Crying

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‘Salt’ is the great lost solo project from Tony McGuinness, the songwriter who would become the chief “male voice” lyricist in Above & Beyond (beloved favorites like “Sun & Moon,” “Thing Called Love,” “Northern Soul,” “Gratitude,” and more).

Released earlier this year, almost three decades after he recorded it, ‘Salt’ comes from a whole other lifetime. McGuinness wrote the heart of Salt’s nine tracks in a heady six-month burst between 1995 and 1996, resulting from a classic ’90s whirlwind romance in London with a woman named “Shelley” that was popping off with the explosion of club culture in the UK.

“Crying was my first attempt to write a song on the piano, and I think the nature of writing on the piano tends to make the whole thing sound more traditional, at least for me,” says McGuinness, “And so I decided to write a more traditional song, but with a sort of twist at the end which is a classic songwriting motif.”

While ‘Crying’ doesn’t describe the end of the relationship with Shelley (“I think when we said goodbye to her at Gatwick Airport, I probably lost a stone in tears,” McGuinness remembers), “For other times in my life, it’s a nice traditional song about a man not showing his emotions. And while it wasn’t strictly written about Shelley, I always felt it deserved to be on the album. The song also describes many times when I’ve come to the end of a relationship, and I’ve been not crying. That’s something that men tend to be very good at!”

“Crying” and the entire “Salt” album are available now via Anjunabeats.

Tracklist