The first song I wrote was "Look Both Ways Before You Cross" from Imaginaryland. I started the song by singing a bass line, "hoo hoo hoo hoo." Petra Haden More Quotes by Petra Haden More Quotes From Petra Haden I like things that start depressing and dark and end up romantic, and thats what I really loved about King Kong. Petra Haden depressing kings dark I always related my favorite music to the movies. Petra Haden favorite-music related my-favorite I remember watching Looney Tunes cartoons and having the music stuck in my head. Petra Haden tunes cartoon remember Harmony has always come very natural to us because we started singing harmony at an early age. We heard a lot of different music growing up. Petra Haden growing-up singing age The Conversation was a movie I saw probably for the first time in the early 2000s. I immediately loved the piano and just how simple it is. Petra Haden piano saws simple I played violin from when I was about eight to thirteen, so I could read a little bit, but if you put a piece of music in front of me now, I would probably know the notes, but not the timing, how they're supposed to be played, and I just don't know how to read chords. If I'd stuck with it, I'd probably have more jobs. Petra Haden eight pieces jobs I got a new 4-track cassette recorder a year or so after high school. For a while I would just stare at it thinking, how am I going to do this if I don't play guitar or keyboards? How am I going to write and record a song if I don't know how to play any instruments? I mean, I played the violin, but I didn't know anything about how to work a 4-track. Petra Haden writing song school I didn't know who Meredith Monk was, and I knew about Laurie Anderson but I didn't know her music that well. Petra Haden wells monk knows I put out Imaginaryland, I heard a lot of, "Oh she's copying Laurie Anderson," and I was like, wait... but I don't know her music! Maybe - didn't she have a song called "Superman"? Petra Haden copying waiting song Everyone knows about The Who, but I didn't. I knew the popular songs like "I Can See For Miles." So that was the first song I worked on because it was the catchiest and easiest. Petra Haden miles song firsts People want to hear clean sounds; they don't want to hear coughing in the background, pages turning. Petra Haden pages-turning sound people My grandparents on my mom's side played in a mandolin orchestra. So when I hear mandolins, I automatically think of them. Petra Haden grandparent mom thinking I've already done two cover albums. I don't know, maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to do another, but I just did the Led Zeppelin song for fun, and I thought I could do it kind of quick since songs that I love a lot I can do fast. Petra Haden song fun ideas Our dad played us a lot of old country songs by The Carter Family and he would sing along to it. I loved listening to him sing. Petra Haden dad song country My forte is playing along and singing along to music I love. I mean, who knows, maybe I could develop that knack or develop that ability to write, and I do actually co-write with people and friends, which is fun, too, because then I don't have to worry about writing lyrics, because for me writing lyrics is impossible. Petra Haden writing fun mean You have to be a poet to know how to write a song with lyrics. Petra Haden poet writing song I just recorded in studios, you know, people pressed the buttons for me. So I just started recording the bass lines and guitar parts with my voice, covering classical pieces, or just making up melodies so I could learn how to use it. Petra Haden guitar voice people Eventually I had so many little melodies and ideas that, you know, that they were all songs to me and I threw in a few cover songs like Enya's "Watermark," Bach, and my dad's song, "Song for the Whales." Petra Haden whales dad song I love the Bach Prelude No. 2 in C Minor and had that stuck in my head: why don't I put this on Imaginaryland? So I brought it to my friend Tom Grimley who recorded That Dog's first record. I played him all my a cappella pieces, and he said, "P, you should really make a record, it would be great! You can record it at my studio and I'll put it out!" Petra Haden pieces would-be dog I never punched in anything when I recorded Imaginaryland. Where the title came from is a whole other story. Petra Haden titles whole stories
