The first time I played a draft of Paradigm for Mikey he looked at me and said that he had no idea how he would add drums to what I created.
The first I played a draft of Paradigm for Emili she asked if the song really needed lyrics.
This is what they heard.
The song almost did not make it to the album. I thought about releasing it as an instrumental, but I always felt that with the right ingredients, the song would come alive.
And so it sat for many months.
Then one day Emili showed up with lyrics. Reading the lyrics alone made no sense. So I loaded the draft and had her sing along with it. Suddenly the song made sense. We recorded her scratch vocals along with the other songs and eventually a copy made its to Mikey and rest of the band.
I never did ask Emili what the lyrics are supposed to mean. I suppose it means something different to everyone.
When we got around to recording the drums, I still had no idea what Mikey was going to with the drums. The first time I heard his part was when I hit record on Pro Tools. Needless to say, I was amazed and pleased with what he created.
As we added the parts in the coming months the song finally took shape and became one of our favorites to play.
Here is the studio recording.
And finally, here is the live performance.
Enjoy.