Silky Fingers

One thing that I'm really grateful for is the continued love and respect that my ex partner and I have for each other. How else would I be able to write about this song that represents such a significant time in my life.

If you're in love with someone, then there must be things about them that make you melt right? Little things that stay in your memory forever because of the way they made you feel.

One of those things for me was the fact that he would stroke my face so gently and his fingers were really soft and silky. This was magic to me. I never asked him to do it, he just did it which made it all the more special.

Towards the end of our relationship, we spent some time in a ski resort in Northern Italy where his band had a contract to play for a few months. Each night, I would go and listen to the band and each night they would play 'With Or Without You' by U2. What struck me about this song was it's simplicity and repetition, and the effect it had on the audience. Every night, they put their hands in the air and swayed from side to side. No other song had this same impact and I just wanted to go home and see if I could write something that was purposefully repetitive and simple in structure.

You would think this would be an easy task, but it was a challenge for me because I had to keep reminding myself to "keep it simple, keep it simple". The temptation is always to add more, more lyrics, more chords, more tricks.

So anyway, I just sat and thought about the love in that U2 song, and I thought about how those silky fingers stroking my face made me feel, and once I convinced myself that this song was to be an exercise in simplicity,  I dropped all expectations about producing a potential hit song, and then it was all done in about 20 minutes. I was shocked!

To my surprise, Silky Fingers has managed to touch a lot of hearts, and on the flip side, it's also been reviewed as being too simplistic. Well, either way, it's a win win for me right? Whether it will ever cause people to throw their hands in the air and sway, probably not, but I'll keep trying for that song, because THAT would be quite an achievement I think.

Below is the only video that I have so far for Silky Fingers, and this is the acoustic version which can be found on my Silky Fingers album. If you like a more produced sound, you can find that version on my Le Cafe Ancien album.

Enjoy.

Trysette.