The Miles
FROM DEMO TO RELEASE
Hear what modern tools can make of original work: the demo as it was written and recorded, next to the finished track.
The original
The release
THE STORY
The Miles
This one has a longer history than most, and it isn't entirely mine. Erik and Bert from ZwaarFris, two friends I've been making music with for longer than I'd like to count, are a bass and drums duo. Just the two of them, nothing else. Many years ago they recorded a track called Rush II, and somewhere in the middle of it was a theme so good it stuck with me for years. I kept coming back to it, humming it, wondering what it would become with words on it.
So eventually I built a song around it. Verses, a bridge, lyrics, the whole structure, with that theme sitting right where it belongs: in the chorus, note for note. On paper it worked. In practice there was one problem. The melody spans a range that my voice simply doesn't have, and the demo proved it every time I played it back. A beautiful chorus sung by the wrong singer.
So it waited, until modern production tools could deliver what I couldn't. The vocals now do the theme justice. Erik and Bert, thank you for the chorus. Technology, thank you for the rest.
THE WORDS
VERSE 1
Alarm at quarter to five Another gray sunrise Bag by the door Paper coffee cup Check out by six Never caught up Amsterdam, London, Rome None of them are home
PRE-CHORUS 1
Just one more flight, just one more deal But the runway stretches on
CHORUS
Miles between me and everything I know City lights bleeding into vertigo Living out of gates and terminals I'm moving so fast I'm standing still Miles between
VERSE 2
Frankfurt fog, delayed Glass reflection fades Some suit on the phone Sounds like me, years ago I used to know the streets Now just departure queues A world map in my head But I can't find my bed
PRE-CHORUS 2
Just one more run, just one more town But the next one's on the board
CHORUS
Miles between me and everything I know City lights bleeding into vertigo Living out of gates and terminals I'm moving so fast I'm standing still Miles between
BRIDGE
Maybe I built this road brick by brick, flight by flight Maybe the speed was never the work Maybe I was scared of the quiet Another skyline burns gold through the cabin glass And for a second, just a second I forget where I'm going
PRE-CHORUS 3
What if I stayed? What if I let it go? What if the life I'm chasing is the one I left below?
CHORUS
Miles between me and everything I know City lights bleeding into vertigo Living out of gates and terminals I'm moving so fast I'm standing still Miles between me and the life I held Somewhere below the clouds I left something I can't get back Miles between
OUTRO
Miles between... miles between... Keep running, keep running... Miles between...