I Only Want You

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

I wrote this in 1990 right after I met my wife...boy, did I ever mean it. (I proposed within a couple weeks, we eloped a few months later. ) I recorded a very hissy 4-track cassette version back then, so this is a new recording for the 21st century.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7415502

I Only Want You

I don't want no money
I don't want no show
I don't want no conversation with anyone I know

I only want you
I only want you
The time I spent without you was a waste of time
I only want you

I don't want no alcohol
I don't want a smoke
I don't want no fair companion telling me a joke

I only want you
I only want you
The time I spent without you was a waste of time
I only want you

Please don't fly away
Don't you fly away
You know I only want you

Please don't fly away
Don't you fly away
You know I only want you

People show me shiny treasures
People show me the door
People show me everything that I don't wanna see no more

I only want you
I only want you
The time I spent without you, it was a wasted time
I only want you
I only want you
Copyright 1990 by Mark Kaufman

[walker]

Cool hard-drivin' love ballad there, Mark! You should post the original 4-track version here. It would be interesting to A-B it with this new version.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Okay...

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=5953854

But I told you, it's a hissy fit...

[ram]

yeah the newer version sounds better but there is something kind raw I like about the older version... can't put my finger on it but there is something there.

[walker]

Very interesting comparison! Quite the contrast in production quality and performance. I think I sense what Tom is speaking of. The original has an much greater emotional intensity than the new version, which is most noticeable in the vocals. I may be speaking out of my hat here, Mark, so please set me straight if I'm off base, but it sounds like the original was sang for the girl, while the new version was sang for the song. After hearing the original, I'm also wanting to hear the guitars a little louder & beefier in the new version.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Agreed absolutely with both of you.

I'm not that man anymore, and I'm trying to recapture the intensity of feeling. I was in a whole different place back then, one foot was very close to the grave. I had just gone through some years of hard knocks and was at a crossroads, and meeting her, I knew, was my "one shot" we often hear about. In my case, it was my one shot to become basically happy and healthy, and I knew it. I would be a much harder, darker person today had that not happened...might not have made it to today at all.

So yeah, I'm trying to recapture the edge, but it's not as sharp as that quick, throwaway couple hours of recording. This is why certain recording artists like Dylan, Beck, Lennon, Prince moved lightning quick to get the recordings down while they were fresh. Prince is notorious for late night calls to his staff, be here in an hour or else. There are lots of stories about Dylan doing a take or two, and that's it, hope you got it, ain't doing it again. Lennon was downright angrily impatient, come on the RED LIGHT IS ON! And engineers have written about the stress of getting things set up fast enough before Beck just starts playing, ready or not here we go. For any of those guys to go back and do it over, I'm sure they'd just approach it in an entirely different way.

So I feel kinda the same, trying to catch an old breeze. One thing I definitely want to do is find the right drum rhythm...it ain't happening here yet. And I DON'T want to revisit the fumbling old solo.

Thanks guys! Nice to hear your thoughts and be able to share this stuff. -Mark

[walker]

Lots of great discourse here, Mark. Thanks for sharing.

[beatlefreak]

Rock on, Mark!

[pinball63]

I like the vocal on the older version, nice emotion and very british!