Words and music by Transfer Point

Lovely — it’s a lovely evening
But right now I’m feeling
All alone

And I’m playing my guitar
Writing a song
And every minute, girl
I’m hoping you’ll come along

Don’t you know that I love you, babe?
You know I love you, babe

And the minutes float on by
Like they’re blowing in the breeze
Baby, won’t you please
Float my way

I can see your face
All over the place
You’re always on my mind
I can’t leave these thoughts behind

Don’t you know that I love you, babe?
You know I love you, babe

Oh, wonder woman!
Ain’t nobody in this world
Who loves you like I love you
Like I love you, girl

Don’t you know that I love you, babe?
You know I love you, babe

Alan Sanderson: vocals, guitar, bass, celesta, mixing, mastering
Tom Sanderson: keyboards, drums, backing vocals

Alan’s Notes

This recording is a reboot of an old song from my catalog, first written in 1997. I was 18 years old at the time, and was sitting outside my house one warm summer evening with my guitar and blowing bubbles in the breeze. (The original title of the song was Mr. Bubbles.) I was in the middle of one of those life-defining breakups, and the original lyrics were all about that. A couple of months ago I dug through the archive and found an early recording of this song on an old cassette tape. It’s a little painful to listen to.

Three summers later I made my first multitrack recording of the song using a friend’s 4-track recorder. That was the year I bought my Telecaster, and I think this was about the first recording I made with it. I significantly revised the lyrics for this version to reflect the fact that I was ready to form a new relationship. In fact, I was married in the summer of 2001, just a year later. Here is that recording from 2000:

A quarter of a century later felt like the right time to revisit this old song. I still really like the guitar and bass parts — I consider it to be one of my better music compositions from those early days — but I thought I could do a little better on the lyrics now.

My sisters were big fans of Air Supply, so I grew up listening to their songs. This year I picked up a CD of their greatest hits and took a trip down memory lane. Those guys were pretty good! Their music seems perfectly calibrated for 14 year old girls; my daughter was singing along with their choruses the first time she ever heard them. It made me want to write something with a simple, singable chorus.

The new words came to me in early November 2024 while I was out running, and when I got home from my run I wrote them out essentially as they appear above. The chorus is simple and immediately singable. That day I recorded a very rough draft of the song and sent it to Tom.

As always, I was impressed and pleased by Tom’s input. His drum part is so much better than what I could have produced in a reasonable amount of time. I also really like his organ and e-piano parts, and his backing vocals added a lot.

I used the Telecaster again on this recording, paired with the awesome vintage tube amp I recently acquired, a Fender Dual Showman. That old thing sure moves a lot of air! In fact, I started wearing earplugs after a few sessions because my ears were ringing after playing it for an hour. All of my guitars sound better when plugged into that amp.

Tom’s Notes

Although Alan and I have done almost all of our creative collaboration during this decade, for the better part of three decades we have shared and workshopped each other’s compositions and recordings. In fact, I think there have been times when Alan was the only person who has provided me with feedback for certain projects. This song was among those Alan shared with me circa 1998 and the multi-track version a couple years later. (My cassette deck unfortunately chewed part of his master tape up that he had lent to me while trying to add some reverb to some songs in a digitized transfer). I liked the song so much that I made my own song based on the meter and also the feel of the bass line with some throwaway lyrics reminiscent of the “back roads” from Palm Springs, CA to Las Vegas via 29 Palms and Cima road:

I was excited when Alan invited me to play on this updated iteration of his song.

This song has a shuffle rhythm. I like shuffle rhythms because one can play between 6/8 and 4/4 or superimpose both (polyrhythm of sorts). I don’t know what I was shooting for but maybe I succeeded in a pseudo-polyrhythm on the drum track. Alan sorted through my three takes and assembled something useable.

I tried several things on keyboard but I was trying not to overpower the guitar since I think the bass and guitar are certainly the main instruments in this song. I think Alan again was able to isolate the best bits from what I played to make a good support to his guitar and bass. I was happy about my vocal contributions but Alan’s lead vocal is the real star here – very expressive. It was an honor to play on this record.

Info and Stats

• Production Dates: November – December 2024
• Equipment:
  • Interfaces: Behringer Xenyx 1204USB, Behringer Ultra-DI DI400P, Tascam DSP24SD
  • Synths: Roland FA-06
  • Guitars and Basses: Fender Telecaster, Ibanez ASB140 bass
  • Amplifiers and Speakers: Fender Dual showman, Crate GX-30M, Fender 12×2 cabinet
  • Microphones: DIY condenser by Michael Willis, Shure SM-57, Audio Technica AT2035 Condenser Microphone (with wrap-around PopFilter)
• Software:
  • Linux Mint 20.2
  • Ardour 8.10.0
  • Dragonfly Reverb: Room, Hall, Plate
  • x42-plugins: parametric equalizer, dynamic compressor, digital peak limiter, Black Pearl Drumkit
  • Calf Studio Gear: vintage delay, flanger, bass enhancer
  • sfizz with Virtual Playing Orchestra
• Total Tracks: 14
  • vocal: 5
  • guitars and basses: 2
  • keys: 5
  • drums: 2