Notes from a Waitress
by Belle Plaine
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Notes from a Waitress
Belle Plaine's first full-length nine song CD comes in a two column 100% recycled paper board sleeve printed with vegetable based ink adorned with beautiful imagery and song lyrics. It also includes a 10 page lyric booklet.
Includes immediate download of 9-track album in your choice of MP3 320, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire. -
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Digital Album
Immediate download of 9-track album in your choice of MP3 320, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.Buy Now $9 CAD or more
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Sweet Tart
02:39
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Maybe Winter
02:10
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Port Angeles
03:06
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Vegas
04:28
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Waikiki
03:22
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Old Love
02:37
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Legendary
03:04
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about
“If Patsy Cline and Blossom Dearie had a love child she would sing like Belle Plaine. Belleʼs voice is old timey and jazzy. It has twang, crystal bells and swing. You listen to this voice, and all of a sudden your cheatinʼ heart has a very dry martini in hand, and youʼre hearing something both timeless and brand new.”
- Kelley Jo Burke, host of CBCʼs SoundXchange
Belle Plaine’s first full-length album, Notes from a Waitress, is a throwback to the vocal jazz of the 1960s. Think Peggy Lee. Julie London. Smart lyrics paired with a smokin’ band.
The theme for Notes from a Waitress originated while Belle Plaine was overseas. Each song reads as a travelogue from different locales, and the listener pockets them one by one, like souvenirs from a globetrotting journey.
The title track was written while working as a waitress in Sydney, Australia. It was a dodgy restaurant with cockroaches, overly friendly cooks and the nocturnal visits of rodents. “It’s a mystery anyone ate there, let alone why it was so busy,” she says. The song is a memento of her time in the service industry, and the tempo reflects the hectic pace of the popular haunt.
Midway through the album is the atmospheric “Vegas”. After she found an abandoned page of handwritten poetry in the street, Belle worked the few legible lines into a fictitious tour of the famous desert city. The ghostly mood of the song is set by the eerie tones of a vintage Premier vibraphone.
The album’s opener “Sweet Tart” is about as catchy they come. “It was supposed to be cheeky. A snarky response to unwanted advances. The irritating irony is that it’s really who I am as a girlfriend: a tarted up version of a 1950s housewife,”
she explains.
A number of the tracks were brought to life by collaborations with pianist Jeremy Sauer. The co-writing process often found them both at the piano: Belle singing lyrics and melodies from ragged notebooks, and Jeremy composing the complex chord changes that support the tunes.
Belle chose producer/engineer Doug Organ (Colleen Brown, Ann Vriend) of Edmontone Studio to produce the album. She recruited a band of fellow Grant MacEwan alumni for the studio recording. The result of their combined efforts is nine original songs that add to the tradition of the classic jazz standards.
- Kelley Jo Burke, host of CBCʼs SoundXchange
Belle Plaine’s first full-length album, Notes from a Waitress, is a throwback to the vocal jazz of the 1960s. Think Peggy Lee. Julie London. Smart lyrics paired with a smokin’ band.
The theme for Notes from a Waitress originated while Belle Plaine was overseas. Each song reads as a travelogue from different locales, and the listener pockets them one by one, like souvenirs from a globetrotting journey.
The title track was written while working as a waitress in Sydney, Australia. It was a dodgy restaurant with cockroaches, overly friendly cooks and the nocturnal visits of rodents. “It’s a mystery anyone ate there, let alone why it was so busy,” she says. The song is a memento of her time in the service industry, and the tempo reflects the hectic pace of the popular haunt.
Midway through the album is the atmospheric “Vegas”. After she found an abandoned page of handwritten poetry in the street, Belle worked the few legible lines into a fictitious tour of the famous desert city. The ghostly mood of the song is set by the eerie tones of a vintage Premier vibraphone.
The album’s opener “Sweet Tart” is about as catchy they come. “It was supposed to be cheeky. A snarky response to unwanted advances. The irritating irony is that it’s really who I am as a girlfriend: a tarted up version of a 1950s housewife,”
she explains.
A number of the tracks were brought to life by collaborations with pianist Jeremy Sauer. The co-writing process often found them both at the piano: Belle singing lyrics and melodies from ragged notebooks, and Jeremy composing the complex chord changes that support the tunes.
Belle chose producer/engineer Doug Organ (Colleen Brown, Ann Vriend) of Edmontone Studio to produce the album. She recruited a band of fellow Grant MacEwan alumni for the studio recording. The result of their combined efforts is nine original songs that add to the tradition of the classic jazz standards.
credits
released 27 January 2012
Belle Plaine - Vocals
Jeremy Sauer - Piano
Peter Belec - Electric Guitar
Dan Churchill - Bass
Fred Brenton - Drums
Doug Hoyer - Ukulele
Bob Tildesley - Trumpet
Doug Organ - Vibraphone
Produced by Doug Organ
Engineered & Mixed by Doug Organ at Edmontone Studio
Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtle Tone Studios
Belle Plaine - Vocals
Jeremy Sauer - Piano
Peter Belec - Electric Guitar
Dan Churchill - Bass
Fred Brenton - Drums
Doug Hoyer - Ukulele
Bob Tildesley - Trumpet
Doug Organ - Vibraphone
Produced by Doug Organ
Engineered & Mixed by Doug Organ at Edmontone Studio
Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtle Tone Studios
tags
license
all rights reserved
feeds
feeds for about
Belle is an acoustic guitar-playing, storytelling vocalist. Though raised on AM country radio, she was always drawn to ... more Motown and the unforgettable voice of Ella Fitzgerald. Belle studied jazz at Edmontonʼs Grant MacEwan University. Adventure soon drew her to Victoria and then love pulled her Australia. Music brought her home to Canada where she has since performed over 100 shows. less
discography
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Jan 2012 -
May 2011
contact / help
For help with downloads, click here.
For all other inquiries, including help with merch, click here.
Redeem download codes here.
- Track Name: Sweet Tart
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SWEET TART
Hankewich/Sauer
I pin my hair up baby.
Flowers, baubles,
Maybe you’d like me for your girl?
Oh, we could dance real slowly.
Sugar, we’re the only two in the world.
And as the night is falling
Arm in arm we’re strolling home.
I kiss your lips so sweetly,
Show you all my secrets
Til the moonlight’s gone.
I’ll be your sweet tart, baby.
I’ll be your sweet tart, baby.
I’ll be your sweet tart, baby.
All the fun’s at home.
And if the weather gets colder
I’ll cuddle up closer.
Let your loving keep me warm.
Or if the evening is a scorcher
Bourbon on the porch.
You can bet you’ll always know
I won’t be coy or shy.
Angel, I could never deny
That I’m your sweet tart, baby.
And all the fun’s at home.
Don’t want no long stemmed roses
Waiting on my doorstep.
Chocolate, gems or all the rest.
I’ll sing for you a new song.
I’ll put your favourite dress on.
Life could be so easy,
Throw your worries to the breeze
And kiss my neck. - Track Name: Notes from a Waitress (Thanks Bulgakov)
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NOTES FROM A WAITRESS (THANKS BULGAKOV)
Hankewich/Sauer
Fried eggs over-easy,
Long stretch of work days.
Strain a smile for good measure
Or coins cast aside.
Well, I avoid working weekends
And the cook’s wandering hands.
But one or the other sneaks up on me
Gets me from behind.
Scrape the plates, order’s up.
Dirty ashtrays, coffee cups.
A bleached out apron and free grub,
Set aside a plate for the bums.
Well, there’s no interesting detail
‘Bout my day that I can reveal.
I’m smarter than this job demands
And it’s taking up all my time.
I count the cash. I wipe the table.
Write up the daily special.
Soup of the day, try soup of the week.
Round here it’s all second grade fresh.
Ask the kitchen hand if just once
He’d mop the floor, sweep up the crumbs.
See I got a wink from table six
And a free drink when I’m off.
Ring the bell, stab the bill on the spike.
Curse the dishwasher’s name with a venomous spite.
The son of a bitch he called in sick
For the second time this week.
Pay-outs over time, Xs and Zs.
Extra shift to make the rent.
Countdown hours and watch the clock.
Slam the door and key the lock.
Put a pen to the crossword
When the regulars have been served.
I run out for a cigarette
Soon as I can buy the time.
And the owner, well that’s a tough one.
I’m sure he’s an alright guy.
His wife seems sweet with two kids to feed,
But that’s not what’s on my mind.
I’m busted out flat broken.
I’ve taken to smoking.
And it’s a lucky draw the cook’s a generous sod
Cause I can’t afford my own.
And it pains me to imagine
These could be my best years yet.
Cause I’d hazard to bet
Like your dollars and cents
They’re really just misspent.
Oh, I’d hazard to bet
Like your dollars and cents
They’re really, oh, just misspent. - Track Name: Maybe Winter
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MAYBE WINTER
Hankewich/Sauer
Maybe winter won’t be so long this year.
I got a new place, put on fresh face.
Maybe winter won’t be so long this year.
Maybe winter won’t be so cold this time.
Seeing as I’m stuck here, I got some new ideas.
Maybe winter won’t be so long this year.
Oh, the winter wind how she chills my bones.
Makes me feel so tired and alone.
There must be people keeping warm,
Wrapped by the television in lover’s arms.
Oh, maybe winter won’t be so long this year. - Track Name: Port Angeles
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PORT ANGELES
Hankewich/Sauer
There’s still a flicker left in Port Angeles,
Across the water the lights shine on through.
And on a quiet night you can hear the engines
On the ocean swaying under the moon.
He was a blind cook’s son from the east coast.
She fell in deeper than she knew.
Oh, there’s some things you see approaching,
But life just doesn’t always turn out
The way you wanted it to. - Track Name: Vegas
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VEGAS
Hankewich
Took a shine to your style
Before I even knew you.
Took a drive down to Vegas
For three days of girls and lights.
I thought I knew
That these all night diners
Only bring out the worst of surprises.
There’s an edge to your smile
And in spite I look right through you.
If my cards come out right
And chance pays out
To this poisoned gin soaked fool.
And the best of one liners
Won’t get me through all of my nights here.
He said “It’s a tough crowd tonight
And they won’t even fake a listen.
This town’s for working girls.
Dried up queens whose chance has missed them.”
And the waitress sees
What these neon lights are doing to me.
And it’s nice, but it ain’t no Cadillac.
And it’s nice, but it ain’t no Cadillac.
And with one good stroke of luck
Oh, I’ll be on the road by sun up.
Took a shine to your style
Before I even knew you.
Took a drive down to Vegas
For three days of girls and lights.
I thought I knew. - Track Name: Waikiki
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WAIKIKI
Hankewich/Sauer
Oh Waikiki, what’s left for me?
Your buildings dwarf your palm trees.
Pigeons patter on the roof,
America has stolen your truth.
I want to know what’s underneath
This holiday town.
I want to know the air I breathe
Ain’t polluted from the ground.
Well, nature isn’t what it was,
Yet folks like me still are drawn
To fantasies of waters clear
And images on souvenirs.
I want to see a hula girl
Shake it for all she’s got.
I want some authenticity
To justify this stop.
But there’s a little truth
Of which I’m aware.
I took a plane to get me here.
I ain’t no better than the rest,
Just another casualty at best.
Oh so Waikiki, please forgive me.
I’ll try to tread lightly.
It’s just a stopover,
Just a couple of nights.
I’ll be off again on tomorrow’s flight. - Track Name: Old Love
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OLD LOVE
Hankewich/Sauer
Our meeting was a thing of chance.
A train station inspired romance.
A song for me, a song for you.
Old love, old love
Remember when our love was new.
No time to take a second look
With my heart surely on the hook.
Cast the role of cupid’s fool.
Old love, old love
Remember when our love was new. - Track Name: Legendary
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LEGENDARY
Hankewich
It’s legendary how this
Imaginary scenario plays out.
When the winds of the coast blow
The scent of the roses
Into our dreams when we sleep.
Remember warm summer nights.
Walks through the tide
Under a canopy of silver stars.
How sweet just to be
Alone with our dreams.
May the day never come when we part.
It’s legendary how this
Imaginary scenario plays out.
But wasn’t it a ride with you by my side?
Oh darling, what we once were.
Oh darling, what we once were. - Track Name: To the Best of Our Memories
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TO THE BEST OF OUR MEMORIES
Hankewich
My regrets to you, but I must break the news.
We’re at the end of the attraction.
But I hope you’ll admit
When you look back on it,
The price was well worth the action.
In regards to what’s passed
Let’s all raise a glass
And toast to the best of our memories.
Only oceans decide the turning of the tide
And so goes life for each person.
So you see it’s nonsense
For you dear to take offense
When I say for us it’s time for curtains.
All things that will be must end naturally
Well, it simply stands to reason.
So like a bird on a wing
Or how the breeze brings the spring,
We’ve just come to the end of our season.
Oh, my regrets to you,
But I must break the news.
We’re at the end of the attraction.
But I hope you’ll admit
When you look back on it,
The price was well worth the action.
Why speculate, dispute or debate?
Just toast to the best.
Why second guess?
Just toast to the best of our memories.
