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Can’t Buy Me Love

Personnel:
Hannah Wilson: Vocals
Cliff Wilson: Acoustic Bass, Guitar
Cliff Hockberg: Drums
Lars Wendt: Trumpet, Trombone
Alex Laurenzi: Alto Sax

Why this song is on the album:

This was Hannah’s choice for a solo number. 

Performance notes:

Except for some touch-up work, this was the last song completed for the project. We recorded the horn and drum parts in the summer of 2020, during a local lull in the Covid-19 pandemic. Cliff H., Alex and Lars were among the very small number of individuals to visit my studio after the full lockdown of Spring. 

The pandemic slowed down the project only a bit; during most of it I had plenty to work on in editing all the previously recorded material.

The drums are real – a simple snare with brushes, and a hi-hat.

I like how Alex and Lars leaned into the dirty blues feel. 

How it’s different from the Beatles’ version:

We brought it into a different genre. Hannah wanted to do it like an Ella Fitzgerald tune.  I was thinking more along the lines of the Blues Brothers, and perhaps we ended somewhere in between.  The song lends itself well to a traditional jazz treatment, as it is essentially a blues song.

Fun fact:

A crease in the tape caused by improper spooling led to an audio issue with the hi-hat.  The engineeers themselves re-recorded a few bars of hi-hat to replace Ringo’s damaged part.

CCW