I'm violating a pretty major rule with this week. I wrote the hook to this song a long ways back - months ago, in fact, but never really finished it.
I've always been into this hook and the concept behind it, particularly the turn it takes that is kind of unexpected, so I don't feel so guilty finishing it.
I'm pretty deep into this thing, so I'm allowed to cheat every once in a while, right?
Listen to this week's song first and then read my take on it. I really don't want what I have to say coloring your experience.
Yeah, not my best one.
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I had to give my dog away a couple of days ago. This song is about that.
I've been fighting a pretty bad-ass sore throat for the better part of the last week, so the vocals on this one aren't exactly award-winning.
I don't have much else to say about this song. Admittedly, it's not one of my best, but it does capture something. And that's the point, really, of this whole thing. Just capturing moments in my life...
Hope you get something out of it too.
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lyrics she'll keep your name and hopefully it'll sound the same as when i said it too
i'll hide your things and someday it won't hurt as when all this was new
if i loved you as much as i wanted to i'd still have to do what i have to do and she'll love you as much as i wanted to
i'll find a way to make believe it's ok in all these empty rooms
you'll run and play and maybe think of me for a moment or two
Since I started this project (and proceeded to write nearly a dozen songs about one single boy*) Angela Bowers and I have been joking about needing a quarterly boy about whom to write these weekly songs.
Be careful what you wish for.
This is another one of those songs that I put together out of a bunch of ramblings that made no sense at the time, but hang together in a way that is rather illuminating. (if knowing more about my psyche can be classified as illuminating in any way to anyone but me).
I think it's about falling for somoene, or more accurately, meeting someone you think you could fall for and then deciding it's probably best not to.
Thanks this week goes to Christopher Plummer and Ms. Bowers (the latter for lending her much needed and oft-appreciated guitar skills and the former for once again lending a solid pair of trusted ears). Truth be told, there are few weeks that don't get a good Plummer once-over.
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* He's actually more man than boy, just for the record.
lyrics i make every mistake for a reason you now every sad song has a season turned it over again in my mind and i'm not giving in this time
real love creeping in can be deadly turning every sad song into a medley of never quite getting to find a diamond that really does shine so I'm not giving in this time
you can take it back caught your flu, not a heart attack and i'm not looking back your flu is not a heart attack
someday you'll take it away for no reason saturday? or maybe today. it's the season turned it over again in my mind the hows that don't have a why i'm not giving in this time
I don't always know where songs come from - how they start in my experiences and get processed somehow for packaging inside of a tune and lyrics. Sometimes, just being near someone I'm close with can produce a song based on their experiences. I think this is one of those cases.
The production on this one is rather stark. I recently realized that I have access to a pretty sick Fender Rhodes piano in one of the rehearsal spaces I rent, so I've used it quite liberally on this track. But besides that and a single lead vocal track, that's all she wrote. The subject matter is kinda heavy, so I couldn't really justify turning this into a big production number.
I hope you can enjoy my restraint. It is a rare treat.
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lyrics you never learned how to fight you never learned how to lie so he took what he liked you didn't know how to hide
did you keep what you heard did it hurt every time you believed every word and he crossed every line
pack a gun for the ride watch him run with your eyes pack a gun get it done you know how the west was won pack a gun
you can go underground i can wait for a sign i will not make a sound but I'll stay close behind
pack a gun for the ride
hope is what you design
pack a gun
get it done
you know how the west was won
pack a gun
I recorded this one last nite at my dentist's house.
Seriously.
It's for Angela Bowers - my friend and cohort. It's about being a tough girl and letting someone get the best of you and then getting over that someone.
I know I'm not supposed to say this about my own songs, but this one really gets me for some reason. The only thing I'd change if I had more than one week is the guitar solo. Not one of my more shining moments. Oh well.
Special thanks this week: the aforementioned Angela Bowers (as muse this time, not collaborator), Dr. Shanaahz Gill, his amazing girlfriend Meagan (sorry, Meagan, I can't spell your last name) and Tom Petty for writing the song "Yer So Bad."
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lyrics you're such a fun girl you're so bad and everybody knows it you know they never look away you're so bad
you've got ur own world but you've been had and you don't wanna show it but i can see it anyway you've been had
seen what you been lookin' for it's not what u think no not at all not at all i know he didn't want anymore but you can't feel bad baby sooner or later you'll thank him
you'll find a new way to keep your hand and no one will see it yeah you'll never give it away you're gonna keep ur hand
Here is the fifth installment in the saga of my efforts to document every single emotion swimming around inside me regarding a certain subject who shall remain, now and forever, nameless.
Production notes: drums on this one! Looped drums from Logic, but drums none the less. They don't sound half bad. Bass, oddly enough, is my acoustic guitar with tons of wacked out EQ on it.
I'd also like to give special thanks to a Mr. Christopher Plummer, for providing alarmingly insightful feedback on the mix (this week and the week prior). I spent my entire Sunday working on this - approximately 11 hours straight - and was subsequently quite delirious by the time I was ready to cut and print (or bounce and rip as it were). Can't tell you how invaluable a trusted pair of 3rd party ears is in that situation.
This one's kinda epic. It's like my Freebird. I hope that doesn't scare you.
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lyrics take what you want just don't try to take it from me you got the heart why would u come back for the sleeve?
all the pain should've told you all the air couldn't hold you in a room the size of the sea
you were found till you heard it coming down don't look now but i think it's coming down fill a room the size of the sea
you broke apart and you're holding it all at the seems wish you could start wish you had enough left for me
all your chances are over and all the ways that you know her fill a room the size of the sea
This week's song is based on nothing in particular. I sat down at my computer this afternoon knowing that I had to write a song and knowing that I had very little to say. So, I just started typing words and before I knew it - I had a set of lyrics. About absolutely nothing.
I'm aware of the temptation to read further into the words that my fingers wanted to type today. There's probably something to be said for stream of consciousness revealing inner desires or anxieties, blah blah blah. I can think of one or two things that I could be talking about on a subconscious level, but to be honest with you,
I still think it's about nothing.
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lyrics
so what happens now after the fall but before it comes down did you say nothing did you hold your breath why am i waiting uncertain again
don't look up or down after the crime but before they come round did you say nothing did they bring'em all in why am I waiting uncertain again
and everyone knows it belongs where it goes but you'll never find the proper place if you hide before it shows
i can turn around after you start but before you touch ground did you say something do I have to begin why am I waiting uncertain again
This song was borne pretty effortlessly out of a simple lyric that caught my attention when it popped into my head earlier in the week. They lyric I'm referring to is 'you and me and the mess we made.'
I'm embroiled in a sort of 'situation' with a young man right now and this phrase seemed to capture some kind of essence of that situation. There was just something about it that struck me.
I built the whole song around it and it was relatively easy and painless.
Also, the guitar solo is perfect. I love guitar solos that start with the melody of the song. It's one of my guilty pleasures.
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lyrics we should drive to a new town radio up and the top down boxes and bags packed full of shame just you and me and the mess we made
you should take every single word i said to you and you said to her sprinkle it all on top of the fray of you and me and the mess we made
the mess we made feels like a home rooftop painted blue and gold brown and red leaves on the lawn (don't forget the) sinking ground underneath it all
i really hope you don't stay here i really hope it becomes clear and every reason never ever fades you and me and the mess we made
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.