I wrote Caroline several years ago. It's the first time I've written a song where the melody has come into my head first - the chorus - and I've worked out the chords and built up the song around it, creating a narrative for that chorus to inhabit. I was very pleased with it once it was done and keen for it to be one of the songs we did with the band. I was aware that, musically, it jumped around and changed key quite a bit but Jo was more than up to smoothing an easy path through it and Ben marking the movements with just the right changes of emphasis to the rhythm.
Caroline was among the songs we performed at Fringe by the Sea in 2023 and an old friend, Stevie, was among the audience. I hadn't seen Stevie for decades but had him on social media and was aware of work he was doing as a collaborator, a solo musician and as keyboard/pianist for The Proclaimers. At some point during the ensuing afternoon of banter, Stevie said something along the lines of 'if you ever want some keyboards on any of that...'
A couple of months later I got back in touch with Stevie to see what might be possible. A few weeks after that I was down at Stevie's house recording guitar and vocals for Caroline. Stevie added piano at his leisure and those gorgeous opening refrains. Tiny wee touch of strings too. We took the multitrack recordings up to Tonegarden studios at Summerhall in Edinburgh for Jo and Ben to add their parts - Rob Henderson keeping us all on track there with his fizzy wizardy. And back to Stevie's for a final touches of production and mixdown.
Caroline will be released on all streaming platforms and on the RB3 Bandcamp page on
7 March 2025.
7 March 2025.
I'm so proud of this song; how it sounds now with input from those amazing people who lavished it with their special talents. I hope you will like it too.
