Swallowing You Xmas Version

This is the pre-Atkins/Invisible records demo for "Swallowing You". When I first heard Atkins version, I was nearly in tears. He had brought up the middle 8 bit where I said:

"I watched the sun come up over the tower blocks and cried for what could have been. Is it real or is it just an illusion?".

Originally, I had meant that section to be an incoherent mumbly bit. It was supposed to have that murmuring quality of prayer or what you might hear in a church congregation. When I recorded it, I wasn't even aware of what I was saying! It was meant to be mixed low in the track. So when I heard the Atkins mix it was my first time hearing what I actually said. I was mortified! I begged Atkins to lower that section. But he said he liked it. I fully expected to be crucified by every critic and music lover on the planet and punished eternally in hell for the cheeziness of those 2 lines. Whenever people came up to me and told me they liked the song, I would say "Thank you", but when they turned their back, I secretly suspected they were lying! But then,we artiiiiiiiiistes do tend to be a little overly dramatic don't we?

Steve Crittal plays bass on this track and is one of the unsung heroes of the music scene. Steve has for years been a stalwart defender of quality and integrity in music. For Steve, life and art are inseparable. Many have attempted to urge Steve to drop his idealism and become more the commercial man. But Steve will only work on stuff he likes and with people he likes. You can hear this in Steve's playing. The warmth and strength in his bassline really makes the track. For this I salute Steve and think sometimes he doesn't get the credit he deserves.

In fact, I sometimes feel guilty because the singer gets the lions share of credit. Great music experiences are made possible with the contributions of many:

Singer
Sonwriter
Musicians
Rehearsal studio owners & employees
Managers & staff
Agents
Sound Engineers
Producers
Recording Studio owners & staff
Record company owners & staff
Magazine owners & staff
Website owners & staff
Publicists & staff
Venue Owners & Employees
Bus Drivers
Parking attendants
Ticket Salespeople
Web Designers
Waiters/Waitresses
Hotel owners and staff
Airline owners and staff
Farmers and butchers and bakers
Inventors of technology - both past and present
Audiences and appreciators who support music financially
Spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends and family of all of the above
etc.
etc.
etc.

This list goes on and on and on and eventually includes everyone and everything both past and present. In short, there is interconnectiveness everywhere and art does not come from one source, but from many. We humans seem to prefer focusing our love and appreciation. Rather than love everybody and everything, we choose to beam our love upon a narrow corridor of the real source... which is everything.

So I probably shouldn't feel guilty. The problem is not that I am getting too much love, attention and credit. It's that everyone else isn't getting enough!

Therefore, if you've come to this site and wish to thank, praise or show love for the music, Please remember to heap praise, thanks and love to everyone you come across today and especially... to yourself!

Meg Lee Chin

P.S. - Oh and BTW, feel free to can carry on with the praise, thanks and love to me too! It is much appreciated. :)