First of all, this is the 3rd song in a row for which the lyrics were written first. I'm truly enjoying this method of songwriting (thank you, again Ms. Palumbo).
This song is quite clearly about me wasting my life away at a bar - there is a specific bar I can name, but I won't, because I know my fans may overrun it in the hopes of catching a glimpse of me there. tee hee ha haha <ahem> ha. The influences here are also quite evident, though not ones you'd expect to co-exist quite so harmoniously, namely Kate Bush & Elliott Smith. Go figure.
Also, you will notice that my nifty little soundcloud player has decided not to join us for this week. It will return soon, I promise.
There is one more thing I would like to say about this week's song. I have never before been able to play and record such a smokin' guitar solo as the one captured here, at approximately 1:48. It is my most favorite thing in America.
There is one final thing I'd like to say, but it is unrelated to this week's song. In my internet bumblings this week, I've discovered several other brave souls subjecting themselves to this very same undertaking. I shall shout them out appropriately in my sidebar and in another post - but for some reason right now, I just can't seem to summon the will to collect the urls and paste the code and blah blah blah. I'm a lazy, awful person.
If the SoundCloud player isn't loading DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE On a Mac: Ctrl+click and choose "Save Linked File As..." On a PC: right click and choose "Save Target As..."
lyrics
just sit there in your cold chair with your face in your hands and your lunch on your pants
touching the face on your watch leather band and the hand goes tick tock
sit there fake a cool stare with your hands on the bar and your drink never far
touching the face on your watch...
the owner takes his seat says, you gotta be kidding me when change is all you know and the word fast is said to slow before you know it we'll be all grown
sit there frizzy brown hair with your lips on a shelf white stain, nothing else
My sister had the opposite of what you might call a 'good week' - like the polar opposite. She asked me a while ago to write a song with layers on layers that builds crescendo-style till the end. This one's for her.
Recording this song was quite a challenge. I'm leaving to visit her for the weekend in North Carolina now and because of that, had a short time to write and record this week's song. So, forgive the roughness. If I had another couple of weeks, I'd be doing way more with this, and maybe I will someday. But I like the rawness and the immediacy captured here to be honest, also.
So, this week I found myself entangled in a bit of a situation with a friend. A friend with a penis. This song was inspired by that - specifically the line about pretty girls and mistaking stars for snow. The rest is a loose interpretation of events coupled with the requisite compulsion to compose lines that rhyme.
I have a feeling I may want to change the title of this blog to "Dudes I've Boned this Year and the Resulting Songs About Them," by the way.
I tried something new this week by writing lyrics first, then working on the melody on my guitar later. Wouldn't have even entertained this idea had it not been for Dorian Palumbo, with whom I am working on a very kick-ass musical.
This is also the first time I recorded with Stella (the guitar, not the beer or my dog). It's a really old, awesome and rickety little guitar my cousin Jason gave me that can only handle keeping about 3 strings in tune at a time. I think that limitation shaped the guitar part and it came out rather haunting yet minimalistic.
So, a couple of weeks ago I met this guy for whom a large crush blossomed quite quickly. He took me to the U.S. Open (not that U.S. Open, the lame U.S. Open). I took off work to go. I hate golf.
Anyway, he had found out a couple of weeks prior that he'd be moving to California to start a very promising career in academia at the end of the summer. This happened approximatley 4 days after we met.
That day, the day of the U.S. Open, was the day before he decided to stop seeing me and it was also the day I wrote this song.