Memories, mid-tempos, and Friday nights: Reminiscing (Little River Band)
Listen to the song
- YouTube - https://youtu.be/hyRbhTUc6aI
- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/track/6qXFNKuKBD6DQljVKrLzsl?si=ebf0e898f6f84eb0
- Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/song/reminiscing/1645806384
- Amazon - https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0BFPKLH4B?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_c3v27s32uwmhUmya7imRWCUSg&trackAsin=B0BFPWJ2Z5
Other links
- Recordando (Reminiscing, Spanish language version): youtube.com/watch?v=xdU3wgKL1Gw&feature=youtu.be
- The Holderness Family - https://theholdernessfamily.com/
Key takeaways
- Trist and Elaine explore the musical elements of the 1978 hit “Reminiscing,” but Little River Band, highlighting its lush strings, flugelhorn solo, and use of 7-9 chords, which evoke a classic 70s sound. They also discuss its unique tempo and blend of ballad and danceable qualities
- Elaine and Trist also delve into the song's lyrics, emphasizing its nostalgic theme and the clever use of tense shifts that reflect the narrator's desire to create lasting memories for future reflection
- In the Mailbag segment, Trist and Elaine discuss how the accessibility of music production and distribution platforms has reduced barriers to entry, allowing musicians of all ages to share their art and build followings, regardless of traditional industry biases
About us
Trist Curless is a Los Angeles-based vocalist, educator, and sound engineer. As a performer, Trist has toured worldwide as a co-founder of the pop-jazz vocal group m-pact and a 10 year member of the Grammy-award winning The Manhattan Transfer. In addition to these two vocal powerhouse groups, he’s also performed with Take 6, Bobby McFerrin, New York Voices, Vox Audio, Naturally 7, and The Swingle Singers. His latest venture, The LHR Project, is a new vocal group collective celebrating legendary jazz vocal group Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross.
As an audio engineer, Trist has toured nationally with several vocal groups and bands in a large variety of venues, working for Grammy award winners Pentatonix and Take 6, as well as prominent a cappella vocal groups Straight No Chaser, VoicePlay, and Accent.
Elaine Chao, M.Ed is a San Francisco Bay Area-based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, vocal percussionist, and songwriter whose career spans a cappella, contemporary worship, and classical music. She has leveraged her training in classical and choral music over the course of her contemporary performance, including in orchestras for musical theatre and in sacred spaces. In addition to music, she also is a martial artist and published author. She currently leads a product management team at a major software company dedicated to creative expression. All statements in this podcast are her own and do not reflect the opinions of her employer.
Transcript
Elaine: Hey, Trist, what do we have this week?
Speaker:Trist: This week we have something a little different.
Speaker:Trist: We've got something when it was released, it got up to number
Speaker:Trist: three on the US pop charts,
Speaker:Elaine: Oh.
Speaker:Trist: a band from Australia,
Speaker:Elaine: Okay.
Speaker:Trist: and a song that, was reportedly a favorite of both Frank Sinatra
Speaker:Trist: and John Lennon.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay. Interesting intersection there.
Speaker:Trist: And the song mentions Glenn Miller and Cole Porter.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay!
Speaker:Elaine: This is going to be a really interesting intersection, I see.
Speaker:Trist: That's a pretty broad one, isn't it?
Speaker:Trist: That's
Speaker:Elaine: It
Speaker:Trist: the,
Speaker:Elaine: is.
Speaker:Trist: uh, the tune by, Little River Band called "Reminiscing."
Speaker:Elaine: Oh, interesting.
Speaker:Elaine: Uh, it sounds like it's
Speaker:Elaine: something that I should be
Speaker:Elaine: familiar with.
Speaker:Trist: Probably.
Speaker:Trist: I know we have this conversation all the time of.
Speaker:Trist: I think it's obvious.
Speaker:Trist: These are songs that everybody knows.
Speaker:Trist: And then Elaine doesn't know it.
Speaker:Trist: And that's actually why this podcast is so much fun, because
Speaker:Trist: I take for granted that, I think everyone knows the song.
Speaker:Trist: And then Elaine very often does not, but
Speaker:Elaine: Okay,
Speaker:Trist: that's great.
Speaker:Trist: We love that.
Speaker:Elaine: we are going to see.
Speaker:Elaine: But before we break for a moment, can you remind our
Speaker:Elaine: listeners how we should be listening to music as a part of
Speaker:Elaine: the Musician's Loupe community?
Speaker:Trist: Well, number one, we are glad you're listening at all.
Speaker:Trist: No matter how, no matter where,
Speaker:Trist: we're just glad to have you with
Speaker:Trist: us.
Speaker:Trist: That said, if you can take just
Speaker:Trist: a moment and elevate your
Speaker:Trist: listening, whether it's going to
Speaker:Trist: the quiet room, going to the
Speaker:Trist: room with the better speakers,
Speaker:Trist: find the headphones that are
Speaker:Trist: nicer.
Speaker:Trist: They're probably your kids'
Speaker:Trist: because they're almost always
Speaker:Trist: nicer, right?
Speaker:Trist: If you can improve your
Speaker:Trist: listening situation at all, give
Speaker:Trist: yourself a treat and do that
Speaker:Trist: even if you can't, thanks for
Speaker:Trist: being with us and give the tune
Speaker:Trist: a listen.
Speaker:Elaine: All right.
Speaker:Elaine: So we are going to go ahead and leave the links to the song in
Speaker:Elaine: the show notes.
Speaker:Elaine: And we'll be right back.
Speaker:Elaine: For once, I actually knew this song.
Speaker:Trist: Yay!
Speaker:Elaine: It was
Speaker:Trist: Hey,
Speaker:Elaine: so
Speaker:Trist: everybody.
Speaker:Elaine: familiar.
Speaker:Trist: Elaine.
Speaker:Trist: New this one.
Speaker:Elaine: I know it was so familiar.
Speaker:Elaine: And I feel like it is because
Speaker:Elaine: we've heard the song not only on
Speaker:Elaine: the radio, but also in a lot of
Speaker:Elaine: pop culture.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: I don't know whether I've seen it in, I don't know, movies.
Speaker:Elaine: Any,
Speaker:Trist: Yep.
Speaker:Elaine: any
Speaker:Trist: There's,
Speaker:Elaine: other type, like
Speaker:Trist: there's
Speaker:Elaine: maybe
Speaker:Trist: a lot of pop culture references over the
Speaker:Elaine: Right!
Speaker:Trist: years, lots of times that it makes its
Speaker:Elaine: television
Speaker:Trist: way.
Speaker:Trist: And especially
Speaker:Elaine: shows.
Speaker:Trist: from the, especially from the time period, just as a song
Speaker:Trist: suggests, people reminiscing about this song from the 70s.
Speaker:Elaine: So let me dig into this because
Speaker:Elaine: it sounded very classic 70s to
Speaker:Elaine: me.
Speaker:Trist: Mmhm.
Speaker:Elaine: And just taking a look at this.
Speaker:Elaine: when was it actually released?
Speaker:Trist: This one was released in 1978.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay. Yeah. So like mid, to late 70s.
Speaker:Elaine: and what I heard was lush
Speaker:Elaine: strings, horns, very simple rock
Speaker:Elaine: drums, but also a lot of what I
Speaker:Elaine: would consider non-electric
Speaker:Elaine: instruments, right?
Speaker:Elaine: We're talking about hand drums.
Speaker:Elaine: And there was something about
Speaker:Elaine: the way that the lead singer was
Speaker:Elaine: mixed that just seemed a little
Speaker:Elaine: bit more, oh, this is classic
Speaker:Elaine: 70s.
Speaker:Elaine: Maybe it was a little thinner, right?
Speaker:Elaine: It wasn't like the fuller, more
Speaker:Elaine: intimate mix that we've heard in
Speaker:Elaine: other eras.
Speaker:Elaine: there were a ton of 7-9 chords in there.
Speaker:Elaine: And that just was very classic 70s to me.
Speaker:Elaine: I love playing major sevens and ninths all over the place.
Speaker:Elaine: And I'd say that it's probably the 70s influence on my music.
Speaker:Elaine: But yeah, I felt like there was a lot of it that was like very
Speaker:Elaine: classic 70s to me.
Speaker:Elaine: so I'm really interested in hearing why you decided to
Speaker:Elaine: choose this song this week.
Speaker:Trist: Well, like so many weeks.
Speaker:Trist: I'm just going about my day, and
Speaker:Trist: a song hits me that I've always
Speaker:Trist: loved.
Speaker:Trist: And, it's like have I ever really dissected this much or
Speaker:Trist: talked much about it?
Speaker:Trist: Oftentimes songs like this, I bring up and realize there's
Speaker:Trist: some lyrics I didn't know or I hadn't thought about the point
Speaker:Trist: of view or an instrument I didn't hear in it, so it's a
Speaker:Trist: song I've always really liked.
Speaker:Trist: I think a song like from this
Speaker:Trist: era, a lot of these songs kind
Speaker:Trist: of in my musical life from
Speaker:Trist: childhood to now have had
Speaker:Trist: different ups and downs where I,
Speaker:Trist: just wouldn't listen to a song
Speaker:Trist: like this because I was into
Speaker:Trist: this phase of whatever music in
Speaker:Trist: high school and then learned
Speaker:Trist: more about harmony and, liked
Speaker:Trist: the chords.
Speaker:Trist: And I feel like I always liked this song.
Speaker:Trist: I had never had a period of time where I turned my nose up or
Speaker:Trist: didn't think the song was cool.
Speaker:Trist: I always thought this song was cool.
Speaker:Trist: It's not like any other songs from this time to me.
Speaker:Elaine: It's interesting you say that
Speaker:Elaine: because I just identified a
Speaker:Elaine: number of things that to me
Speaker:Elaine: indicated that it was a 70s
Speaker:Elaine: song.
Speaker:Elaine: And on top of that, the Rhodes
Speaker:Elaine: sound, the very clean electric
Speaker:Elaine: bass.
Speaker:Elaine: and I would also say maybe an unhurried tempo.
Speaker:Elaine: So I think about the tempo.
Speaker:Elaine: It's like 94, 95 beats per minute.
Speaker:Elaine: It's very similar to "Staying Alive."
Speaker:Elaine: In terms of just this I don't
Speaker:Elaine: know if it's really the swagger
Speaker:Elaine: that I'm hearing, the very John
Speaker:Elaine: Travolta kind
Speaker:Trist: Right,
Speaker:Elaine: of, you
Speaker:Trist: right.
Speaker:Elaine: know.
Speaker:Trist: It's weird that you say that
Speaker:Trist: because I thought that
Speaker:Trist: interesting too, that it's kind
Speaker:Trist: of a ballad, but almost still
Speaker:Trist: danceable, which
Speaker:Elaine: Yeah.
Speaker:Trist: is just an odd.
Speaker:Trist: It's not a really a dance track, and it's not really just a
Speaker:Trist: ballad ballad either.
Speaker:Trist: And that goes with the content.
Speaker:Trist: It's not like a love song, and it's not a celebrate and get up
Speaker:Trist: and dance song.
Speaker:Trist: It's reminiscent.
Speaker:Trist: It's like somewhere in the middle, which again, a lot of
Speaker:Trist: times I think songs tend to commit one way or the other, and
Speaker:Trist: they don't live in this middle place that frequently, at least
Speaker:Trist: not and become big hits.
Speaker:Elaine: I just wonder, now that you've mentioned it, how many other
Speaker:Elaine: songs sit at about this tempo?
Speaker:Elaine: And I think you're right.
Speaker:Elaine: I think
Speaker:Trist: That
Speaker:Elaine: that
Speaker:Trist: were
Speaker:Elaine: it's
Speaker:Trist: big
Speaker:Elaine: either.
Speaker:Trist: hits, at least.
Speaker:Elaine: Exactly.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think that that's
Speaker:Elaine: something that is interesting to
Speaker:Elaine: think about.
Speaker:Elaine: Like, why is it that we shy away
Speaker:Elaine: from that in this kind of middle
Speaker:Elaine: ground?
Speaker:Trist: Yeah. Interesting.
Speaker:Trist: I read, you know, in preparing for this, of course, no secret.
Speaker:Trist: We look up little anecdotes, look at little things we can
Speaker:Trist: find online, stories about it.
Speaker:Trist: When they recorded this album, this particular song, they tried
Speaker:Trist: three different takes of it because they had different
Speaker:Trist: keyboard players and it didn't work and it didn't work.
Speaker:Trist: And then they finally got what
Speaker:Trist: they thought was right and
Speaker:Trist: thought it fit well on the
Speaker:Trist: album.
Speaker:Trist: But they were listening to the
Speaker:Trist: album themselves, and they
Speaker:Trist: couldn't really hear what a
Speaker:Trist: single would be and turned it
Speaker:Trist: into the record company in
Speaker:Trist: Australia, and they couldn't
Speaker:Trist: figure out what a single would
Speaker:Trist: be.
Speaker:Trist: Of course, back then that was the thing you did.
Speaker:Trist: It's like, okay, we love this
Speaker:Trist: whole album, but you want to
Speaker:Trist: have a lead single that really
Speaker:Trist: stands out, that's going to sell
Speaker:Trist: the album, and the label
Speaker:Trist: couldn't decide on what would be
Speaker:Trist: either.
Speaker:Trist: And then they sent it to America, and one of the A&R
Speaker:Trist: people in America heard it and said, "You guys are crazy.
Speaker:Trist: This 'Reminiscing' song, that's a hit, that's a single," and
Speaker:Trist: everyone there just kind of threw their hands up like, well,
Speaker:Trist: okay, at least someone had an idea that it would be.
Speaker:Trist: And so they went with it and there you go.
Speaker:Trist: They're not
Speaker:Elaine: Sure
Speaker:Trist: always right, but at least this time they were.
Speaker:Elaine: I do think about how the concept of taste and especially cultural
Speaker:Elaine: taste is really introduced.
Speaker:Elaine: I am really fascinated by that,
Speaker:Elaine: especially if some radio
Speaker:Elaine: executive is saying, no, this is
Speaker:Elaine: your single.
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: Let's go ahead and release this
Speaker:Elaine: as a single and let's see how it
Speaker:Elaine: does.
Speaker:Elaine: It definitely seems like both an art and a science.
Speaker:Trist: my total guess is that that
Speaker:Trist: person heard what I was just
Speaker:Trist: describing.
Speaker:Trist: Like it didn't sound like other stuff.
Speaker:Trist: Yet there's still catchy parts of it.
Speaker:Trist: It's got ear candy, interesting things to listen to.
Speaker:Trist: and it just stands out from being just different enough from
Speaker:Trist: everything else at the time that that's what that person heard.
Speaker:Trist: Thank goodness.
Speaker:Elaine: Yeah, there's definitely a lot in there.
Speaker:Elaine: And I'm just taking a look at the lyrics right now.
Speaker:Elaine: It is a very well constructed song.
Speaker:Elaine: There are a couple of things about this song that I do want
Speaker:Elaine: to point out.
Speaker:Elaine: And one of them has to do with the orientation around time.
Speaker:Elaine: And because this is a song about reminiscing, certainly time is a
Speaker:Elaine: really important thing.
Speaker:Elaine: You're thinking backwards maybe
Speaker:Elaine: into decades, but you're also
Speaker:Elaine: orienting and anchoring in one
Speaker:Elaine: specific date.
Speaker:Elaine: So it starts out with Friday
Speaker:Elaine: night in first verse and then
Speaker:Elaine: you have the third verse,
Speaker:Elaine: another reference to Friday
Speaker:Elaine: night and talking about what the
Speaker:Elaine: narrator was doing at that
Speaker:Elaine: particular time.
Speaker:Elaine: And as we go into these things, it's like moments that are
Speaker:Elaine: described in very lyrical ways.
Speaker:Elaine: We were hand in hand Glenn
Speaker:Elaine: Miller's band, there are little
Speaker:Elaine: flickers here and there from a
Speaker:Elaine: variety of different epochs or
Speaker:Elaine: eras of this couple's love
Speaker:Elaine: story.
Speaker:Elaine: And you were referring to Glenn Miller's band.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, Glenn Miller, well known for "In the Mood," and then Cole
Speaker:Elaine: Porter, who, probably overlapped a little bit.
Speaker:Elaine: But again, this is written in the seventies and both Glenn
Speaker:Elaine: Miller and Cole Porter were really, really well known at
Speaker:Elaine: least two decades before.
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: So I just find that absolutely fascinating to think about how
Speaker:Elaine: the lyrics painted in very crisp strokes, A picture that anchored
Speaker:Elaine: us in a particular era of time and just helped us to understand
Speaker:Elaine: what this person is referring to, these moments of memories
Speaker:Elaine: that really form and anchor a relationship over time.
Speaker:Trist: I think what I found
Speaker:Trist: fascinating, like I mentioned
Speaker:Trist: earlier, I find out things that
Speaker:Trist: I'd never had really realized
Speaker:Trist: before.
Speaker:Trist: I'd always picked out the fact
Speaker:Trist: that they mentioned Glenn
Speaker:Trist: Miller.
Speaker:Trist: Then there's like a little big
Speaker:Trist: band horn riff and then talk
Speaker:Trist: about the Cole Porter tune, and
Speaker:Trist: the background vocals sing Night
Speaker:Trist: and Day, which is one of his
Speaker:Trist: biggest songs.
Speaker:Trist: So those little references I caught and loved, but there's
Speaker:Trist: this weird, tense time shift that happens because Friday
Speaker:Trist: night it was late.
Speaker:Trist: You're describing like, this is the evening.
Speaker:Trist: It's present tense, but the chorus is like telling my future
Speaker:Trist: self not to mess this up now.
Speaker:Trist: So later on we can reminisce about now.
Speaker:Trist: And I never picked that up from all the millions of times I've
Speaker:Trist: listened to it.
Speaker:Trist: So the chorus "Hurry, don't be late.
Speaker:Trist: I can hardly wait.
Speaker:Trist: I said to myself, when we're old," like the tense shifts
Speaker:Trist: within a. I
Speaker:Elaine: Yeah.
Speaker:Trist: said to myself, when we're old is odd.
Speaker:Trist: "We'll go dancing in the dark,
Speaker:Trist: walking to the park and
Speaker:Trist: reminiscing."
Speaker:Trist: If I get this right now, if I do all these things now, Friday
Speaker:Trist: night when I'm walking home, I'm dreaming of tonight.
Speaker:Trist: I hope I don't mess this up.
Speaker:Trist: So in the future, we can reminisce about this now.
Speaker:Trist: And I never really picked up on that being the thing
Speaker:Elaine: Yeah.
Speaker:Trist: before.
Speaker:Elaine: And I see that pivot point happening in the third verse,
Speaker:Trist: Right.
Speaker:Elaine: starting with now as the years roll on so that
Speaker:Trist: Right.
Speaker:Elaine: anchors in today.
Speaker:Elaine: "Each time we hear our favorite song, the memories come along."
Speaker:Elaine: So it's really talking about
Speaker:Elaine: again, the sense of reminiscing,
Speaker:Elaine: right?
Speaker:Elaine: But really, this time that you've spent together and
Speaker:Elaine: thinking and reflecting on the times that you have spent
Speaker:Elaine: together and music being an anchor to memory, which I think
Speaker:Trist: Ooh,
Speaker:Elaine: both you
Speaker:Trist: yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: and I will say that we both have
Speaker:Elaine: very strong memories associated
Speaker:Elaine: with music.
Speaker:Trist: Of course.
Speaker:Trist: Just so cool.
Speaker:Trist: I'm glad we dug into this because again, that lyric, I
Speaker:Trist: just didn't really pay much attention to like that kind of
Speaker:Trist: future tense stuff.
Speaker:Trist: I was more focused on the musicky things.
Speaker:Trist: not to mention, a flugelhorn solo.
Speaker:Trist: It's not typical to have that
Speaker:Trist: anywhere, but just on the way
Speaker:Trist: out.
Speaker:Trist: And it's so good.
Speaker:Trist: It's so good.
Speaker:Trist: All the jazz happiness in this pop song.
Speaker:Trist: There was more room for that Back in the day, for sure.
Speaker:Elaine: It's interesting that you
Speaker:Elaine: mention the flugelhorn and some
Speaker:Elaine: of the other little elements
Speaker:Elaine: that you really appreciate about
Speaker:Elaine: the song.
Speaker:Elaine: One thing that I did notice about this was the mix was
Speaker:Elaine: surprisingly mid and low heavy for this particular era.
Speaker:Trist: Hm.
Speaker:Elaine: I don't know whether I just had a different expectation of a
Speaker:Elaine: radio ready mix or whatnot, but when I was listening to it, I
Speaker:Elaine: was really impressed by how much bass it had.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think maybe it's because I've just heard other things
Speaker:Elaine: from maybe the 60s where the bass wasn't mixed as high, but
Speaker:Trist: Mmhm.
Speaker:Elaine: for this one, there seemed to be a lot more of a foundation that
Speaker:Elaine: I heard in the song.
Speaker:Elaine: That is probably a lot more contemporary, and
Speaker:Trist: Hm.
Speaker:Elaine: it sounded pretty interesting to me.
Speaker:Elaine: Just to my untrained ear when it comes to that.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah, the mix is really great.
Speaker:Trist: Now in revisiting for this show, it's so well done.
Speaker:Trist: Again, especially back in the day.
Speaker:Trist: It's not Pro Tools, it's not
Speaker:Trist: fine tuning everything with your
Speaker:Trist: computer.
Speaker:Trist: it's recorded onto tape and mixed down to tape.
Speaker:Trist: And, real strings and horns and great background vocals.
Speaker:Trist: The mix of those chords on the choruses is just killer.
Speaker:Trist: Just so well done.
Speaker:Trist: A great headphone track for sure.
Speaker:Elaine: And there is a harp at the very beginning,
Speaker:Trist: Yes.
Speaker:Elaine: right?
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: And I was listening to that lush strings intro, which actually
Speaker:Elaine: sounded a lot more 1950s to me.
Speaker:Elaine: It sounded like a very classic 1950s ballad introduction.
Speaker:Elaine: And that glissando on the harp at the very beginning leading
Speaker:Elaine: into it that
Speaker:Trist: You know,
Speaker:Elaine: actually.
Speaker:Trist: many, sorry, many times, not only on the radio, there are
Speaker:Trist: different versions that don't have that little intro on it.
Speaker:Elaine: Hm!
Speaker:Trist: So the one that I shared with you for this episode has that.
Speaker:Trist: And even when I sent it to you, I was like, oh, right.
Speaker:Trist: I don't remember hearing this as often.
Speaker:Trist: It's like you go to streaming service after streaming service
Speaker:Trist: or, oh, this is the remastered one that they reissued.
Speaker:Trist: And then this is the one from the original album or this is
Speaker:Trist: from a collection.
Speaker:Trist: there are different versions I've heard out in the world that
Speaker:Trist: don't have that.
Speaker:Trist: it's like a little clip right at the beginning of it before the
Speaker:Trist: bum bum bum bum bum bum bum bum.
Speaker:Trist: For those of
Speaker:Elaine: Right.
Speaker:Trist: you familiar with the song who didn't stop and listen to it, I
Speaker:Trist: think most of us think of the song starting there,
Speaker:Elaine: Right.
Speaker:Trist: and I always think of that, but there's a little vignette.
Speaker:Trist: It's symbolic of this whole song
Speaker:Trist: is about taking you back to a
Speaker:Trist: time.
Speaker:Trist: so I dug that.
Speaker:Elaine: It was really interesting
Speaker:Elaine: because I wrote down when I
Speaker:Elaine: listened to it, it's a "That's
Speaker:Elaine: Amore" kind of, you know,
Speaker:Elaine: there's this very 1950s feel
Speaker:Elaine: about it.
Speaker:Elaine: And I guess I understand why you said that Frank Sinatra really
Speaker:Elaine: liked it, because it's a very Frank Sinatra kind of feel with
Speaker:Trist: Right.
Speaker:Elaine: this lush string solo.
Speaker:Elaine: But I think it introduced us to a sound that was a lot more flat
Speaker:Elaine: as compared to the lush strings.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think it really changes our perspective where we're
Speaker:Elaine: talking about the lushness.
Speaker:Elaine: Maybe it's like the lushness of
Speaker:Elaine: our memories, and now we're in
Speaker:Elaine: today in this kind of unhurried
Speaker:Elaine: tempo and we're spending time
Speaker:Elaine: reminiscing.
Speaker:Elaine: And that is a big part of it.
Speaker:Elaine: Yeah, it's just interesting to think about the language of
Speaker:Elaine: music from that perspective.
Speaker:Trist: Yep, that's a good one.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, any other things that you want to talk about?
Speaker:Trist: I think that's it.
Speaker:Trist: It's just so great.
Speaker:Trist: I will say for those out there, we might put it in the link too.
Speaker:Trist: They recorded a version in
Speaker:Trist: Spanish, which is really
Speaker:Trist: interesting.
Speaker:Trist: That'd be a whole other episode.
Speaker:Trist: We should use one of these
Speaker:Trist: episodes and have another
Speaker:Trist: language version.
Speaker:Trist: It doesn't quite hit the same and it's not because I don't
Speaker:Trist: speak it more fluently.
Speaker:Trist: It's just that rhythmically it doesn't fit right.
Speaker:Trist: And it definitely feels like an afterthought.
Speaker:Trist: Like, "Oh, this is a big hit.
Speaker:Trist: We need to do this for these other markets.
Speaker:Trist: Get back in there."
Speaker:Trist: Oh, I don't have the real mic here.
Speaker:Trist: Use this cheaper mic.
Speaker:Trist: Okay.
Speaker:Trist: We don't have time to actually
Speaker:Trist: mix it as well as we did the
Speaker:Trist: first one.
Speaker:Trist: It's kind of interesting to me how a lot of that seems to fall
Speaker:Trist: apart on the Spanish version.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, I would love to talk about something like this.
Speaker:Elaine: As a Spanish speaker, I definitely have thoughts about
Speaker:Elaine: how translations fit into the music, especially since, you
Speaker:Elaine: know me, I'm definitely a pro meter kind of person.
Speaker:Elaine: Like it has to be perfect meter, otherwise I get very upset.
Speaker:Elaine: maybe next time.
Speaker:Elaine: But thank you so much for introducing this to us.
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: We're going to shift gears and
Speaker:Elaine: enter into our next segment,
Speaker:Elaine: which is.
Speaker:Trist: Mail bag.
Speaker:Trist: Mail bag, mail bag.
Speaker:Elaine: That's right. The Mailbag.
Speaker:Elaine: And if you want to get ahold of us, please shoot us an email at
Speaker:Elaine: themusiciansloupe, that's L-O-U-P-E at gmail.com, or reach
Speaker:Elaine: out to us @themusiciansloupe on both Instagram and Threads.
Speaker:Trist: If you have any other anecdotes
Speaker:Trist: of your own or any other
Speaker:Trist: thoughts or other versions of
Speaker:Trist: this song that we should know
Speaker:Trist: about or any questions or even
Speaker:Trist: corrections, corrections and
Speaker:Trist: retractions section coming up
Speaker:Trist: soon.
Speaker:Trist: As soon as you send us some, that's the place to do it.
Speaker:Elaine: Awesome.
Speaker:Elaine: So this week's mailbag is also from Threads.
Speaker:Elaine: This is actually two different Threads posts that I saw at two
Speaker:Elaine: different points in time, but I think it highlights a topic that
Speaker:Elaine: we probably want to talk about.
Speaker:Elaine: And so the first one is from
Speaker:Elaine: Stix Writes from January of
Speaker:Elaine: 2026.
Speaker:Elaine: And the second one is from Sarah Simms from July of 2025.
Speaker:Elaine: So the first person, Stix
Speaker:Elaine: Writes, said, "Is there an age
Speaker:Elaine: limit to stop pursuing your
Speaker:Elaine: music career?
Speaker:Elaine: lol serious question."
Speaker:Elaine: And the second person, Sarah,
Speaker:Elaine: she says, "Killing ageism in the
Speaker:Elaine: music industry.
Speaker:Elaine: Music is art.
Speaker:Elaine: There is no expiration date.
Speaker:Elaine: For years I was convinced otherwise.
Speaker:Elaine: If you are a musician,
Speaker:Elaine: singer-songwriter over 40,
Speaker:Elaine: holler at me in the comments so
Speaker:Elaine: that we can all support each
Speaker:Elaine: other.
Speaker:Elaine: I am quote unquote level 47 and
Speaker:Elaine: making the best music of my
Speaker:Elaine: life."
Speaker:Elaine: So I think that where I'd like to go with here is just to open
Speaker:Elaine: up this discussion about ageism in the music industry, if that's
Speaker:Elaine: something that you see.
Speaker:Elaine: If that's something that you've
Speaker:Elaine: witnessed over the decades that
Speaker:Elaine: you've been in the music
Speaker:Elaine: industry.
Speaker:Elaine: And just to share some thoughts about where you see the music
Speaker:Elaine: industry going and what opportunities there are for
Speaker:Elaine: people who are maybe a little bit older in music.
Speaker:Trist: Well, in many ways, this is a very simple short conversation:
Speaker:Trist: no, there is no age limit.
Speaker:Trist: And yes, what this person says is true.
Speaker:Trist: definitely hasn't happened yet, but killing ageism in the music
Speaker:Trist: industry would be fantastic.
Speaker:Trist: Everything Sarah said about that is right on.
Speaker:Trist: I think one of the things in
Speaker:Trist: this new era of recording that
Speaker:Trist: I'm always talking about, man,
Speaker:Trist: it's cool that everybody can
Speaker:Trist: make music now and get it
Speaker:Trist: released.
Speaker:Trist: The problem is now anybody can
Speaker:Trist: make music now and get it
Speaker:Trist: released.
Speaker:Trist: The part of that, that is the positive is where maybe in a
Speaker:Trist: system before where there was a smaller, window to get through a
Speaker:Trist: smaller place to shoot through and you had people, usually men,
Speaker:Trist: deciding everything, making all the decisions and having your
Speaker:Trist: look and your age and everything kind of decide if like, oh, I
Speaker:Trist: have these two artists that are kind of the same, but this one
Speaker:Trist: is more conventionally attractive and has a different
Speaker:Trist: fore person that looks better.
Speaker:Trist: And so we're going to go with them.
Speaker:Trist: And plus they're 20 years younger.
Speaker:Trist: Those are the kinds of things
Speaker:Trist: rather than just musically like,
Speaker:Trist: oh, both of these bands are
Speaker:Trist: really good.
Speaker:Trist: Let me sign them both.
Speaker:Trist: That used to be more of a thing.
Speaker:Trist: So I suppose it helps that those barriers to entry aren't like
Speaker:Trist: that as much anymore.
Speaker:Trist: I'd love to say that it's nonexistent, but this happens in
Speaker:Trist: all entertainment fields.
Speaker:Trist: Unfortunately, I think it happens more to women, in that
Speaker:Trist: I've experienced just with women that I will talk to about, "Oh,
Speaker:Trist: you should do this thing!" And before I even can finish saying,
Speaker:Trist: "Oh, they won't take me.
Speaker:Trist: I'm too old for that."
Speaker:Trist: I'm just like, oh, what?
Speaker:Trist: So, it definitely opens my eyes to that thing that they have to
Speaker:Trist: deal with more frequently.
Speaker:Trist: It's not that exclusively, but I feel like, even more so for
Speaker:Trist: women in terms of being the front of something.
Speaker:Trist: And hopefully that's just becoming less and less.
Speaker:Trist: It'd be great to have that just be completely gone.
Speaker:Trist: And if you're doing something musically good, it's musically
Speaker:Trist: good and doesn't really matter how old you are.
Speaker:Elaine: This is an interesting topic for me, especially being in the
Speaker:Elaine: middle of my career.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think about, first of all,
Speaker:Elaine: the bias that our entire, I
Speaker:Elaine: don't want to say industry, I
Speaker:Elaine: think our entire culture is
Speaker:Elaine: biased towards youth and looking
Speaker:Elaine: young.
Speaker:Elaine: And you just think about all the industries around looking young
Speaker:Elaine: or feeling young or retaining some kind of vibrancy.
Speaker:Elaine: And you also see, to what you were saying before, the pipeline
Speaker:Elaine: of young performers that are really being cultivated from a
Speaker:Elaine: very early age.
Speaker:Elaine: you think about some of these kids who started out and you
Speaker:Elaine: think about some of our biggest pop stars today.
Speaker:Elaine: They were cultivated in the Mickey Mouse Club when they were
Speaker:Elaine: 11, 12, 13 years old.
Speaker:Elaine: You think about Alanis Morissette, who came through a
Speaker:Elaine: children's show as well.
Speaker:Elaine: And some of these young performers who ended up making
Speaker:Elaine: it big as adults.
Speaker:Elaine: Now this is, again, I think,
Speaker:Elaine: more of a funnel where we're
Speaker:Elaine: talking about a large number of
Speaker:Elaine: kids narrowing down to a smaller
Speaker:Elaine: number of kids, narrowing down
Speaker:Elaine: to a smaller number of
Speaker:Elaine: professional musicians who are
Speaker:Elaine: kind of the top tier for the pop
Speaker:Elaine: music industry.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think you see a similar thing in country as well.
Speaker:Elaine: But then at the same time, I feel like there are elders who
Speaker:Elaine: have made it big or who are highly influential, who are
Speaker:Elaine: still making waves and who are still making a difference.
Speaker:Elaine: So I'm thinking about some of the rockers from the 80s or 90s
Speaker:Elaine: who are still touring, people are still going out to see them,
Speaker:Elaine: but also people who are just making good music still in their
Speaker:Elaine: 60s or 70s.
Speaker:Elaine: And we even think about Tony Bennett.
Speaker:Elaine: We just covered a Tony Bennett
Speaker:Elaine: song and thinking about how he
Speaker:Elaine: was making great music and
Speaker:Elaine: elevating younger performers
Speaker:Elaine: through the duets that he was
Speaker:Elaine: doing.
Speaker:Elaine: And so I just wonder about
Speaker:Elaine: whether our perspective on the
Speaker:Elaine: ageism in the music industry: is
Speaker:Elaine: it a reflection of our culture
Speaker:Elaine: or is it a reflection of
Speaker:Elaine: marketing?
Speaker:Elaine: Is it a reflection of our values?
Speaker:Elaine: Or is it us holding ourselves
Speaker:Elaine: back because we think that
Speaker:Elaine: there's a boundary, but there
Speaker:Elaine: really isn't?
Speaker:Trist: And there's a difference.
Speaker:Trist: All the people you mentioned
Speaker:Trist: that are doing it into their
Speaker:Trist: older ages, They didn't start
Speaker:Trist: then.
Speaker:Trist: They started when they were young.
Speaker:Elaine: That's
Speaker:Trist: They didn't
Speaker:Elaine: right.
Speaker:Trist: just. Tony Bennett didn't just.
Speaker:Trist: Well, I'm 80.
Speaker:Trist: I think I should be a singer now.
Speaker:Trist: I'm going to duet with k.d. lang and then Lady Gaga, and I'm
Speaker:Trist: going to have a career.
Speaker:Trist: It's like those are reinventions of a career from when he was a
Speaker:Trist: young, young, young person.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay. That's
Speaker:Trist: Um,
Speaker:Elaine: fair.
Speaker:Trist: you know, so a lot of the things that we mentioned, like, oh,
Speaker:Trist: they're still doing it.
Speaker:Trist: That's different than this person saying, is there like an
Speaker:Trist: age to stop pursuing it?
Speaker:Trist: Like, okay, it's not quote unquote happening for me.
Speaker:Trist: And then also that gets to what
Speaker:Trist: we have many times in our
Speaker:Trist: conversation is, what is success
Speaker:Trist: to you?
Speaker:Trist: What is a music career to you?
Speaker:Trist: Do you get to play three times a
Speaker:Trist: month at the bar or club in your
Speaker:Trist: neighborhood and you're thrilled
Speaker:Trist: because you're an accountant and
Speaker:Trist: you're thrilled that someone
Speaker:Trist: comes to see you three times a
Speaker:Trist: month and you make enough to get
Speaker:Trist: your drinks.
Speaker:Trist: And that's all you want to do.
Speaker:Trist: Like that's perfectly great.
Speaker:Trist: Whereas someone else, all they
Speaker:Trist: want to do is quit their job and
Speaker:Trist: just travel the world doing
Speaker:Trist: music.
Speaker:Trist: It's just a different set of goals.
Speaker:Trist: So in the original question, is there an age limit to stop
Speaker:Trist: pursuing your music career?
Speaker:Trist: Absolutely not.
Speaker:Trist: It just depends on what you want that to be.
Speaker:Elaine: Yeah. What your definition of success.
Speaker:Elaine: I appreciate that, especially as someone who is not working in
Speaker:Elaine: music full time.
Speaker:Elaine: I actually don't know even if I
Speaker:Elaine: have aspirations in that
Speaker:Elaine: direction anymore.
Speaker:Elaine: I'm also interested in thinking about what you said before in
Speaker:Elaine: terms of the democratization of music production and music
Speaker:Elaine: release, and how that is impacting our perceptions as
Speaker:Elaine: well, especially as we're talking about, what does it mean
Speaker:Elaine: to build a following and build a business around it?
Speaker:Elaine: And a couple of weeks ago, when
Speaker:Elaine: you and I were recording, we had
Speaker:Elaine: this side conversation about the
Speaker:Elaine: Holderness family.
Speaker:Elaine: this is a couple who really focuses on humor.
Speaker:Elaine: They do a lot of skits, but they also do a lot of parodies and a
Speaker:Elaine: part of what they're doing really reminds me of Weird Al
Speaker:Elaine: Yankovic and just that role that he plays in the music industry.
Speaker:Elaine: They have really built a
Speaker:Elaine: following on their different
Speaker:Elaine: social media channels, and
Speaker:Elaine: they're building a business out
Speaker:Elaine: of it.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think about that and I'm
Speaker:Elaine: like, wow, they have really made
Speaker:Elaine: an entire business around this
Speaker:Elaine: and have really built success
Speaker:Elaine: around these various digital
Speaker:Elaine: platforms.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think it's working really well for them.
Speaker:Trist: Yep. Very cool.
Speaker:Trist: These days with so much
Speaker:Trist: changing, it's about being
Speaker:Trist: creative and finding your way,
Speaker:Trist: finding the place that your art
Speaker:Trist: speaks and that it gets to
Speaker:Trist: people that will want to hear
Speaker:Trist: it.
Speaker:Trist: That's the trick now.
Speaker:Elaine: So let me ask you this question.
Speaker:Elaine: What kind of encouragement would you give to someone who is maybe
Speaker:Elaine: a little bit older, who is maybe looking at increasing the amount
Speaker:Elaine: of music they're making in their life right now, and thinking
Speaker:Elaine: about leveling up where they are into that next area.
Speaker:Elaine: It could be performing more.
Speaker:Elaine: It could be performing for money.
Speaker:Elaine: It could be increasing the scope
Speaker:Elaine: and the impact of the music that
Speaker:Elaine: they're making.
Speaker:Elaine: What would you say to them?
Speaker:Trist: No different from someone who's younger doing the same thing.
Speaker:Trist: I wouldn't do it different just because someone is older.
Speaker:Trist: It's the same stuff.
Speaker:Trist: continue to grow, continue to find like minded artists maybe
Speaker:Trist: to partner with or, places where you can perform your music live.
Speaker:Trist: Places you where you can get your music placed, and
Speaker:Trist: continuing to learn and just keeping at it really.
Speaker:Trist: There's no other real magic other than just the dedication
Speaker:Trist: to it, continuing to grow, and continuing to create.
Speaker:Elaine: I love that.
Speaker:Elaine: And I am thinking about some of
Speaker:Elaine: my colleagues, working at a tech
Speaker:Elaine: company.
Speaker:Elaine: A number of them are musicians,
Speaker:Elaine: and they're releasing music on a
Speaker:Elaine: regular basis.
Speaker:Elaine: They actually share that.
Speaker:Elaine: And a lot of the music is absolutely amazing.
Speaker:Elaine: And so I think about the music
Speaker:Elaine: that people are making as their
Speaker:Elaine: side hustle.
Speaker:Elaine: We also know that there are some of our friends who are working
Speaker:Elaine: full time jobs and they're packing out local bars.
Speaker:Elaine: That's a big part of their local
Speaker:Elaine: presence and they have
Speaker:Elaine: followings and they've released
Speaker:Elaine: albums.
Speaker:Elaine: It is amazing to see how our music friends are really going
Speaker:Elaine: out there and releasing their music to the world.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah, that's it again, just
Speaker:Trist: being able to create and put it
Speaker:Trist: out there and you just keep on
Speaker:Trist: doing it.
Speaker:Trist: That's all there is to it.
Speaker:Elaine: Awesome.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, any last thoughts before we wrap up?
Speaker:Trist: Ah that's it.
Speaker:Trist: This was a good week.
Speaker:Elaine: All right.
Speaker:Elaine: So we're going to wrap up for the week.
Speaker:Elaine: But before we do, we would love to ask you a big, big favor.
Speaker:Elaine: We would love for you to choose one of our episodes.
Speaker:Elaine: This is number 18, so we have a whole lot of them, and share
Speaker:Elaine: them with a friend.
Speaker:Elaine: One of the things that we're
Speaker:Elaine: trying to do is to grow our
Speaker:Elaine: reach.
Speaker:Elaine: And a big part of that is word of mouth.
Speaker:Elaine: So you as a regular listeners, if you can just share one of our
Speaker:Elaine: episodes with one of your friends, that would be amazing.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah. Whether it's a song that you, remember that you have a
Speaker:Trist: friend that you guys, you like this particular song and you
Speaker:Trist: want to share it.
Speaker:Trist: Hey, look, these people did this podcast about a song we love or,
Speaker:Trist: hey, there's this song I didn't really know, and I think you
Speaker:Trist: like it as well.
Speaker:Trist: And these two crazy people blather on about it and, I think
Speaker:Trist: you'll like it.
Speaker:Trist: So please share that and also feel free to comment, subscribe,
Speaker:Trist: rate, review, all of that stuff.
Speaker:Trist: Any level of participation really helps.
Speaker:Trist: And, we'd appreciate the
Speaker:Trist: feedback and, the direction
Speaker:Trist: we're going.
Speaker:Elaine: Awesome.
Speaker:Elaine: So with that, we will see you all next week.
Speaker:Trist: Bye!
Speaker:Elaine: I didn't want to interrupt you because it was not related.
Speaker:Elaine: Oh no. Is that the second verse?
Speaker:Elaine: No.
Speaker:Elaine: Yes.
Speaker:Elaine: a different he was a different decade, right?
Speaker:Trist: Use your words.
Speaker:Trist: Use your words.
Speaker:Elaine: Uh, sorry, I bit my own tongue.
