“It’s another day of driving desire to chase down another mile, and life is closer in the rear view mirror than it has been all my life”
Inspiration:
Driving my work van for D.E.C. in the winter of 1987, along the Gardiner Expressway extension, heading into Toronto , the chorus came to me, both words and melody at the same time, and it has never been changed.
History:
Nothing was done with the song since 1987, but the fact I could always recall the melody and sing it, made me know it had potential. It would be 2013 when I decided to write the verses and the chords and the song was basically done. We tinkered with it a bit, but it has not changed much since the night I sang it in my van in 1987. Verse 3 had been a repeat of Verse 1 until the recording, at which point I wrote a 3rd verse if for no other reason than to get the line ‘setting up shop in a KOA campground’ in there. The song had always been a bit of a country/folksy/springsteeny type song in my head and when first arranged on the acoustic guitar, but as soon as the band played, it took this new form to which it would stay.
Producer’s Note:
“Hmm, the chorus backup vocals that were mixed as high as the lead vocal”
Recording notes: The King and The Killer was the first song recorded for the album. Lisa had to warm up and then was only good for a handful few takes and then we would have to move on and try it again on another day.
Many mixes while learning how the new Tascam DP 24 console worked, and it would be months before LBS would have another song recorded and mixed. My playlist would consist of one song, and it was played over countless times. During the many mixes, the idea for a two part chorus came to me with the line “rock n roll, the king and the killer”. As the months went by, and the recording techniques and production and mixing improved, we decided to re-record in order to give the song a fresh sound.
I kept the click track, Lisa’s backup vocal in the bridge and the guitars and deleted everything else. I had been very pleased with original guitars, all Gibson on the Peavey amp. I told Rob, all I wanted out of the bass was to sound like a jet leaving the deck of an air craft carrier. The upside of the second recording was during that time, Rob bought himself a new Rickenbacker bass and it really shone in the recording.
There was a guitar and drums intro that was shortened in the mix and then completely mastered out with the exception of the single snare hit to cold crank the song.