I have a word with old Saint Pete?
I’ve gotta say, though,
I’m handing back my halo.
Now where the hell did I put my receipt?

If you see
Me lying on the bed beside you
Don’t you be
Afraid, and scream or run away.
It’s just me.
I didn’t ring the door, I walked through.
So that we
Could spend the night the same old way.

Is it too late
To unlock the pearly gates?
Should I have a word with old Saint Pete?
I’ve gotta say, though,
I’m handing back my halo.
Now where the hell did I put my receipt?

If I go
Down to the other place, with hellfire,
You should know
I won’t be back to bother you,
‘Cos down below
That’s where all the naughty girls are
And I just know
That there’d be plenty more to do.

Is it too late
To unlock the pearly gates?
Should I have a word with old Saint Pete?
I’ve gotta say, though,
I’m handing back my halo.
Now where the hell did I put my receipt?

About:

The Other Place is probably the oldest song on the album. I wrote it such a long time ago that I genuinely can’t remember the specifics of how it came about. As a song, I find it to be a bit of a muddle of things I like (the chord progression, some of the lyrics – some of the half-rhymes work a treat) and things I really don’t like (the slightly sleazy undertone in the last verse). But hey – this version has so many things that I like that I can forgive younger me for writing some lyrics that I’m not especially proud of. Where do I start?!

With the recording, I suppose…

As with the rest of the album, the drum tracks were recorded at Mr. Kyps and the rest was recorded at my house. Well – nearly all of it. Which leads me nicely onto my favourite thing in the song. And one of my favourite things on the whole album.

While we were recording it, I’d recorded a rubbish piano part that went in the chorus. I’m no piano player, and that became very evident. It NEEDED a piano part, so I took to Facebook to ask if any of my friends on the could play a little honky tonk piano on it. Before long my pal Khoi Huynh had said he could (and would). This was tremendously exciting. Khoi is in a band called The Corner Laughers and they are one of my favourite bands in the whole wide world. They’re from California and the play the cleverest, sunniest indie-pop music known to man (or woman).

Like this:

Brilliant, eh? Anyway, Khoi agreed to have a listen to the basic track I’d sent, and come up with a piano part to put in the choruses.

A short while later, he sent me the tracks. Not just piano tracks – oh no – he’d sent me several keyboard tracks and the most hilarious solo I’d ever heard. When he sent it, he claimed it was ‘a ridiculous solo – and you probably won’t want to use it’. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. The solo HAD to be in. Perfect.

When it came to mixing, Phil added some excellent handclaps in the chorus – giving it a kinda gospel feel (which suited the song perfectly) and then, for the last chorus, turned the ‘gospel’ knob right up to eleven. It suited it perfectly.

Aaron often likes to say that The Other Place is a swing song – á la Michael (bloody) Buble. It’s not. It’s a gospel song. Obviously.