Growing Up – Song Writing – Song Writing John Hardy

This is the first track of my EP Our Mate John. It was specifically written to be part of a group of songs I had about caravan factories, drinking in parks, manual labour and young love.

The other songs had come organically and weren’t set up, unlike Growing Up which was written because I thought I needed one like this. All of the other songs were about growing up, so lyrically this just came about as a accumulation of all the other songs. As I’ve said in another blog I always thought this was the weakest of the songs from a song writing perspective; the chorus felt too easy. However, the recording process really elevated what I thought of this song and playing it live over the years people have really responded to it, often quoting lines back to me after the gig.

I put this podcast together to talk through how it was pulled together – I hope you enjoy, it’s only as long as the song (about 3 ½ mins).