Eli Paperboy Reed – “Like We Used To”
Americana Highways is hosting this premiere of Eli Paperboy Reed’s song “Like We Used To” from his forthcoming album Getting There. It was produced by Swamp Dogg; recorded and mixed by Lorenzo Wolff at Restoration Sound in Bushwick Brooklyn, NY; and mastered by Mike Kalajian. Horn arrangements are courtesy of Swamp Dogg and Eli Paperboy Reed.
“Like We Used To” is Eli Paperboy Reed on vocals and electric piano; Michael “Ish” Montgomery on bass and background vocals; Noah Rubin on drums and percussion; Jonny Lam on electric and acoustic guitar and steel guitar; Morgan Price on saxophones; Carter Yasutake on trumpet.
As Eli tells us about the song, “This song has been kicking around for a minute, but it began to hit different for me as I entered the second decade of my marriage. Like in “Every Once in a While” this is a song about making time to make time. When work, school, childcare, doctor’s appointments and all the rest keep getting in the way, you have to remember the spark that started it all in the first place. For me, that’s remembering what it was like to be 23 years old and jumping in a borrowed car to race to Brooklyn from Boston after a certain someone requested my presence. With all that’s changed between then and now, that certain someone is still the same and so am I, sometimes it just takes a reminder.”
This is a fun song about remembering who we used to be, and remembering who the people we love used to be; an attempt to recapture some of the magic and sense of adventure. “Spruce yourself up baby, let’s go on downtown, do ourselves some sippin’ baby, and just ride around … like we used to.” It’s a call to snap out of the routine of relationship, back to the fun and excitement of the beginning.
You can find the music here: https://elipaperboyreed.lnk.to/gettingthere
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: Key to the Highway: Eli “Paperboy” Reed and also here: REVIEW: Swamp Dogg “Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife”