Some dates stick in my head for no good reason. It seems that I'll always remember that March 3, 1980 is the day that Tim and I wrote "Midnight Sun", with some musical updates on March 10. Every year, March 3 rolls around and I think "Tim and I wrote 'Midnight Sun' __ years ago today!" So, now it's 38 years later and I want to give a nod to one of our "slow dance songs". I have vague recollections about Tim saying the lyrics were inspired by a PBS TV show about Alaska or something like that, but I'm not sure. Musically, it was my first of many featuring what I call "open top" chord patterns, where the high E and B strings are left open and droning. Here are the chords for the verses:

And here are the chords for the chorus:

It was written just before the March 14 & 19 recording session that produced our eponymous first album Voyager, and wasn't recorded then. We did make a pretty good version during the Wyatt House Recordings, which were low-quality tape rips released on the album Fuzz and Cardboard. And this one is from the 1981 session that's part of the eponymous first album of The Raid, the next name for the same trio of guys: Jon on drum kit, Tim on bass and backing vocals, and me on guitar and lead vocals. Because that recording did an overdub, where I mixed in the vocal mic while playing the backing tracks from one cassette deck to another, this recording is almost a half-step faster than the backing tracks. That cassette deck with the miscalibrated fast transport motor caused a lot of such tuning issues, unfortunately. In any case, to play along, you'll need a capo on the first fret.

Thanks for listening!

-Andy

Midnight Sun

Feeling good you know I'm feeling alright
In the land where the sun shines all night
Roots are deep here I hate to go
I really wish I could stay here

I really wish I didn't have to go
I love the land of the ice and snow
But way down deep inside my heart
I know I'll come back some day
No matter where I go I'll find a way

I'm feeling fine here
I'm feeling alive
I've got to leave this place 
But I know I'll survive
This is the land where I never go wrong
This is the land of the midnight sun
Away.....

The jet plane is leaving -the big silver bird
That's coming to take me to a different world
The plane is leaving tomorrow
I've still got some time
No matter where I go I know I'll survive

Thinking on back on how I wanted to leave
Now feelings are sinking that I've got to leave
Well, I've still got some time
No matter where I go I know I'll survive


Lyrics by Tim Odell on March 3, 1980
Music by Andy Wyatt on March 3&10, 1980
©1980 by Voyager