why has danny lanois been invited to speak here in austin at the convention?
they must think he knows something
the french canadian kid who put a recording studio in the basement of his mother's house, with his brother bob,
and proceeded to make hundreds of albums --- he must know something
about feel --- time --- crackles and buzzes --- magnetic field
he must know how to tune a piano --- how to tune a drum kit
he must know that the 24" zildjian is different than the paiste
he must know that you have to go next door and pay off the neighbour
to get him to stop cutting the grass so you can finish your vocal overdub
he must know that you gotta say something when it all seems wrong
he must know when someone tells you you can't do something
you prove them wrong
that you smile and you find out how to get into the back door
he must know that you help people --- give guidance
and without any expectation you give it your all
and then one day someone calls you a record producer --- invitation comes
it's like baking --- you mix invitation with preparation and like magic you get a big fat cherry pie
somebody eats the cherry pie and they ask for more
and you can honestly look at them in the eye and say
there's plenty more where that came from
Danny lanois knows that the cherry pie was there to celebrate years of soul mining
going down deep --- looking for that moment that might make a difference
eyes practically shut from coal mining dust
looking for that original fragment that will give a piece of music a chance to be recognized as unique
that feeling you get when you are walking on the street and you hear a song
and you can say --- yeah that's the one --- that one that's different from all the others
the people who made that record found something fresh and unique
some kind of way of looking at the world and letting everybody else in on it
and then Danny lanois goes down a little deeper
more dust in the eyes --- looking for another glimmer
he goes down and hears the sound of a drum beating the senses across the back with a stick
somebody is pounding the vacant industrial neighbourhood of dublin
oblivious of the easy, breezy contamination of radio
their hearts resonating with belief --- that they can make a difference with caring
little Danny lanois is there hanging on to old values --- wearing the hands of a brick layer
getting up early --- chasing away crackles and hums
wondering why the computer fan is so damn noisy --- in the control room where we will be singing on the day
wondering why the stupidity of the inline console has managed to become the standard of the industry
he challenges the elitism of the control room.
why not make the ergonomics of the recording studio such that they be public to the members of the band
are we not here to have a common language --- to facilitate ease of operation?
i want the guitar player to be the engineer if he wants
for the arrangement of the song to be open for discussion
no hidden information --- no shared functions
i don't want my steering wheel to be my brake pedal
then Danny lanois goes digging deeper in the soul mine --- and there it is --- the mother lode
sitting in the corner of the room wearing glasses
that seemingly silent voice --- that suddenly becomes the musical identity of the song
that sonic signature that will allow all of us to recognize that song from across the street
he harnesses it --- stops the press --- puts the kid wearing the glasses up on the pedestal and says ---
you are great and this is your song --- this is your moment of originality
i'm going to do everything in my power to let the world hear it
but it is only the beginning --- the idea is rough and is going to need labour, love and building
we shake off the coal dust and imagine that there are other people in the world that want to feel the way we feel right now
we have synchronicity in our favour --- we believe we see the future
and at a time when everything seems to sound the same --- a voice of a generation is born
the channeling is open wide --- the future is bright and clear
the baby face killer mixing with the burning spear
chris blackwell with little bob marley --- coming in to display their wares of soul mining
new orleans radio reached the shores of jamaica and osmosis once again shook the genes of invention
in the absence of regulation --- in the hands of disc jockeys --- our spirits were lifted
further down the mine shaft i bump into jimmy iovine --- i said jimmy you're looking good ---
he says i'll tell you why I'm looking good --- i eat dinner with my kids, we don't spend our lives in restaurants around here --- we spend our lives making records
johnny cash walked in and said what's all the fuss
can't you keep it close to the bone --- and he lashed into the tennessee stud
i promised myself to be re-incarnated as the man in black
where crickets are chirping --- the water is high
there's a soft cotton dress --- on the line hangin' dry
windows wide open --- african trees
bent over backwards --- from a hurricane breeze
not a word of goodbye --- not even a note
she's gone with the man in the long black coat
further down the shaft leonard cohen is working with dre
some kind of thing just another way to say
the word is still the final frontier
the word belongs to anybody
don't need cash to tell your story --- don't need cash to worry
don't need cash to know the feeling
of four kids being raised on a hairdressers salary --- me one of them
so i went further down the shaft without the comfort of college
without the reassurance of any business community.
just the will and the presence of my brother bob.
we brainstormed and said --- what if --- what if --- what if
until we were there looking at brian eno --- who said master your simple tools and make your music
low baggage --- high mileage --- passion before commerce --- intelligence before waste
the four track, acting as a door stop, talks back
jeff emerick doesn't know how he did it
he used 8 tracks, we need 108
emmylou harris and porter wagoner walk in and ask me --- why did soul train sound better than the david letterman show?
i tell them that the race to the extension of the high frequency part of the spectrum is choking the shadows of the bass
if you light your picture too bright you will lose your shadows
Danny lanois went deeper down the shaft to where there was silence and his ears were pure
so pure there was no music --- you couldn't hear anything
it was a luxury of deafness --- a kind of cotton wool
and in that lower level --- that cave --- he saw 10 strings and a piece of green maple
he picked it up and he prayed that something would lift him up out of the claws of debris ---
the plastic faces pretending to be speaking melted
hidden agenda lifestyle protection hypocrisy faded
people spoke the truth and told it like it is
the voice of aaron neville made a mockery of injustice
little jimi hendrix --- james brown and willie nelson
had a hit called humanitarian efforts
and so i pick up the piece of green maple with 10 strings
and i practice and put my heart and soul into every note
my passion becomes the same as the one i felt at 9 years old
i invite everyone here this morning to ignite --- re-ignite --- or just plain old turn up the flame in what you believe in and get to the top of the mountain that you see
invention is in your brain --- and that never ending commodity is in the bottom of your heart ---
it's called passion
Danny lanois is going down one more time with coal dust in his eyes
going down --- soul mining