"Coming Back to Me" by Jefferson Airplane (cover)

[Glennwillow]

"Coming Back To Me" was released in 1967 as part of the Jefferson Airplane's "Surrealistic Pillow" album.

This song always seemed so other-worldly to me, not just sad but sort of ethereal. I used a very long-tail reverb from a cathedral on the guitar for this song to try to recreate a little of that other-worldly sound. Because of that cathedral reverb on the guitar, some of that is in my voice, too, from crossfeed to the guitar mics.

I also added the sound of a recorder in the background, similar to what Grace Slick played way back, but since the real wooden recorders I used to have are long gone, I used a sample from a keyboard. I also added chord diagrams to the video for those who might be interested.

Thanks to all those who are listening!

- Glenn

[Dave Hicks]

Thanks, Glenn, that was great! You definitely did justice to Marty Balin's vocal.

The Airplane was my favorite band back in 19uhuh, and this is still one of my favorite songs of theirs. It's said that Jack Cassidy played bass on the original, but I've never been able to hear that. The "recorder" sounds good.

D.H.

[raysachs]

That's beautiful Glenn. I was never a huge Airplane fan (and I pretty much detested the Starship). But I was a huge Marty Balin fan and this is probably my favorite song by anyone in that band. I love the original, I love Ricki Lee Jones' version. Just a beautiful song. And you, as usual, do it complete justice. Great playing and your singing has a bit more of an edge to it than on a lot of your stuff, despite it being an incredibly pretty vocal. Some real yearning in it. It just works on every level.

-Ray

[PeterM]

Simply wonderful on a simply wonderful tune.
Always loves me some Airplane.

I think I once read that the guitar part was Jerry Garcia. Geez, I am surprised I remember anything from that era!
😀😀
Anyone know for sure?

[Dave Hicks]

Originally Posted by PeterM

Simply wonderful on a simply wonderful tune.
Always loves me some Airplane.

I think I once read that the guitar part was Jerry Garcia. Geez, I am surprised I remember anything from that era!
����
Anyone know for sure?

The Airplane guys say Jerry's on that track, but the producer claimed he was never in the studio.

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/did-jer...0pretty%20near.

D.H.

[started with 1]

Slow and mellow and spacey. Loved the vocals and recorder.

[islandguitar]

Just beautiful, Glenn! Many thanks! Love the resolve into the G6, .....really hits me how lovely that is along with the piano/recorder influences.

all the best,
Fred

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Dave Hicks

Thanks, Glenn, that was great! You definitely did justice to Marty Balin's vocal.

The Airplane was my favorite band back in 19uhuh, and this is still one of my favorite songs of theirs. It's said that Jack Cassidy played bass on the original, but I've never been able to hear that. The "recorder" sounds good.

D.H.

Thanks so much for your kind words, Dave. I remember Marty Balin's vocals on this song as being so good on the original recording. His sound was just mesmerizing. I'm very flattered that you feel I was anything close to that. Thank you.

I'm glad you thought the sample of the recorder played on the keyboard sounded good. I thought it sounded pretty accurate, but I was a little worried about how it looked to play a wind instrument like that on a keyboard. I'm relieved that you felt that worked out okay. I thought Grace Slick's recorder part was so well done that I really felt I needed to add it. I really considered using only the guitar and my voice, but I just hated to miss out on that blend of guitar and recorder. Thanks again for your comments on this part of the song.

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by raysachs

That's beautiful Glenn. I was never a huge Airplane fan (and I pretty much detested the Starship). But I was a huge Marty Balin fan and this is probably my favorite song by anyone in that band. I love the original, I love Ricki Lee Jones' version. Just a beautiful song. And you, as usual, do it complete justice. Great playing and your singing has a bit more of an edge to it than on a lot of your stuff, despite it being an incredibly pretty vocal. Some real yearning in it. It just works on every level.

-Ray

Thanks so much Ray!

I'm really pleased that you feel this worked out okay. I think this song more than anything on the "Surrealistic Pillow" album stuck with me. Maybe the "Today" song, also made an impact on me. So, I'm glad I picked something we both really appreciate. And I'm really pleased that you think I did well with such a beautiful song.

Regarding the vocals, I really took a lot of time to practice the vocal on this song. I recorded the whole thing, guitar first then vocal separately, and when I recorded the vocal for practice, I did it phrase by phrase in my studio, working really hard to learn how to do this as perfectly as I could. In the end though, I erased all that stuff. I just sat down on Monday morning of this week and recorded this on the first take, guitar and vocal together live, just as you see in the video. And then I added the sample of the recorder played on the keyboard right after that.

So I was well practiced. And you can imagine, the vocal isn't quite as perfect -- if there is such a thing -- as my practice recording, but it certainly has more presence, more immediacy, even more emotion. As you have noted, there is a little more of an edge. I decided to just use it as it was and not even try a second take. I'm so glad you thought it worked out okay.

Thanks Ray!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by PeterM

Simply wonderful on a simply wonderful tune.
Always loves me some Airplane.

I think I once read that the guitar part was Jerry Garcia. Geez, I am surprised I remember anything from that era!
😀😀
Anyone know for sure?

Thank you Peter!

How nice of you! Much appreciated! It is a wonderful tune and I'm glad you felt I did well with my cover.

I had never heard that stuff about Jerry Garcia, but you likely know way more than I do on this subject. It almost sounds like a guitar part he would come up with.

Thanks for your kind words, Peter! I hope all is well for you!

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by started with 1

Slow and mellow and spacey. Loved the vocals and recorder.

Hi Joe!

Yes, good description of the song... slow, mellow and spacey! I am so glad you thought I did okay on the vocal and the recorder recreation.

My wife and I had a set of really great sounding recorders, 4 sizes. In the end our middle daughter -- probably about your age, actually, she has two boys pretty much your sons' ages -- she learned to play all those recorders really well. When she went off to grad school she asked if she could take them with her; we said sure, why not. And she really made use of them, playing all kinds of early music with a bunch of different groups at Cornell U. I'm sure she still has those recorders.

I really considered buying a recorder for this song and my wife said no. She said, "Just use the keyboard for one song." I'm glad she ended up being right and nobody cared that it was just a sample.

- Glenn

[Railroad Bum]

That's really beautiful, Glenn. I love the stripped-down sound--and the voice, guitar and keyboard are so tasteful.

As far Garcia playing on that, I guess it could have been. It really sounds more like Jorma Kaukonen's style to me honestly. But it could have been Balin or even Paul Kantner. I use those open-type chords quite a lot myself.

[Honkycat]

Loved this! The reverb on the guitar gives a really lovely feel to the song and the "recorder" adds so much to the vibe as well.

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by islandguitar

Just beautiful, Glenn! Many thanks! Love the resolve into the G6, .....really hits me how lovely that is along with the piano/recorder influences.

all the best,
Fred

Hi Fred!

Thanks so much! I really appreciate your kind comments.

Regarding that G6, the chord was actually played up on the 3rd fret like a barred G chord using an E shape, but with no barre and the high E string left open. I used that shape during the bridge, but I didn't care for the sound during the verses, so I used a first position G6. In fact, at first I just used a G chord with the added D on the 2nd string, but after a while I realized that leaving the high E string open kind of created this wistful sound, almost question-like, as if "...is she really coming back to me?"

It's such a simple song that I felt on the first day that I could just record this. But it's always interesting to work with a song for a couple of weeks. It seems to take a different shape no matter how much I think I understand the song on the first day.

I'm glad you felt I did okay with this, Fred! And I'm glad you thought the sampled recorder worked alright, too. I hope all is well for you and your family.

- Glenn

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Railroad Bum

That's really beautiful, Glenn. I love the stripped-down sound--and the voice, guitar and keyboard are so tasteful.

As far Garcia playing on that, I guess it could have been. It really sounds more like Jorma Kaukonen's style to me honestly. But it could have been Balin or even Paul Kantner. I use those open-type chords quite a lot myself.

Hi Tim!

Thanks for your thoughts and comments! I'm glad you felt I did okay with this great old song.

I had always assumed that Marty Balin came up with the guitar arrangement, but I had no basis for that assumption beyond the fact that it was his composition. It's a fun piece to play and finger pick. And it's not particularly hard to play and sing the song at the same time, either. I hope folks find the chords helpful.

And I hope all is well there for you and your son, Tim.

- Glenn