off the record
It’s not oversharing if you signed up for it…
12/03/2026
PICK THE NEXT SINGLE
Let’s choose the next track together. This is going to be entirely your decision.
It will be released: 09/04/26
YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES:
You’re a Light
OR
SHE’S ALL MINE
I can’t wait to seeing which one you choose!
Let me Know:
davidd@notanotherdavidd.com
25/02/26
Thirty Something
Here are the private notes for: “Thirty Something”.
(Artwork by the fantastic Ray Ibbetson)
Shock of all shocks, it’s another pretty challenging tune to put out there. Thanks for taking the time to listen!
Part of me doesn’t want to tell you my version to keep it pure. But, that’s kinda what this “off the record” thing is all about, so…
DISCLAIMER: This song is YOURS, my interpretation is just that.
I would love to hear what it makes YOU think of. Please do get in touch!
First up, here is the final studio recording in all its glory, recorded with extremely talented producer Will Davies, at the beautiful Sutton Wood Studios, sat among the rolling green hills of Alresford, just outside of Winchester:
Here is the earliest demo I could find. I don’t think it’s the very first time I played it, but must be within a week or two. As you can see the words haven’t quite stumbled into their final form yet, and more reflect the handwritten notes below.
Note: the actual song starts at 01:55, you wanted behind-the-scenes so I left all the faffing at that start.
Original Lyrics
Final Lyrics
Thirty years old, got a lot to carry on
I booked in two seats for my baggage beside me
Then you came flying by chance the same time
And you came and sat beside and we both compared our lives
All the darkness and the light
In a moment we won’t mind
And you break remake your mind
A thousand times, a thousand lives
Do you remember that face
From a smile in a crowded place?
Like: “Hi”, “Hi”
Like: “Hi”, “Hi”
Thirty something with an undercurrent
With an expectation, with a hesitation
With an I’m still hoping, with a can’t believe my eyes
And you break remake your mind
A thousand times, a thousand lives
Do you remember that face
From a smile in a crowded place?
Like: “Hi”, “Hi”
Like: “Hi”, “Hi”
Thirty something
Thirty something
Thirty something
What do I see?
(It’s pretty literal)
An airport scene, sped up, like a long exposure shot with a guy stood still, with a huge crowd of travellers flowing around him like liquid.
Everything is a blur until he boards the plane and takes a seat by the window. Then she sits beside him. It’s a 3 seat aisle, so there’s an empty space between them. Their eyes meet. Smiles.
They feel a connection immediately and as the plane takes off they begin a conversation.
There is a spark for sure, words flow easily, but every time the spark emerges and he feels that shock of pleasure and excitement their combined luggage from the cupboard above falls onto the seat between them.
An impossible amount of luggage, somewhat akin to those endless flags that clowns, or dodgy magicians pull from their pockets.
They continually have to fight their way through it and stow it away again before they can continue the conversation. This happens for the duration of the flight.
Finally the plane lands and just like he’s in a dream the guy appears at the baggage claim, back amongst the crowd flowing around him, with zero memory of the connection he just made.
Then he sees her again. She’s the one still thing amongst the liquid crowd flowing between them.
He knows her, though he doesn’t quite know how. Their eyes meet.
She knows him. Simultaneously they wave, expressions a little askance.
Two separate points of stillness amongst the relentless blur of passersby.
And just like that the blur overtakes them both and it begins again.
An airport scene, sped up, like a long exposure shot with a guy stood still, with a huge crowd of travellers flowing around him like liquid.
Everything is a blur until he boards the plane and takes a seat by the window.
Then she sits beside him…
13/02/2026
“be better” LIVE recording
– I NEED YOUR VOICE –
Lyrics
If we could do a little better maybe just a little better baby we could get along
If we could do a little better maybe just a little better baby we could get along
If we could do a little better maybe just a little better baby we could get along
Along
If we could do a little better maybe just a little better baby we could get along
If we could do a little better maybe just a little better baby we could get along
If we could do a little better maybe just a little better baby we could get along
Along Along
Da da da da daaaaa
Da da da da daaaaaaaaaaaaa aaa aa a
I told you there weren’t many lyrics 🤪
05/02/2026
“into your eyes” LIVE recording
16/01/26
Thawed
Here are the private notes for: “Thawed”.
(Artwork by the fantastic Ray Ibbetson)
Ultimately this is a love song, but it’s pretty gut-wrenching. It’s begging to forever to stand still. It’s willing time to slow down. It’s love don’t leave me, please just see me, please. It’s a plea to stop listening to the incessant noise outside of us…
“Thawed, frozen snow, water on the floor.” sums it all up in a single line, a single image – just how quickly things can change. Time is short, another moment gone forever, and another, and another… Don’t waste a second on unnecessary pain, when it’s all so fucking hard anyway. Love is real, treasure it, please don’t die, don’t die, don’t die, don’t leave me all alone. Don’t leave me. Kinda screaming into the dark heart of it all. Animal wailing or as close to as I can manage in falsetto. Ouch, basically.
Here is a live performance of the complete song. No one trapped in a doomscroll loop is going to bother with the full track on socials. It’s bloody lovely to have an opportunity to find people that want to experience my music in more than 15 second snippets, thank you.
(The sound quality and the angle improve after a minute or so, when we switch camera)
This is literally the first time I played this song, before it was Thawed, before there were even written words (I saved it as “time is short – voicenote”). It was like 3am, my ex and I had had yet another horrendous and absurdly prolonged fight, throughout which I had protested my innocence for hours upon hours, upon hours. I was at borderline breaking point, again. I was at that point a hell of a lot.
It has taken and continues to take a toll.
My go to in times of emotional stress is to make music, I think that’s why it’s my imperative. It’s the way I learned to process over-stimulation, confusion and pain. Making some kind of sense out of the mess of conflicting brain zaps. So, that’s what happened. In the moment, I played her a song, this song.
It feels like: BELIEVE ME PLEASE. See you like I see you. Fucking “take my soul” levels of intense. You can hear it, I can still hear it. It’s viciously painful.
This first recording is meandering and messy and raw and real and, I think, pretty powerful. It’s kinda voyeuristic opening it up, it definitely wasn’t intended to be seen by anyone else. Listening to it now, it hurts in a very different way to when it originally fell out of me. A whole new ache, you know? The relationship smashed itself to bits in the end, inevitably, when I thought this song was about my forever…
Massive head-fuck, honestly. I’m sure you have had that experience yourself – the meaning of a song changing with time, It’s a strange sensation when it’s one of your own, and when you were just SO CERTAIN. It really challenges that idea of the coherent “self” over time, because it’s like listening back to a different person entirely. It sounds like grief now, my ode to what could have been. Time is short.
Original Lyrics
These were written a day or two after the voice-note. You can see I have already changed a few parts and quickly found the final structure. It was pretty much all there anyway, I just needed to cut out any meanderings and repetition, while keeping as much of the raw emotion intact as possible.
Final Release Lyrics
Thawed
Everybody else was a footnote
You were the intro, you were the beginning
Never end.
Keep telling stories that keep changing
Our campfire, bright embers
And time is short, and life is cold, but you melt me
Thawed, frozen snow, water on the floor
Time is short
You are calm, my serenity
You are wild, my ecstasy
Wrapped around my heart like your legs around my waist
Mouths pressed together hard, ‘til I can’t breathe
And time is short, and life is heavy
You’re my helium
High pitched squeals, 3am singing bowls
These are moments
These our moments
And time is short, and life is cold
But you melt me, but you melt me, but you melt me, life is heavy
And time is short, and life is cold, but you melt me
Thawed, frozen snow, water on the floor
Time is short
This was supposed to be the final song of an album dedicated to the relationship. My first coherent work. Ours. But ’twas not to be. I feel like it still sums up the reality of the finished piece, which I will share in its entirety early next year (a full year later than initially planned) but it sums it up, as I said, in a completely different way now. Time is short, don’t regret, life is what it is, treasure the best, take the lessons, forget the rest…
This was going to be the artwork for the album, our album. It’s a combination of moments we shared. It hurts to look at but it’s still pretty beautiful as a symbol of those fleeting, perfect, beyond fantasy moments. Love, love, love, is so very real, so very weird, so very animal and misunderstood. It won’t happen now, but I am happy I’m able to share it with you.
If you got this far, holy shit, thank you so much for those elusive eyes and ears of yours, I appreciate your attention, and I don’t want to be overly presumptuous, but I think we might just have found our people.
I promise I’ll keep sending you messages with more painfully honest music, or music adjacent bits and bobs. I want to genuinely, honestly connect with the people that truly care.
Please do get in touch, it would be lovely to get to know you better.
DAVIDD
P.S. Fancy a FREE SIGNED CD? Tap below!
davidd@notanotherdavidd.com