A friend of mine, Danny Flam, introduced me to 'Castle of Clay'; a song written by New York songwriter, Saul Stern. Danny asked if I would like to sing it. I listened to the demo and loved it.
The apparent simplicity of the lyric hides a deeper story and very much tied in to the essence of a couple of songs I was working on at the time.
So I was hooked and, with Saul's approval, jumped at the chance to sing it. While I was recording my vocals I seguéd in to a coda from one of my own songs, 'Forty Days', as it just seemed to sit so perfectly with Saul's song and build upon that whole 'Phil Spector' style production at the end.
It's been a great honour for me to sing one of Saul's songs as well as work alongside the great musicians who played on this track.
As always, Danny has put together a fantastic arrangement, as has Kareña with her backing vocal arrangements.
Recorded and engineered by the Grammy Award winning Jeff Jones 'The Jedi Master' who won a Grammy for his work with Dr John.
lyrics
I TOOK A WALK DOWN MAIN STREET
BY THE HOUSE WHERE I WAS BORN
I COULD HARDLY BELIEVE IT
THE OLD HOUSE AIN’T THERE NO MORE
EVERYTHING HAS BEEN
WASHED AWAY
A CASTLE OF CLAY…
AND IT SEEMED LIKE YESTERDAY
WE WOULD LAUGH UNTIL WE CRY
YOU CAN HEAR THE ECHOES
OF A LOVE THAT WOULD NEVER DIE
EVERYTHING I THOUGHT WOULD STAY
HAS SLOWLY WASHED AWAY
LIKE A CASTLE OF CLAY
LORD I HOPE IT DON’T RAIN TODAY
I HOPE IT DON'T RAIN…
SOLO
I FINALLY GOT BACK HOME
FIGURED MY DAY WAS DONE
I COULD HARDLY BELIEVE IT
MY WIFE GAVE ME A SON
I’M GONNA TEACH HIM
TO LOVE EACH DAY
BEFORE THEY’RE WASHED AWAY
LIKE A CASTLE OF CLAY
LORD I HOPE IT DON’T RAIN TODAY
I HOPE IT DON’T RAIN
NO NO – I HOPE IT DON’T RAIN TODAY
FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS
KEEP THAT SUN SHINING BRIGHT…
FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS
KEEP THAT SUN SHINING BRIGHT…
FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS
KEEP THAT SUN SHINING BRIGHT…
FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS
KEEP THAT SUN SHINING BRIGHT…
Danny Flam - Trombones &Trumpets
Saul Stern - Acoustic Guitar
Keith Mack - Electric Guitars
Tom Welsch - Bass
Eran Asias - Drums
Benjy King - Hammond
Kareña K - Backing Vocals
Soulful guitar interplay form the heart of this lovely Americana collaboration from Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 2, 2018