I'm Just Letting You Know

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"The more I think about it there ain't that much that I ain't"

gnosis a priori...

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Running round this crazy life swirling at my feet

Spins me into a dance with everyone I meet
I'm just letting you know, I'm just letting you know

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If you don't know you'll soon find out this is how I live

I'll never ask permission as long as you forgive
I'm just letting you know, I'm just letting you know

I'm a man, I'm a child - heartbeat running wild

I'm just letting you know

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If you're loving mother earth, give her a kiss for me

I'll be flying for the day – maybe two or three
I'm just letting you know, I'm just letting you know

I just need a little space so my heart can be free
And I'll make room for you inside, and that's alright with me

I'm just letting you know, I'm just letting you know

I'm a child, I'm a man, and I'm doing the best I can
I'm just letting you know

"I'm Just Letting You Know" was performed by Rick Thorne and Relatively Few Friends

Next

Song...

Along for the Ride

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Lyric Video will go here

Rick Thorne: all stringed and percussive noises and

continuing vocal abuse

Kiwi: barking and aggreessive cuteness

Creative advisor: Nicole Lamm

Songwriter's Notes:

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Introductions are difficult sometimes. When they are difficult, they often don't need to be. And sometimes, presumption gets the better of us and we misinterpret the moment. In those cases, they're sometimes easier than they should be and people need to be re-introduced. Sometimes, you know someone for years and they've always been wrong about you. Straightening those misconceptions are the most challenging realignments of all.

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After a particularly unsettling hard reset with someone in the not-terribly-distant past (a needless moment, as many of these are), I started thinking about how to make the introduction process seamless, memorable, and (most of all...) definite. Maybe a business card that describes my attributes? Maybe I could recite a preamble to every introduction that describes me fully? Testimonials? Hand everyone I meet a resume? Finally, I turned to the resource I use personally to express myself most effectively on a broadcast level: songwriting.

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In that moment, intellectual sperm met the artistic egg, and "I'm Just Letting You Know" was conceived. For me, it was the perfect vehicle; I can lay it all out and sing it to people! And once that's accomplished, no one can ever say again "I don't know you"! And ... and with the right touch, this could become my "hello world" song. But as I started writing the lyrics and music, a few things dawned on me. First, it's a harder project than it sounds. I needed it to be concise. I wanted a song, not a Milton epic, and I realized quickly it could go on for pages. Next, I realized how self-indulgent it could become, and how that would make the song counter-productive. Then there was the personal concerns; if it's too personal and introspective, it becomes more of a confessional than I really wanted. I'll save that for the third album. Not now.

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These conundrums really bogged down the development process. I was still inspired to write the song, but where to start, and what direction?

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I decided to keep the song light; let it the song be fun and funny and even silly in some parts. In truth, for all my political junkyism and occasional scientific intellectual snobbery, I'm a very silly person at heart. That's a better place to start a relationship from. And why worry about angstrom-level precision and excessive depth at this time? As soon as I took that turn, I poured out the lyrics and music. It went from being a chore to a party. I realized if I could make the song glide, people getting to know me might be inclined to glide with me.

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The bottom line: "Hi, I'm Rick, and I'm a pretty damned silly person but I take friendship seriously. Stick around - you might like me better the more you know me".

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Production & Musician's Notes

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"Glide" is what "I'm Just Letting You Know" is all about. As I've made the conscious decision to be a happy person, I made the conscious decision to make this a happy song. And not just a happy song, but one that dances with giddy authority. And while it has poise, it's always ready to break into laughter.

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Since "I'm Just Letting You Know" is lyrically an emotionally gliding, weightless song, I wanted the production to keep the melody moving. Over a full-chord strummed acoustic guitar and the bright, kinetic chord progression, the melody's invites you along for the dance. As electric guitars start joining the party, they add to the terrace dynamics and build the intensity of the song without adding baggage to it. Their gravity doesn't change the melody floating playfully above them; in fact, that's kind of the point. While the rhythm tracks add new structure, especially in the bridges and last verse, those additional instruments aren't allowed to change the fun of the song. The melody happily invites them to the party, but it completely controls the action, keeping things moving forward by gliding over the top of them.

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The two bridges change the theme and power of the song without changing tempo or detracting from the song's humor. They're musically a little darker; more minor chords across two implied key changes. All that is completely deliberate, of course. At their ends, the bridge melodies soar back to the key of G major, and we return to the familiar G-C progression in both the guitar solo and the last verse.

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The acoustic guitar part is simple: play as many full six string chords as possible, and as hard as I can, for the duration of the song - from the first notes of the song until the last three measures. It's a pretty and satisfying sound, and my beautiful Takamine 1998 limited can really take a pounding, but make no mistake about it: I'm abusing that magnificent instrument and making it earn its keep in this one. A lesser instrument would be busted strings and toothpicks by the end of the song.

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The electric guitars come in two flavors: there's a trebly, clean, classic crunchy R&B style rhythm guitar near the center of the pan that comes in with the second verse. That track gives the rhythm section more spread while providing a some complementary precision and civilized gentlemanliness to the pre-Holocene atavism of the acoustic. The first bridge introduces the rock effects, with a deliciously distorted Stratocaster playing arpeggios over the bridge chords then funky power rhythm chords over the verses. The song starts with a classic singer-songwriter balladeer trio sound and achieves full-on wall of sound status by the last verse.

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As a musician, the hardest part for me was playing the bass part. I’m a decent bass player, but it's always been "the other" rhythm axe for me. I love growling, thudding bass like you wouldn’t believe, but I discovered after a while there’s no room for that in “I’m Just Letting You Know”. Just like every other part in the song, the bass part needs to glide. I’m very happy with my bass playing in this song, but it was many takes before it was right. I’m sure one could say it was a character building exercise, but honestly I’m just happy to have the damned song finished.

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On background voices: as you will see from other songs on this album, I love thick background voices, sometimes for much of a song. I'm spare with the background voices here for an important reason: this is a guitar song if there ever was a guitar song, and when I need embellishments in this song, I'd rather turn to the guitar for them.

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I get a lot of comments on the last three measures. Is it anti-climactic for me to turn the volume down for a soft landing, and is it a threadbare cop-out for me to end the song on the IV chord? I'll just say this: hang around and listen to more songs before you judge me. This song, after all, just an introduction.

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I'll cook a gourmet dinner

Then take you out for cheesesteak
And let you pay the bill when it arrives

You'll think that I'm a winner
Though I'm no hunk of beefcake
I'm living in one life a hundred lives

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I'll wear you down with madness
Then ask you for inspiration
Then demand some privacy to work

the whole thing out

Goodness, sadness, badness
Directed but no destination
I'm too many people without a doubt

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I play cards but gambling fools

Really give me the creeps

And I always play for money but

I never play for keeps

I'm just letting you know, I'm just letting you know

I'm a wise man and a senseless fool, a sinner and a saint

The more I think about it there ain't that much that I ain't

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I'm just letting you know
I'm just letting you know

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I might be everything thing you need

Or nothing at all indeed
I'm just letting you know

Maybe you should stay, or turn and walk away

I'm just letting you know

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Acoustic Video will go here

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All creative content created, developed, produced, and

futzed with obsessively by Rick Thorne