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Ric Neale: The Power Of Two by Indigo Girls
72 Plays1 year ago
“If my one survival song just reminds me of something that happened 20 years ago, then I’m not living my life right, right?”
Meet the lovely Ric Neale and his song choice, ‘The Power of Two’ by The Indigo Girls.
Ric Neale is a musician and performer whose shows spotlight his expert songwriting. He has taken his theatrical, heartfelt and often hilarious performances of his brand of piano songsmithery all over the country. His solo piano albums All That Counts, Pencil and Lullabies for Parents (a song cycle about parenting) show his ability to explore the extremities of the human condition using just his voice and a piano and the songs on these records are continually requested by his loyal audience. Ric has been invited to perform with Hue and Cry, David Mead, Jason Donovan, Divina De Campo and (weirdly) Tiffany. In 2023 he released the album Parting Ways inspired by the death of his lifelong friend to huge acclaim. It was the follow up to 2021’s collaborative album Connected/Disconnected which has already had over 800,000 streams on Spotify.
Outside of his solo work Ric worked as Songwriter, Musical Director and performer in the sell out show Dancing Bear with Jamie Fletcher and Company that toured The Leeds Playhouse and The Palace Theatre in Manchester and wrote and produced the Christmas album by Drag Queen and star of BBC’s Ru Paul’s Drag Race Divina De Campo. Ric continues to curate his piano residency MONOCHROME, a monthly piano night featuring himself and a host of internationally acclaimed performers. Ric toured the UK performing Ric Neale Does Pet Sounds in which he performed all of the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds with just piano and voice to celebrate its 50th anniversary. He followed this up with the ridiculously titled Whenever Ric Neale Somebody in which he did the same thing but for Rick Astley’s first solo album.
Help us a grow a community of survival song listeners by joining us on over on Substack:
https://survivalsongs.substack.com/
‘Power Of Two’ by Indigo Girls can be found on our community playlist on Spotify along with our listener’s Survival Songs. Check it out and add your own!
Find out more about Indigo Girls here:
This episode contains small portions of 'The Power Of Two' by Indigo Girls. Survival Songs claims no copyright of this work. This is included as a form of music review and criticism and as a way to celebrate, promote and encourage the listener to seek out the artists work.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Survival Songs'
00:00:01
Speaker
I'm Lydia. I'm Ed. We're friends with a playlist for everything. And it turns out, we both have one called survival songs. And he got us thinking, what are other people's survival songs? So we thought we'd find out. Welcome to Survival Songs. A podcast where each episode our guest tells us about a song that gets them through the best and worst of times. Sensitive topics might be discussed. So look after yourself. The show contains portions of copyrighted material. We'd love for you to support and celebrate the artists by streaming, downloading and buying their brilliant music. And go give our guests a follow on social media.
00:00:38
Speaker
Help us grow the community of survival song listeners by joining us over on Substack and add to our public playlist on Spotify. Links are in the show notes. We hope you enjoy the show.
Meet Rick Neal and His Musical Journey
00:00:50
Speaker
Welcome to Survival Songs. This week's guest is Rick Neal. Rick is a singer-songwriter based in Wakefield. His most recent album, Part in Waste, explores grief and friendship after the loss of his best friend. Rick is a regular live performer, touring his solo work and his music director for Davina da Campo, who he also co-writes with.
00:01:10
Speaker
He's also a lecturer of songwriting at Lee's Conservatoire. We'll speak to Rick in a minute, but before we do, let's hear a little bit of his survival song.
What is Rick Neal's Survival Song?
00:01:18
Speaker
This is Power of Two by The Indigo Girls.
00:01:30
Speaker
Chase all the ghosts from your head I'm stronger than a monster beneath your bed Smarter than a trick's blade or no Look at them together then we'll take them apart Adding up the total of all if that's true Multiply life by the power of two So that was Power of Two by The Indigo Girls, and that was the survival song of our guest today, Rick Neal. Hello, Rick. Hello, Ed. How are you doing? You OK? Good. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. It is, of course, my pleasure. um So tell me, when did you come across that song? When when did it arrive in your life?
00:02:10
Speaker
I heard that song at the end of the second year of university. I studied at Bretton Hall, which is no longer a thing. And I heard it because our mutual friend Danny Cope, in fact, um played it to me. And I absolutely loved it. And I remember, and this shows you how long ago it was, that I kind of begged him to send me, to post me a cassette with it recorded on so I could listen to it throughout the summer. And obviously he did because it's down here and he's very reliable. um But yeah, I mean, that shows, there was no MP3s to email. There weren't even emails really, um but um but yes. And then I just devoured it throughout that summer.
00:02:50
Speaker
it Home taping is killing music though. Yeah, exactly. Who knew? Who knew? And ah why, you know, you're saying sort of you had ah that reaction to it. What what like what was it about it that made you kind of go, oh my God, I've got to listen to it. I've got to have this. I've got to own it on tape. um A lot of things. Songs tend to hit me because I'm a musician, I make music and I and i i lecture in music as well. So I i kind of have become I always have been very kind of analytical about music and now and again there are songs that, that sort of quell that analytical part of me that are so entirely emotive. I stopped thinking about chords and technique and all this kind of thing that just for whatever reason, they slow my breathing down. They kind of slow my heart rate down. And that's what this song did then as it still does now. And I think one of the reasons why,
00:03:40
Speaker
this song kind of was it the one I have picked for our conversation today, is that it has kind of grown with me. So the things I loved about it then aren't necessarily the things that I love about it now, if that makes sense. Yeah. yeah So what is it now that you love, that that you you think is different to when you were younger? I think um this there's a lot of wisdom in this song. And wisdom is one of those sort of weird words, isn't it, that kind of suggests that it's kind of this earnest, I am telling you what to do, which I don't think this song does. But I think the thing the main thing that's changed about it is...
00:04:16
Speaker
is that the kind of my understanding of love
The Evolving Meaning of Music
00:04:19
Speaker
has changed. right That's why this song is great because it is about love. and When you asked me to pick a survival song, I sort of started to think about what survival really means. and If I was like you know in the woods and I was given something to survive with, like You'd pick a bottle of water, right? Or you'd pick like ah a pen knife. And the reason you pick those things is because they do lots of things that can help you. The water you can drink, you can wash, you can so you can heat it and steam and cook with it. Like, it's got all of these different uses. And I think this song, that's what made me think of this song. Because actually, my understanding of love has changed. At the time when I first heard this, it was like, oh, wouldn't it be nice to be in a like romantic relationship that was like this?
00:05:03
Speaker
But now the lessons that that song has made me come to understand about love have made me a better friend, a better father, a better teacher, a better band mate, a better musician. You know, it just, it's very respectful of the thing I need the most when I'm lost in the woods. And that is love. Because sometimes, yeah, you have quite an emotional reaction to music and sometimes yet that those emotions are really strong, but as you grow up, you move away from those records. And they're nice and you love them because they're a kind of connection back to the old days. But the ones that stay with you and you keep needing are the ones that sort of grow, like you say, grow with you. I always think of Sit Down by James. Yeah. Because like when I was a kid, I just loved it because it was, you know, it's big, anthemic track. It's great. It's a big banger. But it's, you know, and as I've grown, I've sort of realized what the lyrics are actually about. You know, it's about kind of
00:05:58
Speaker
about depression and it's about it's I've always said it's like an anthem for depression it's a sort of song about like actually understanding that we're not alone in this kind of feeling weird and sad and and and that and I never really got that until I'm I was older and and actually now when I point that out to people of my age of which you are people go Oh, yeah. I never really thought that. I just sort of sit down. That's nice, you know, like, you know, and I think, yeah, those those songs you sort of take with you and and almost like love more as you get older are ah rare things. When you first asked me about the survival songs, I mean, obviously, I mean, first of all, I really hate you for making me any big one. Yeah, most that was yeah yeah that was that was not easy. and But a lot of the songs that I did pick were ones that did exactly that, that were ones that were like little keys back to
00:06:45
Speaker
a memory or a person or whatever. And I sort of like when actually that's worthless to me. Do you know what I mean? Like it's worth a lot obviously. But if my one survival song is just reminds me of something that happened 20 years ago, then I'm not living my life right, right? Because I'm just living in the past, you know? So it's finding those things that are still relevant to me now. And I consider will probably be relevant to me in the next 20 years.
Legacy and Relationships Over Fame
00:07:10
Speaker
If I make it that long. Yeah, I mean, what makes it your survival song now? There's lots of lyrics in it that absolutely floor me, right? And that idea of, if we ever leave a legacy, it's that we loved each other well. Like that is a, I mean, come on. If we ever leave a legacy, it's that we loved each other well.
00:07:36
Speaker
Like this idea of legacy, I think one of the things that gets us excited about music when we're teenagers or having a life like the ones that we've been fortunate to have, there is this kind of, my music will live forever. There's this massive self-importance thing with it. And I'm going to sell out shows. I'm going to do all these things. I'm going to change people's lives. And I've been lucky to have been able to do some cool stuff, right? um but my actual legacy is how I've treated people. And it's that reminder. It's not just you know how well I've treated, for example, my wife, but it's how well I've treated my friends like yourself or how well I have treated you know students that I've worked with or you know sound technicians that I've met for one night. like it's like It's about
00:08:22
Speaker
how we look after each other, right? And I think that that, like, songs like this have forced me to have that written all the way through me, like the words in a sticker rock. Like, it's it still reminds me of that now. So it's kind of like I'm almost like a man-trooper song. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. That's true. and And I also think I'm just getting the lyrics up right now so I can be really, really specific. yeah The other line, there's this idea of being in relationship or loving something or like having kids or being married. That's the, that's the classic that people kind of go, I sort of don't want to be tied down. I want to be like, you know, free and young. I'm sure that that's lots of, you know, lots of fun things, but.
00:09:00
Speaker
That idea that actually by attaching yourself to something and committing to a thing, you find freedom that you wouldn't otherwise wouldn't have had. And that line, ah and the closer I'm bound in love to you, the closer I am to free, like, yeah, it's great. You know, you need those people and it doesn't have to be marriage. It can just be, you know, it can be a partner, it can be a best friend, it can be we can be a dog, you know, it can be whatever. But the fact is in committing to something, in loving something, you are actually affording yourself more space to express yourself and you're finding more freedom than you kind of would otherwise. um So yeah, I carry that with me all the time. is it what i find it What I found interesting about listening to this record was that, and you sort of said, oh, it made you a fan, you know, it sort of made you stop being analytical about music. But actually what's really odd is that when I hear it, I go, oh, this totally makes sense that it's a Rick Nelson, because actually there's a lot, I can hear lots of things that you are very
00:09:55
Speaker
particular to your music, ah which is, its it has a very sort of musical sensibility, if that makes sense. It's very, it moves, it shifts, it's got kind of some interesting chords. So there is definitely some of its DNA within your, so as much as it's sort of sat as a kind of, a piece of ah kind of emotional and music that you're a fan of, it's definitely feels like it's informed the work
Rick's Music and Its Impact
00:10:17
Speaker
you've done as well. Oh, a million percent. Yeah. I mean, it has. And I think that, Really, our jobs, and not just in music, but in our anyway, is invariably what we're trying to do is musicify, which is not a word, ah is to musicify emotional things that are happening to us, whether that is, I've been dumped by someone or I've heard this song, like it is an emotional thing that we then need to kind of try and add technique to, to then execute a song that will achieve the same thing in our listener, right? ah So there's definitely ah points where I've emotionally tried to mirror that.
00:10:50
Speaker
And I think um there's so there's there are some very specific techniques in there that when I kind of listen back, I go, or like, so ah this is a really nerdy one, but, you know, hey, we're all friends, right? Absolutely. ah Like I remember it was the first time that I ever heard ah like a semantic field used properly. So like a semantic field is when you pick language that shares a particular connotation, right? So the kind of idea of, at the end of each chorus, adding up the total of a love that's true multiplied by love by power of two is adding multiplication and power of two. We've got this mathematic semantic field that makes the arrival of that power of two, it like underlines the double meaning of that. And I remember it being the first time, like the second or third listen, I was like, Oh yeah. Oh, right. Okay. And I do that absolutely loads and loads and loads. I mean, I've stolen the hell out of that. um But yeah, there's loads of cool things. There's bits like, um I love the stronger and smarter in the chorus. It's a classic thing that I would then go on to copy a great deal.
00:11:48
Speaker
And even just the these use of pronouns where at the beginning when they're separate it's I and you and then it becomes we as soon as they get in the car. Like it's it's really simple things. But also something that I have absolutely wholesale stolen from this song is it feels like that line that I made reference to that if we ever leave a legacy that we loved each other well. It kind of almost feels like that's the essay question. Do you know what I mean? It feels like that's the bit in the middle of the piece of paper with a cloud around it. yeah You know? yeah And the the fact that it's kind of hidden lay on.
00:12:20
Speaker
like I think as a younger musician, I would have gone, right, well, let's make that the chorus and we're just going to repeat it a thousand times. yeah But actually the fact that it's kind of hidden late on is something I do loads. So in there's my song, um ah We Don't Care About The Rain, and the line in that that does exactly the same job is, um we can never get lost if we're lost together, which was the first line I had for it. and Originally, that was going to be like all over the title, but the fact that I kind of hide it at the back end of the middle section, I think means you find it when you've already got a relationship with the song, which is what happened with me and that one.
00:13:04
Speaker
It's interesting you mention We Don't Care About The Rain because for me that's definitely become a survival song. and and i I was struggling a bit last year and you actually texted me that line and so it's actually which is one of the reasons why it's become one of my survival songs because you texted me that line to kind of as sort of like it's alright I've got you and and it's so funny that that links to that song that links to the you know the song that you had and obviously you wrote that song from a really personal space because it's about Lee who was your best friend who died and that kind of informed your album and so kind of that like you say that musical legacy isn't just ah a kind of like a monolithic thing it's an interwoven thing yeah absolutely yeah that's a nice way of thinking about it like that difference between because that is it when you're a teenager and you're kind of starting to make music that but that monolithic idea is absolutely but actually it's about it's about relationship and you know I sound like a stuck record but it is about love
00:13:58
Speaker
It is about the connection, that interwovenness, that's what it is. Absolutely.
Rick's New Projects and Online Presence
00:14:04
Speaker
Rick, thanks so much for joining us today. i'm Before you go, what are you doing at the moment? what you know Tell the people. ah Well, I just i released an album called Parting Ways last year that we've we've referred to that was all about this all about grief and friendship and was inspired by the death of my best friend and that is in all the places that you'd expect to hear music. It was very well mastered by you. Well, thank you. ah I'm just gigging all the time, so I've got a few headline shows coming up, but it depends when you listen to this. So I would say the best thing to do is follow me on the usual places. Rick Neal, R-I-C-N-E-L-E. Excellent. Thanks, Rick. Take care.