This song was the
Pick of the Week on 2015.03.29.
Here's the story:
This is another song from the classic album Voyager, recorded in March 1980. Tim wrote the words, and I think he really nailed the feeling of "doing the same old things again". It was the grind of going to DeWitt Middle School, but I think a lot of adults could relate to these words.
I wrote the music, and I think there's some discernible influence from a punk-inspired band we were listening to a lot around 1980: The Boomtown Rats. And it has a rock-out guitar break that probably came from listening to Boston's first album.
Recording notes: as I wrote last week, this was recorded and produced by our friend Aram Tabackman. He also made the hand-colored cassette tape inserts. He recorded the band's repertoire of ten originals, live with 8 cheap mics through two battery-powered Realistic mixers into a Sanyo cassette deck. Given the inexpensive gear, I'm still quite amazed at the quality of this recording. No overdubs. Freebus' guitar is clean and towards the left, mine is distorted and towards the right. Jon's drum rolls are out of control! Classic teen angst!
Thanks for listening!
Andy
Just Surviving
Getting up in the morning
Doing the same old things again
Not really living my life at all
Yeah I'm just surviving
Gotta get away from the same old place
Gotta get away from the old rat race
Gotta be free to do my own thing
Yes, I gotta be free
I'm just surviving
The open road is calling me
To get up and get away
I've got to keep moving on
I can't keep going on faking it
No more getting pushed around
No more nine to five
I've got to live my life for me
I've got to do more than just survive
I'm just surviving
Tim Odell --- 12 December 1979
©1979 by Voyager
This is a digitization of the "Aram tape", 10 songs recorded in March 1980 with 8 mics mixed to a stereo cassette at record time. Voyager's fan Aram recorded it when most of Voyager were 14 years old. It's a classic recording of some stunning pop songs.
Everything But Anchovies
Members:
Jon Morse - drums
Tim Odell - bass, vocals
Andy Wyatt - vocals, guitars
Years of Activity:
1978-1995
Overview:
Started as Voyager in 1979. Briefly included Pete Downes as rhythm guitarist. Changed name to The Raid in 1981, and to Everything But Anchovies in 1986. Played about 85 gigs around Ithaca, NY and a few nearby towns between 1980-1989. Most were at The Nines (16), second-most at Oliver's (11), third-most at the Hidden Valley 4H camp (11), and fourth-most at T.J. Tuesday's (8). After the last gig, a live TV broadcast in November 1989, we didn't play again until 1991, when we got together for a reunion jam at Andy's new house (see Spreading More Jam). We did likewise at Jon's new house in 1993 for the first Voyager reunion, then in 1995 we started getting together for EBA improv sessions. This evolved into Killer Whirlpool by 1996.