Even if
The 65-year-old rocker tells BarrieToday he used to have a place in Collingwood and bring his kids up there when he had custody, and when friends called from
Of course, Mitchell has played this town a number of times, including some New Year’s Eves, recalling with laughter how the snow came down on his audience so heavily – “with really big flakes” -- that formed “coneheads” on listeners of all ages, including kids on their dads’ shoulders.
Back to Patio Lanterns for a minute; it’s about a dance with your puppy love, and a moment to treasure, all shy and nervous. Who’d be the first to dance? Who’d be the first to kiss, amid the backdrop of patio lanterns?
Kim Mitchell says the song from his 1986 album, Shakin’ Like a Human Being was “written about a moment”, and recalls pulling out of his driveway in his Ford van, “which had 400-thousand kilometres on it,” when his lyricist Pye Dubois handed him a sheet and urged him to read it.
A few blocks down the road, Mitchell did so, then, in a kind of corny, VH1 Behind the Music sort of incident, pulled over to the side of the road, pulled out his guitar and jotted down a few chords. The tune was born, and while it hasn’t become Mitchell’s most popular, don’t rule out hearing it on New Year’s Eve outside
Kim was called in 1985 for David Foster’s Northern Lights projects to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. He recalls the stars arriving in their limousines, and himself getting off the streetcar.
“Foster was in charge, and he’s a perfectionist. Neil Young sings his line, and David says it sounded a bit flat, but Neil counters, ‘it’s the way I sing, man’.”
Kim doesn’t see that mass of talent assembling for one cause, adding that most artists have their pet projects to which they devote time, effort and money.
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