Perpetual Change: Studio Notes
Perpetual Change, produced and recorded in the Carlsbad, CA home studio.
Looking straight into the eye of God. Still from a video taken leaving the island of Nafplio, Greece
Friday comes at the end of one of the strangest weeks I’ve seen in my life. My country just chose a hack for president, and did so with a smug grin on its face. What I once took for stupidity, boils down to arrogance. The arrogance to insist we are the smartest ones in the room, never learn from our failures, and willfully choose to ignore recent history.
Nonetheless, I have a new song and am in the finishing stretch of a new album cut to vinyl. Given that you can only fit 22 minutes on each side of a record, the extended digital release is going to need to be where I’m housing the majority of the singles from 2024. On a positive note, we’re heading into a California winter which means snowboarding season is about to open with a vengeance. The sky is blue and the air is warm.
Lyrics:
I can hear it in the distance, coming down the line
Such an overwhelming feeling, hard to deny
People come, drift away
The love they bring is everything
Everything, everything
Don’t you know, don’t you know
There lives a fire in the sky
Fire lives, fire breathes
Resides in these green eyes
Don’t hold back, ride your wave
‘Cause the only thing guaranteed
Is perpetual change, perpetual change
I’ve taken my share of beatings, plenty of times
They only guarantee, I’ll Never stop trying
Guide my steps through mystery
Painful though the changes be
Changes be, changes be
Don’t you know, don’t you know
There lives a fire in the sky
Fire lives, fire breathes
Resides in these green eyes
Don’t hold back, ride your wave
‘Cause the only thing guaranteed
Is perpetual change, perpetual change
Each day we rise is a gift of, unspeakable cost
The only thing guaranteed, is that all’s not lost
People come, drift away
The love they bring is everything
Everything, everything
Don’t you know, don’t you know
There lives a fire in the sky
Fire lives, fire breathes
Resides in these green eyes
Don’t hold back, ride your wave
‘Cause the only thing guaranteed
Is perpetual change, perpetual change
Perpetual change, beautiful strange
Ain’t no denying, feel it inside
From Cadillac Maine, cross windswept pains
Blue Western skies, ver Rocky Mountain high
You are the answer to the question, deep in my mind
The only thing guaranteed, is change has arrived
Music comes, drifts away
The love we bring is everything
Everything, everything
About the Recording Process:
if the music from “Perpetual Change” feels like it was written lifetimes ago, that’s because it was. Just about the same time I wrote “Everything“, earlier this year, both songs taken from re-discovered old material. They came from a bunch of instrumental songs I wrote for two projects I called “Spirit Animal Tattoo“ and “Roots Back East”. I arranged them into two separate albums sorted by feel and instrumentation. In hindsight, I was procrastinating writing lyrics during that entire pre-lockdown period. I may very well be the worst lyric procrastinator of all time, but that’s how I write. The music always comes first, the lyrics sometimes are written with a cup of coffee, more often with a spliff, some wine, bourbon, or beer. Lyrics are the fun part I get to do when the musical accompaniment has been completed. Word play.
Speaking of change, I was a completely different person back then. This is all right, it’s part of the process. Nothing is static, and this song is called “Perpetual Change”. We evolve regularly, if we don’t continue to grow, it can be a bad thing. Eventually I put a collection of instrumental recordings together and called the project “Black Sheep“, at least then I spent a half year right before the pandemic recording bass. Marco Savoia, a local standout and good friend was good enough to lend me a hand as a hired studio gunslinger. Him and Dave Ondrick (Saxophonists featured on my first album) taught me the joys of recording amazing session musicians.
It really is one of the funnest things to do in the world as a songwriter. I just sit back in my engineering chair and try to control myself (and make sure I don’t make any noise) because I’m such a fanboy. With Marco, I remember just doing a few takes one where he was conservative setting up an in the pocket groove, the other was full on Jaco. What a treat to watch. During the process, I learned how to mic an upright double bass. I’d put my Townsend Sphere (which was purchased by Universal Audio) on the neck and blend it with the signal from the DI bridge pickup he had on his bass.
Marco is featured on bass on this song, Mike Pritchard is on a Nord Stage 4 set to the “Tiny Transistor“ electric keyboard. I play the guitar parts and the Mellotron. A few days after we tracked the keyboards here in the studio, we performed the song live to a local audience. That is one of the reasons I decided to release the live version of the song with the single today. It felt good, and audiences dug it. More about that in the live recording.
About the Song:
The premise of “Perpetual Change“ is simple, life is short, don’t waste it. There is so much that is out of our control, we need to focus only on the things that we can control, while having absolute and utter faith in ourselves and our actions. Our loved ones in time will pass on, so love them with all you have while there still here on earth. If they’ve already passed, never stop thinking about them, telling their stories and appreciating what they sacrificed so that you’d live.
Ancestry is powerful, genetics tie us to the natural world. Our ancestors taught us consciously and gave us instinctual gifts in our DNA, those are the tools we need to be successful in life. The world is ever changing and evolving, you can put money on it. Never rest on your laurels, always seek to continuously improve yourself until you die. That all that matters.
It’s fitting that I put footage from dropping off my son at school in the music video for the song. My own life is changing faster than I care it to, my hair is white, my face at 55 far older looking than I feel inside. I’m glad to be at this point in life. writing and performing music with friends and family. My biggest drive, is to record the brilliant musicians I play with regularly while I still can.
Each day we rise is a gift of, unspeakable cost
The only thing guaranteed, is that all’s not lost
People come, drift away
The love they bring is everything
Everything, everything
Related stories tied to the November 8, “Perpetual Change” release:
Perpetual Change: Official Music Video
Perpetual Change: Studio Notes
Live Performance of Perpetual Change, First Time We Played It at the Camp Store
About the Ram
Mark "The Ram" O'Donnell is an independent American composer, producer, filmmaker, multi-instrumental performer, designer, and visual artist based out of Carlsbad, California. He performs original, surf-inspired rock-and-roll music on the West Coast.
For more information about the Ram and his music, go to www.TheRamMusic.com
Song Metadata
Perpetual Change
The Ram
UPC: 198888527709
IRSC: QZTBF2469259
Release date: November 8, 2024
ASCAP Work ID: 926718445
ASCAP Singer Songwriter IPI Number: 375350750
ASCAP Publisher IPI Number: 375351159
More Information
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