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Pierce Pettis

A Conversation with Pierce Pettis (continued)

PM: Since it's such a fiscal milestone in any songwriter's life, maybe you could tell me the story of "You Move Me," the song of yours that ended up on Garth's huge record, Sevens.

PP: Well, I'll tell you--it's kind of a strange history, but I'll give it to you as quick as I can.

PM: No, but I'm really interested, and I'm sure a lot of songwriters will be.

PP: Okay. Well, the origin of the song, I guess the first pieces of it, came to me around Christmas. It was the first Christmas I spent completely alone. I wasn't actually going through a great time. It was at the end of an extremely difficult year for me. And I was sitting at my kitchen table, and just started thinking of those first lines, and they were kind of funny. ["This is how it seems to me / Life is only therapy / Real expensive / And no guarantee..."] And later on, a month or so later, I got with Gordon Kennedy, and--

PM: Another remarkable guy.

PP: Oh, yeah, totally. I'm thinking it was the first--no, it wasn't the first time. Gordon and I had written couple tunes before that. But we got together, and he really liked the idea. But I don't know what I was using as a title, but it was something really kind of stupid. I can't remember what it was, something that didn't make any sense. And yet the lyrics, they were pretty far along. So Gordon just looked at it and said, "Well, why don't you just say, 'You move me,' because that's what you're saying. You're saying you're moved by this." And I thought, what a brilliant idea, because it was like when you think in English, when we say that we're emotionally impacted, we say we're transformed, we're picked up and put somewhere else. I thought what a great idea that it.

PM: Right.

PP: So that was kind of cool, Gordon just walking in and looking at it and going, "Oh, well, why don't you do that?" A perfect idea. But we worked on that. I think we got it written in about a day. And we both loved the song, but we also both felt, being Nashville, that probably nobody would ever take it seriously. I mean, it would be one of these things where the song pluggers would go, "Oh, that's nice. What else have you got?"

PM: Sure.

PP: But we both loved the song. So Gordon took it home and demoed it just for the pure pleasure of it. And I don't even know if we turned it in, to tell you the truth.

PM: Wow.

PP: I just don't recall. But Gordon had the song, and later on he was playing for Susan Ashton, he was her guitar player. And he knew she was looking for songs for an album. So he says, "Well, I got a couple of songs." And he played her that one and another one we'd written, and she loved them both. She ended up doing "You Move Me." And then here's where it really got strange: Susan got a gig singing backup for Garth Brooks.

PM: Unbelievable.

PP: Because Garth happened to be a big fan of hers. Garth is like that. Garth is a big fan of Buddy Mondlock. Garth is a lot more interesting than probably people--

PM: He's way more eclectic than anybody knows.

PP: Absolutely. Oh, he has great taste in music. I can tell you.

PM: I mean, he freaked out over Stephanie Davis, for one thing, whom you probably know. [See our review of the MT cowgirl.]

PP: Oh, he's covered Cheryl Wheeler songs, and Dylan songs.

PM: Yeah.

PP: I mean, he's done some great stuff. But at any rate, he has a real good ear, let's say that. So Susan gave Garth an advance copy of her album, which had "You Move Me" on it. And from what I understand, Garth just fell in love with the song and went out and cut it that weekend.

PM: Wow.

PP: And Gordon and I had no idea. We didn't know any of this. This is where it really gets funny. Gordon's brother, okay? You know the Kennedys, there's like a million of them--

PM: Right.

PP: Eight of them or so. I don't know. [laughs] But his brother, his big brother is real good buddies with Garth. They're friends, like they play basketball together. I mean, it's not a professional relationship, they're neighbors or something. So he was over at Garth's house, and Garth said, "Man, I got this great song I just cut. I want you to hear this." And it was our song. And Gordon's brother knew the song because Gordon had played it for him. He said, "Hey, that's my brother's song."

PM: Only in Nashville...

PP: And that's how Gordon found out that Garth was doing the song.

PM: And so, what, Gordon called you?

PP: Yeah, Gordon called me. And that was a real good day.

PM: [laughs] Unbelievable.

PP: Yeah.

[Curious to hear an mp3 sample of Gordon Kennedy doing a version of "You Move Me"? Go here, then click on "songs" on the left, and you'll arrive at a page where the sample awaits.]

PM: I remember one time I was in the studio with Gordon Kennedy, and he had a big beautiful red 335 Gibson. And I said, "Gee, that's a beautiful dot neck you got there, Gordon." And he said, "Frank, this was my dad's guitar. He cut 'Pretty Woman' on this guitar." And he started going, "Da da da da da da da da da." [the intro guitar part to "Pretty Woman"]

[laughter]

PP: Oh, man. I haven't seen Gordon in a couple of years. I need to give him a call sometime. But the thing about Gordon that's so cool is he grew up in a household where that sort of thing is normal. You know what I mean?

PM: Right.

PP: When he was at the Grammys, he met Jacob Dylan. And they hit it off, not because they shared fame and fortune, but the fact that their dads new each other.

PM: Wow.

PP: They went, "Hey, my dad worked with your dad." "Yeah." And they both had that same kind of a childhood. At Gordon's house it was normal for Roy Orbison to drop by, or Dylan, or whoever. These were just people who worked with his dad, that's all they were. So he's never really been affected by it in any way. I mean, Gordon is like the least starstruck person in the world. Because it's like with my dad, it's like meeting other Western Auto Dealers for me.

PM: [laughs]   continue

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