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What Used To Be There?

by Richard Barone & Terre Roche

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vmtrinca These two dear friends wrote a clever song, from the heart, about the city they love. I have followed Terre (and The Roches) for decades, and Richard is an absolute musical genius.
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about

Secret Song Series

I'm sure every songwriter has songs they have recorded and, for whatever reason. they get tucked away and saved for later. As songwriting is an ongoing endeavor, sometimes these "secret songs" gather in our private stashes and eventually are rediscovered, often to be seen and heard in a new light. This series will reveal some of the songs in my secret collection.


Episode 2:

"What Used To Be There?"

Words and music by Terre Roche and Richard Barone

Recorded at Dubway Studios, NYC.

Terre Roche and I had been friends for years performing together in all kinds of shows, and decided to write a song together. "What Used To Be There?" was written just before and right after 9/11. We were thinking about all the changes New York was going through, and reminiscing about the City as we first knew it. Many of the feelings of loss and change that we felt when we wrote it are just as relevant now.

We both love Brazilian music, and this song uses a Bossa Nova beat, played on drums and percussion by Danny Mallon. Terre is a brilliant guitarist and came up with the unusual chord progression - full of surprises - that reminds me of walking through the irregular streets of Greenwich Village. She led the backing singers, singing in unison for a patently Brazilian sound. My dear friend and legendary producer Tony Visconti played upright bass. Keyboardist Tracy Stark happened to drop by the studio during the session and I showed her my new, vintage Stylophone (an electronic instrument from the early 1970s played with a stylus), and she spontaneously added some lovely, whimsical improvisation.

Although Terre and I have performed the song live on special occasions, a recording has never been released until now.

lyrics

What Used To Be There?

Walk through the City on any clear night
There are signs you will see that will never seem right
At first glance, or last glance, or by light of the day
Something else used to be there that must have faded away.

What used to be there?
What used to be there?

Somebody asked me to drop in and see
but the door was different and I needed a key
The tenant inside who was no longer me
said the tenant who died lived in number 2B

Slowly returning to the gravity pull
I wanted to find those responsible
for changing Times Square into a video game
and Folk City into a Kettle of Fish and so on and so on…

What used to be there?
What used to be there?

The storefront’s a tale that can’t be told
of the people who ran it but got too old
to count up the cash and recycle the cans
Hope they made it home to their own homelands

I’m no more a neighbor in my own neighborhood
Standing in the spot where Bob Dylan once stood
before he shot out the cannon and landed in Hollywood
scratching the back of his head and feeling real good,
feeling real good

What used to be there?
What used to be there?

Can we talk?
Can we talk about?
Can we talk about the big hole in the skyline?

Maybe we’re not ready to go there yet
But soon we’ll be asking

What used to be there?
What used to be there?

Who are those people in the window pane
with a vague recollection of some reason they came?

It’s me with a grin and you with a blank stare
Come lookin’, come lookin’ for what used to be there
For what used to be there

What used to be there?
What used to be there?

Written by: Terre Roche and Richard Barone

© 2013 Blabbermusic (ASCAP) / Richard Barone Music (BMI). All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission.

credits

released June 5, 2020
Richard Barone - Vocals, slide guitar
Terre Roche - Vocals, guitars
Tony Visconti - Bass
Danny Mallon - Drums, percussion
Tracy Stark - Stylophone
Terre Roche, Richard Barone, Quinn Cox and Stella Starsky - Chorus Vocals

Recorded by Jason Marcucci at Dubway Studios, NYC
Mixed by Matthew Billy and Jason Marcucci
Produced by Richard Barone

Cover photo by: Mindy Fradkin

℗ 2020 RBM Special Editions

Episode 3 will be released on July 3.

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about

Richard Barone image

Richard Barone New York, New York

Richard Barone is a recording artist, performer, producer, & author. Since pioneering the indie rock scene in Hoboken NJ as frontman for The Bongos, Barone has produced numerous studio recordings and worked with artists in every genre. His recent album 'Sorrows & Promises' and latest book 'Music + Revolution' are tributes to the early 1960s music scene in Greenwich Village NYC, where Barone lives. ... more

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