By Jenny Biddle.
We're nearing the end of the tenth year of releasing my album "Hero in Me". With just two songs left to celebrate and explore in depth. Today we are looking at Track 11 "Sweet Tooth"
I love chocolate!
This song is nothing to do with chocolate. But perhaps it’s inspired by the idea of someone being/having a sweet tooth… metaphorically speaking - perhaps more in a romantic sense. Maybe, if I turn this series into a book, I’ll go down that road, but for now I’ll let you decide what this song is about while I focus on guitar talk for all the guitar nuts out there.
Guitar talk:
This song was the first time I’d played around with a D minor guitar tuning. DADFAD. Loosely, the song has perhaps been inspired by Kasey Chamber’s swampier country blues tunes, but I’m aware mine is a little darker and moodier. While I wrote this song on an acoustic guitar, I played a borrowed Gretch guitar to add some attitude.
Producer and multi-instrumentalist, Sean Carey, added some mysterious ebow to the track. An “ebow” is a small electronic device you hover over one string on an electric guitar, and it sustains the guitar note for as long as you hold it there. The overall effect is something similar to a bowed group of stringed instrument (violin, cello, etc). I never really got the hang of playing an ebow, but I love the sustained notes Sean’s added - it creates a bed for the song. You can particularly hear it in the first chorus, and later you might hear sustained notes from an organ, played by Beau Golden.
Sean and I also came up with two completely different guitar solos played over the top of each other… AT THE SAME TIME. I hadn’t done this before, nor did I think it would work as a production technique. But it’s as if there are two sides to the story of this song, where both people are saying their piece via their guitar solo, and they’re just talking over the top of each other trying to get their side heard. I played the grouchy guitar solo that sounds like a repeated riff of a grumpy old sod; Sean played the moody whiney solo that flails about a bit more and is more dominant. Which one does your ear follow?
There’s a bunch of guitar insights for you on my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/jennybiddle
Spotify:
You can listen to two different versions of the song on Spotify and other streaming platforms:
Full Band Version (Studio Version 2013)
Live Version (Live at Selby Folk Club 2015)
Lyrics:
I’m a sweet tooth at heart With a hunger for your skin If I use my eyes like knives It won’t take much for you to let me in
Sweet tooth of mine On this eve what will we find? But in the morning light I’m colour blind And it leaves a lot to be desired
There’s a wall between our souls To keep the meaning out But there’s a gap under the door and you want more You’ll crawl across my floor to know what I’m about
Sweet tooth of mine On this eve what will we find? But in the morning light I’m colour blind And it leaves a lot to be desired
There’s a trap inside your mind I’m dancing on the boundary line As I slip, I fall Cos I always want more I always want more…
Sweet tooth of mine On this eve what will we find? But in the morning light I’m hollow, I’m blind And it leaves a lot to be...
Credits:
Song written by Jenny Biddle
Recorded, Mixed & Produced by Sean Carey at Trackdown Studios, Camperdown, NSW, Australia 2012
Mastered by Don Bartley, Blaxland, NSW, Australia
Album Art by Katrina Leighton
Album Photograph by Raditya Fadilla
Released 2013
Jenny Biddle: Vocals, electric guitar
Sean Carey: Bass, lead guitar, ebow
Michael Quigley: Drums
Beau Golden: Organ
Read more from Jenny...
Track 1 - Hero In Me
Track 2 - Across The Nullarbor
Track 3 - Pockets
Track 4 - Running Out Of Lies
Track 5 - Chasing Stars
Track 6 - Somebody To Love
Track 7 - Big Bad World www.thesoundcafe.com/post/jenny-biddle-hero-in-me-the-story-behind-the-songs-track-7-big-bad-world
Track 8 - The Finish Line
www.thesoundcafe.com/post/jenny-biddle-hero-in-me-the-story-behind-the-songs-track-8-the-finish-line
Track 9 - A Place In The Sky
Track 10 - Winter Sun
Jenny Biddle is an Australian, Folk, Blues & Roots musician, she is a well seasoned guitarist, witty storyteller, poignant songwriter and winner of the Blues & Roots Radio International Song Contest 2020. Jenny fashions an infectious mix of down to earth modern folk for the wandering soul. Her 8th album 'Hoping For A Hero' is out now.