Recorded, mixed and mastered by Paul Fifield in Windsor, CA in 2023. Backing tracks created in Band-in-a-Box. Mixed and mastered in Logic Pro.
Vocals - Paul Fifield
Electric Bass - Byron House
Drums - Terry Clarke
Acoustic Piano - Mike LeDonne
Acoustic Rhythm Baritone Guitar - Oliver Gannon
Electric Soloist Guitar - Oliver Gannon
This song began as a chord progression I learned in a beginning jazz guitar class taught by Ed Johnson at Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto, CA, I think around 2009 or 2010. I didn’t last long in the class because I had trouble making the chord shapes but I loved one particular four chord progression I learned in the class, which I later built this song around. There’s a thing about songwriters you hear over and over again if you spend much time around them, and that’s that almost any experience, no matter how wonderful or how painful, is worthwhile if they get a song out of it. The painful part of this experience for me was the realization that I wasn’t ever going to work hard enough to be able to play those jazz chords with my big hands. But I got a song out of it! Initially I started with the concept of “it’s good to be king", and it was to be a satirical take on the misuse of presidential power, but I never got far with that, and eventually I just let the music inform me of what the song was about. And when I started down the path of “it’s good to be here” I had an image in my mind of a person being in a small boat on Lake Como in Italy with a new love interest on a perfectly beautiful day. But I had difficulty expressing that image in the few words available to me, and gradually I came to make it a less specific image and a more universal one. After all, it was the feeling I was after, and the feeling didn’t require a specific setting. Editing and editing and editing is a huge part of songwriting. - Paul Fifield
It’s Good To Be Here
© 2023 Paul Fifield All Rights Reserved
It's good to be here, alone with you
Sunlight on your hair, eyes so blue
Holdin’ hands and walkin
Ain’t no need for talkin’
Can’t think of anything I’d rather do
It's good to unwind, and gaze in your eyes
They sparkle and shine, reflecting the skies
I feel extraordinary
It’s not imaginary
A tantalizing slice of paradise
I wish this day would never end
Becoming so much more than friends
Your smile is gettin’ brighter
My heart is growin’ lighter
It’s almost more than I can comprehend
I wish this day would never end
Becoming so much more than friends
Your smile is gettin’ brighter
My heart is growin’ lighter
It’s almost more than I can comprehend
Such a good start, just we two
Stealin’ my heart, you know it’s true
Gentle breezes blowin’
Don’t care where we’re goin’
Just happy knowin’ I’m goin there with you