This track, which dates back to late 2015, combines the styles of two of my favourite musicians: James Taylor and Mark Knopfler. The two of them collaborated for real in the neglected masterpiece “Sailing to Philadelphia” and echoes of that track can be heard in “I Wish I Was” – most noticeably the jazz brush drums (a vintage 1930s kit recorded in Abbey Road studios) and the guitar solo.
The song owes its existence to the way James Taylor plays his D and A guitar chords. He fingers them in a non-standard back-to-front fashion which means his first finger can hop down to the bass strings resulting in finger style patterns which can’t be played if the chords are fingered conventionally. I experimented playing the chords the way James does and a phrase came in to my head: “I wish I was a sailboat racer”. I had no idea what it meant (I still don’t, to be honest!) but it quickly grew into a verse along the lines of the folk song “I will give my love a cherry”. The notion of land, sea and air appealed to me as it had a timeless folksy feel to it, as the singer searches the vast emptinesses of land, sea and air for his love. At first the third verse began “I wish I was an airline pilot” but Cavan felt, quite rightly, that this neologism broke the spell of the other two verses so I changed it to “airplane” pilot”. Once I had that structure in place, the chorus “Over land, sea or air” almost wrote itself.
I’ve always loved the way Mark Knopfler uses space in his music. Someone once said that the last thing a musician learns is when NOT to play, but Mr K must have been born with that instinct! Just listen to “Private Investigations” to see what I mean. I’ve tried to capture that sense of space in the solo of “I Wish I Was” which fits nicely with the open spaces of prairie, deep blue skies and ocean in the lyrics. The echoing of each phrase by an acoustic guitar (in the opposite stereo channel) is not a Dire Straits device, however. I shamelessly pinched it from Paul McCartney (What would I do without his limitless treasure store of musical ideas?!) The solo of his “Some Days” features a similar idea.
The long outro again pays homage to Dire Straits and especially in the loud snare hit which occurs every four bars or so. This was influenced by a similar idea in the closing section of “Calling Elvis” where the late Jeff Porcaro beats the hell out of his snare in the same fashion. The drum pattern throughout the song is intended to mimic a steam train in full flight. I remember seeing Genesis at Knebworth Park in the early nineties and during their performance of “Driving the Last Spike”, a tribute to the railway navvies of the nineteenth century, the huge video screens showed a close-up shot of a steam train’s wheels travelling at speed, an image which Phil Collins’ drum patterns perfectly counterpointed. I must have kept that in the back of my mind for the last twenty-odd years – you never know when an idea like that will prove useful!
This track is the oldest on the CD and is the earliest recording that I am proud to call mine.
Instrumentation: All instruments played or programmed by Brian Parks:
Line 6 Variax electric guitar (simulating acoustic 6-string Martin and Fender Stratocaster guitars), programmed 1928 Steinway grand piano, programmed fretless bass guitar, programmed vintage 1930s drumkit recorded at Abbey Road, lead vocals, backing and harmony vocals.
Lyrics
I wish I was a sailboat racer, skimming swiftly over the sea
I’d search the oceans for my true love and bring her safely home with me
I wish I was a railroad engineer, whistle blowing over the plain
I’d search the prairies for my true love and fetch her back to me again
I wish I was an airplane pilot, soaring through the deep blue sky
I’d search the heavens for my one true love and bring her back to be by my side
Over land, sea or air I would find her anywhere
Though she tries her best to hide from me, I know she has every right to be
What she wants, what she needs, all her words and all her deeds
Tell me she should be beside me now. It just seems to be so right somehow
I wish I was a deep-sea diver swimming down to the ocean floor
I’d fish for pearls to give to my true love to bring her back to me once more
Over land, sea or air I would find her anywhere
Though she tries her best to hide from me, I know she has every right to be
What she wants, what she needs, all her words and all her deeds
Tell me she should be beside me now. It just seems to be so right somehow
And it really makes me wonder how she could force herself to disallow
Every feeling that I feel right now ‘Cos it seems to be so right somehow