Hootie's "Old Man & Me"
Cris Cohen: I've always loved that, in the midst of “Old Man & Me,” you guys break it down, where it's just the drums and bass for a bar or two. I'm wondering how that came about, because it's got this great feel to it, with you and Dean going at it.
Jim "Soni" Sonefeld of Hootie & The Blowfish: The first time we ever recorded that was up at Reflection Sound Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina.
We had been writing and performing for probably a couple of years when that song came onto the scene. Darius brought it in. But we knew that there were moments you could create in an arrangement. And one of those moments is… let's break it down to just bass and drums.
I don't remember how we came up with that idea, or if it might have even come across naturally. Maybe Mark sat out for that portion and allowed the lead bassist and lead drummer to have a moment. I don't remember how it came, but it worked.
It worked in the first recording on our EP called Kootchypop from ‘93. And then we didn't record that again until the Fairweather Johnson album.
It would have been a nice song for Cracked Rear View. It got bypassed. I don't know why. I think we wanted to put in a couple of newer songs on there.
But that period between ‘93 and ‘96 had a lot of good music that had been tested in front of audiences. And we knew they worked. “Old Man & Me” was one of those. People started moving when they heard it, even if they hadn't known it before.
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