mexico

i've always been kind of a revisionist. i guess it goes back to taking creative writing workshops at purchase.

i stumbled across this mp3 in my itunes the other day:

mexico (demo #1)

i remember when i first wrote the song, it was one of those moments that you live for as an artist, where the song just kind of comes to you out of the ether, like a gift or something. i was so excited to play this demo for my wife liz, who i was basically talking to directly with the lyrics. i thought i'd written this amazing song, like it was this big artistic breakthrough or something, but her reaction was more like, "Yeah it's okay....it's a little boring." I was, of course, a bit let down. I went back to the drawing board and made this demo the next day:

mexico (demo no. 2)

then we got the band into the studio and we did the version that ended up on the album:

mexico (from the great big sea LP)

listening back, i'm glad i took liz's advice. the original demo is a little boring, but i do like it because it reminds me of that feeling of writing the song. it's like a souvenir. speaking of souvenirs, liz took this picture down in mexico, when we were there on our honeymoon.