"Astronaut Lady (Remembering Kai Tak)" genre: Love Songs
	lo fi play (dial-up) hi fi play (broadband) download (6.4 MB)	email track to a friend	add to My.MP3
	A portrait of an "astronaut family" in Hong Kong, where (usually) dad spends much of the year at the business in HK while mom and the kids are tucked away somewhere in the US or Canada. The song's references to the old Kai Tak airport will be recognized by HK's residents and visitors before 1999.
	MP3.com CD: Waiting for a Chinese Sun... - buy it! CD: Waiting for a Chinese Sun... to Shine   Label: self released in Hong Kong (pm productions) Credits: written, arranged, recorded and performed by Paul Meredith. Double Bass solo: Simon Hui. Djembe: Peter Suart / Les Fong. Production help from Simon Hui in HK
	Story Behind the Song This was at the time the most ambitious song I'd ever written or produced, and I get quite a lot of comment on it. I wanted to try the spoken / singing approach done so well by Bruce Cockburn (a _real_ poet and lyricist) and create a HK landscape that included memories of the airport, and it kind of spun itself into this story about the couple always apart, torn by politics, finances, "normal" pressures of marriage and raising a family, language barriers, cultural attachments etc. I wanted to create a sense that the listener doesn't really know what will happen to these people -- which mirrors the uncertainties and pressures on families that really exist. I think the guitar riff, moving around as it does in 4-4 time, helped to make a nice and (to me anyway) musically interesting groove that made the song's length (7m) bearable. Simon Hui's terrific bass soloing also makes the song memorable to me. That and Peter and Les's great drumming. I hope people like it, and remember what it was like waiting for someone you love at Kai Tak. Lyrics ASTRONAUT LADY (remembering Kai Tak airport) Watchin' the planes touch down, bringin' my astronaut lady around to shore And soon she'll be walkin' across that floor, lookin' for me We could be one again, but I can't be a rocket man no more Astronaut lady bring my family home -- let's make it like before... c) Paul Meredith, 1999

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).