"Underground Garden" (VaiTunes #4)

Release Date: July 14, 2010
Written, Produced, Engineered by Steve Vai

Song Juice:
Every now and then I pick up an instrument and something sweet comes out. I love when that happens and am very graceful for it. I believe it happens at times for all of us in our perspective fields? I was lucky to have a little take deck around to capture this riff when it first dropped off my fingers. I can't even remember when that was, perhaps in the 1980's? This little jewel was buried on the infinity shelf for a while and then one day, sometime in the 1990's, I came across it and thought, "Hmmm, I could just rip this song out in a day" and that's about how long it took me to complete the writing, recording and mixing of the whole thing. Then the finished product sat on the shelf for another decade or so only not to show its festooned little note heads through these VaiTunes releases.

When weighing my catalog of work, a relatively small percentage has vocals sung by me. As a result of this rarity, every vocal take I do is an opportunity to explore without any real pressure. Sometimes I push very hard and try to sound as though I've been gargling with Drano®, but on this song I decided to get very close to the microphone and give a delicate and intimate vocal offering.

The song was written about a special person whom I love dearly and has been in my life since I was about 3 years old. The song is also about finding inner peace. Perhaps we all have a secret garden we yearn to dwell in.

Click here for a free download of "Underground Garden"