Moon

words and music by Transfer Point

I saw the moon this morning
Shining down on me
Way up there in the sky
What a sight to see!

Diamonds in the sky
Ancient memories
Cast from long ago
Starlight through the trees

The sky is shining bright
And it’s gonna be alright

Way up in the sky
Gorgeous and serene
The moon is up above
Rolling on its wings

The moon is shining bright
And it’s gonna be alright
I’ll make it through the night

Tom Sanderson: keyboards, backing vocals
Alan Sanderson: guitars, bass, drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals

Cover art by Marisa Sanderson

Alan’s Notes

This song has a long back story, but I’ll try to keep it short. The intro riff on guitar and bass dates back to my high school garage band. I learned a lot of technique from a simplified guitar tablature songbook for the first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, and I wrote the riff based on Jimi’s octave sliding technique in “Third Stone from the Sun.” (While I was working on this project I played that song for one of my kids, and he thought it was dumb. I can see where he’s coming from, but I still like it.) The octave technique was used a lot by George Benson and from time to time by other great guitarists like Chet Atkins. Here is a live performance of the original Claudia Doesn’t Like It song from 1996, called “Universal Care,” extracted from a VHS tape:

We weren’t the tightest garage band.

Anyway, it is obvious in retrospect that the double-time polka verses in the original arrangement were a bad idea (why can’t we see these things in real time?). So when I pulled this old riff out of the scrap heap this year I decided to pair it with a slower reggae beat for the verse instead.

There is also a story behind the lyrics, of a similar vintage. I experienced a depressive episode during my senior year of high school, and one winter morning as I looked out the bus window I saw a bright moon in the sky. As I gazed up at the big beautiful moon I could imagine it up there in outer space orbiting the earth for billions of years, unaware of all the conflicts on earth, big and small. The moon was up there when the asteroid impact killed the dinosaurs and when the great empires rose and fell, one by one. It will still be there, spinning away, when I am long gone and all of my worries are forgotten with me.

Something about this perspective made me feel better about myself and my situation that day. Were my problems really so bad? When viewed through space and time, not really. What I experienced that day was a manifestation of the overview effect. That year was the start of a massive change in my life, or maybe just the acceleration of a change that had started a few years before.

I remember feeling a similar sense of wonder while reading these words of scripture, from which I borrowed a line for the last verse of this song:

“45 The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God.

“46 Unto what shall I liken these kingdoms, that ye may understand?

“47 Behold, all these are kingdoms, and any man who hath seen any or the least of these hath seen God moving in his majesty and power.

“48 I say unto you, he hath seen him; nevertheless, he who came unto his own was not comprehended.

“49 The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him.

“50 Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the true light that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:45-50).

Tom’s contributions were make-or-break for this song. I love the textures his vocals and keyboards add and his lyrics for the second verse, and he gave me valuable advice on the drum pattern. The bridge is essentially his composition, and I love it.

There was one point in this project where I couldn’t see it turning out well. I had lost motivation and thought the thing sounded like a train wreck. Tom gave me a good pep talk and pointed in exactly the right direction to get me excited for the project again. I’m pleased with how it turned out.

Tom’s Notes

In 1996 Alan sent me a cassette tape that included “Universal Care,” a parent song of some of the music that became “Moon.” Alan felt connection to the Hendrix-inspired instrumental portion of this song. Months ago (2021 or 2022) he and I discussed the possibility of expanding this section to make a psychedelic-rock inspired song. Unfortunately, time and other projects took priority.

This year (2023), Alan shared a rough demo of the song that would eventually become “Moon” with the working title of “Galactic Concern.” I in turn made a demo to share some ideas. When Alan pieced together most of the song structure, he sent me the working tracks with a blank space in the bridge. He invited me to to play on the song and to figure out something for the bridge.

I thought organ and clavinet seemed to be obvious choices for the verses, given the reggae theme. I added the backing vocals (Alan sings most of the vocals – mine are the ones without words). I liked my ideas for the bridge but my playing was a bit loose. About halfway into the project we both started to feel the fatigue of not hitting the mark we wanted. It is a great piece of music but the recording was not fully doing justice to the composition. We kept grinding away at the track. And grinding. There were many ideas thrown around.

I gradually had a small epiphany (not as life-changing or profound as Alan’s as he contemplated his part in the universe). We can sometimes hope for some good luck or spontaneous fortune getting started, but great creations take great work. In my admittedly amateur opinion, I have found the difference between a mediocre recording and a great recording has more to do with solid effort than ideas.

The organ, clavinet, analog synth lead (main melody in the bridge) and some of the synth pads were played on the Roland FA-06. A late entry into the project were various FM patches from a Yamaha Reface DX that my wife Lori bought for me – FM synthesis sure yielded some great spacey sounds.

I really like how Alan has blended the best bits of high-school song and a poem and new music with a common theme. I think we can all relate to a time we glimpse a bigger picture – it’s a great universal theme. Alan’s vocals and guitar playing are in great form here.

Info and Stats

• Production Dates: August — December 2023
• Equipment:
  • Interfaces: Behringer Xenyx 1204USB, Behringer Ultra-DI DI400P, Tascam DSP24SD
  • Synths: Roland FA-06, Yamaha Reface DX
  • Guitars and Basses: Yamaha AE 500, Fender Telecaster, Ibanez ASB140 bass
  • Amplifiers and Speakers: Crate GX-30M, Fender 12×2 cabinet
  • Microphones: DIY condenser by Michael Willis, Shure SM-57, CAD GXL220 Condenser Microphone (with wrap-around PopFilter)
• Software:
  • Linux Mint 20.2
  • Ardour 7.3.0
  • Dragonfly Reverb: Room, Hall, Plate
  • x42-plugins: parametric equalizer, dynamic compressor, digital peak limiter, Red Zeppelin Drumkit Multi
  • Calf Studio Gear: vintage delay, flanger, reverb, bass enhancer
  • TAP: Chorus/Flanger
• Total Tracks: 48
• Vocal: 20
• Guitars and Basses: 3
• Keyboards: 14
• Drums and Percussion: 11