Sarah Harmer
The eco-activist and graceful Ontario singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer, who plays Massey Hall this weekend, speaks about her song Washington, a thoughtful track from her critically-applauded album Oh Little Fire, released this summer. The song concerns her regret over the decision not to attend the Obama presidential inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2009.
I didn't go to Washington; instead I swept the floor.
"A couple of friends of mine decided to make the cold trip down, overnight, so they could be there in the morning for the big day on the mall. It was indecision on my part not to go with them - not feeling spontaneous. I woke up the next morning and regretted not accompanying them. I wrote some of the song that day; I got the melody right away. It took a day or two, on and off, to finish it - which was quick compared to some of the other songs on the album."
Cause the fire needed tending and the windows are so wide/ Sometimes I feel I'm in the world when I'm looking from inside.
"I think the song kind of mirrored my reluctance to kind of get out there in the world. President Obama talked about idle hands during his speech. That spoke to me, even though, from a public perspective, I do get out there. But there are times when I feel that I'm just an observer."
I hope you don't need snow tires through the Pennsylvania night.
"It's in C, a pretty tried-and-true key. An A minor is in there as well - that's the reflective minor chord that makes an appearance quite frequently. There's no chorus to the song, which is unique for me. It wasn't intentional; it just came that way. There is an instrumental, so that breaks up the three verses a little bit."
I didn't go, I said no, I said no when you asked/ The only things I'm feeling, are the empty minutes pass.
"We found that when we recorded it, that the song worked better with a bare bones arrangement. So it has really straight-up drums - thick and warm sounding, but very simple. We used an electric guitar tone to fill up most of the space. Otherwise, it would have been only bass and myself playing an acoustic guitar."
The sun came up and moved around, it's down behind a cloud.
"It breaks down in the third verse. That's something I frequently do on the final verse. It clears out a little bit, and then it builds to a kind of finale. On the line "the sun comes up" there's a nice swell on the Hammond organ."
I didn't go to Washington, and you'll be almost there by now.
In virtually every other song on the record, I did the vocal and the acoustic guitar separately. What I would do is record what is called a ghost track, so that the drummer gets to know the form of the song. And then, later, we would go back and replace the vocals and replace the guitar. But when we went to do that with Washington, we could never replace the feel of the vocal and guitar. So, we decided to go with the original vocal-and-guitar take. That's often the way. The magic is usually caught in the first take or two."
Sarah Harmer plays Drayton, Ont., Wednesday; St. Catharines, Ont., Thursday; Toronto, Saturday; and Kingston, Nov. 22.
This interviews has been edited and condensed.