Sirens

i met her on the docks
all that bread on the water
she looked like a mermaid's daughter
and the sirens went off
and a storm came up
but we stayed on the rail
and now that ship has sailed. sailed.
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we lived at the beach
all that metal in the sand
got so hot, we couldn't stand it
prices went up
i got laid off
we'd share a pint of ale
and now that ship has sailed. sailed.
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we moved down the coast
all those lights behind us
where the shadows find us
and the fog came down
and it killed the sound
of lovers on the rails
and now that ship has sailed
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i watched her drift away
all that blue horizon
her setting sun, for me is rising
and the water's sound
ebbing down:
"you failed, you failed"
now that ship has sailed. sailed.
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and that, folks, is all he wrote. nine songs in 27 days. the challenge was 14 in 29. but that ship sailed days ago.
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i jinxed myself when i only had one left to write for the album, thinking and writing that it would be over soon. what i hadn't considered was why this particular song was being written last - ie. i hadn't come up with an idea for it.
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the missing number was a response to Fred's song "Ship": "Lord, if you could find me a place to land, / My ship needs to come in". how brilliant is that?
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the harder i tried to come up with something, the more i realized that i was exhausted from the first eight. so i quit trying and gave myself a rest.
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and it worked, by gum - my ship came in. i wrote this tonight in about seventy minutes, with Eaglesmith's voice in my head. my Fredhead.
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thank you Fred Eaglesmith. thank you Susan F., who kicked me off.
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and thanks to you few beauties for joining me on the ride. i can't wait to play them for you.

Moon and Sun

the moon used to fool us

and we still say it "shines"

when we know it's reflecting

the sun beyond the pines

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and it's the same for me

people think i'm fine

sometimes i'm the only one who knows

it's because you're mine

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(refrain) i'm the moon to your sun

mirror to your light

you are the dawn at the end of my night

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the world throws a shadow

at the ever-changing moon

hard to know at night

the sun is coming soon

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and it's the same for me

dark before the dawn

sometimes i'm the only one who knows

the dark side you are on

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(refrain)

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(coda) and the stars we can share

there's thousands of you out there

sister stars

everywhere

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(refrain)

-

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i wrote this song in a couple of hours tonight, after taking a break for two days. all i did was let the image roll around in my head, without writing anything down.

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it's a response to Fred's "Tunnel": "she lights the light at the end of the tunnel". Eaglesmith is a master at putting a spin on well-known phrases and images to make them fresh and interesting. it's something i strive for myself.

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i needed to find another metaphor to say a similar thing, so i stole an idea from another great Canadian writer, Lynn Miles. her song is "I'm the Moon": "You're the sun, I'm the moon".

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Deb and i have always loved this song, and it's one of very few we play together. it has a rolling drum beat that Deb kills on the cajon. and it suits our personalities - if you can't guess, i'm the moon - the one with a dark side, and a shiny one, thanks to the sun. Deb is the positive one, who shines her light on my darkness.

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when i got two verses and the refrain, and was wondering how or whether i should continue - another verse? bridge and verse? - i found it a bit black-and-white. so i added some grey by changing the last line of verse two to suggest that she, like everyone, also has a dark side, while helping me to dispel mine.

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then an idea for a coda to add something universal to the personal, ie. women, "sister stars", who shine on their respective planets and moons.

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there are ten songs on "Dusty". i've now written eight for the current project, and i had previously written another, "Ridin' the Fences", as a direct response to the album. so i only need one more. it will be interesting to see whether i continue with FAWM towards 14 total for February, once i write a response to the tenth, "Ship", which is another common metaphor, turned beautifully by Mr. Eaglesmith. perhaps i shouldn't be counting chickens - "my ship needs to come in".

400 NORTH

four hundred dances, it felt like tonight

we just couldn't stop

they were playin' our favourites, start to end

we yelled "turn it up!"

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(refrain) but silence is good, and what's under the hood

will get us over this hilltop dome

and a river of light falls into sight

here we are, half-way home

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i swear there's four hundred pickups, haulin' Skidoos

lookin' for the snow

who knows why they love that noise

but i could tell you what i know

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(refrain)

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of the four hundred things i could say in this darkness

to move you, north with me

"i love you" would be the first and the last,

and a few times in between

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(refrain)

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(coda) it's less than an hour now

you just close your eyes

i will wake you for

the next river of light

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there are random times when Deb and i have the same thought, and there is a particular place where we always do. it's on the 400 freeway north, where, over the crest of a hill, you can see a ribbon of headlights snaking down the curving hill in the southbound lanes, and the thought we share is "and the river of cars / they fall like stars / down the I-75". killer line from the song named after the interstate.

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one small thing that bothers me about Fred Eaglesmith is that his geographical images, and inspiration, i suppose, are almost all American - on this album, it's Texas, the I-75, Wichita, Oklahoma. his music is quite correctly called "Americana".

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this song is an hommage to our favourite cut on "Dusty" - my lyric could be sung to Fred's melody, fairly easily. but i make it personal, and hopeful, and drag it into central Ontario.

i wanted to change "river of cars" to "ribbon of light", but Deb lobbied successfully to stick with "river".

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that killer line is a great example of rule-breaking behaviour, the outcome of which is stronger and better than what he might have come up with by following the picky standards some of us like to set for ourselves: 1. the grammar is questionable, ie. singular "river", plural "cars", plural verb form even 'though it's "river of cars"; and 2. he piles a simile on top of a metaphor in the same line.

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it's brilliant. but i doubt there's any planning involved - i think Fred just doesn't care much for conventions. he writes a lot of songs - a friend of his quotes him as saying "i write fifteen songs before breakfast" - and performs and records the ones that work.

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so that's song number seven, less than half-way through the month. "Here we are, half-way home."

LOOKIN' FOR RAINBOWS

what are you supposed to do, when there's nothing to be done

even the shadows are a gift from the sun

it ain't rained in a while, but the crops are fine

plenty of fish in the creek

and the best one on the line

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(refrain) don't go lookin' for rainbows

you've already got the gold

don't go tellin' stories you already know

don't dream of another, it'll leave you cold

don't go lookin' for rainbows

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what are you supposed to say, when you think you've said it all

say it again, and again you'll fall

tell her you're glad she got hold of you

this time on the phone, and the first time too

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refrain

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(coda)here's what you're supposed to do:

find the one who's good for you

say it right and make it true

and don't go lookin' for rainbows
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i know, it's not great. i took a day off to help some friends, and i lost the groove.

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that's my excuse, anyway. i'm writing with enough confidence to expect that what i'll end up with is good, so when it's not, well...

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i knew that Fred's "Rainbows" would be a difficult song to start from, but i was keen to do it, once again, against the grain. i've stolen the first lines of each verse, but my larceny goes way deeper. i'm using some of his phrasing style, and definitely bits of melody - all these things add up to the "feel". i want to steal that feel.

"feel" wasn't enough on this one. it might get changed for the better after i've played it a bunch of times.

Hey Darlin'

hey, hey darlin'

the wind from Santa Ana

is blowing through my ears

and messin' with my mind

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hey, hey darlin'

it moves that dress you're wearin'

and wild shining hair

it looks like you're still tryin'

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(refrain) hey, hey darlin' / do you wonder i'm confused?

today you're all seduction / Last night i was feelin' used

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hey, hey darlin'

those boots might be walkin'

but they looks so good

underneath my bed

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hey, hey darlin'

to stay don't mean a long time

i feel like i've done mine

here inside my head

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(refrain)

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hey, hey darlin'

the wind from Santa Ana

is blowing you away

right out of my mind

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hey, hey darlin'

that dress you're wearin'

looks better from the back

and you're not even tryin'

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(refrain)

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ooh that was fun. to write something that is transparently a rip-off is very freeing.

"Hey Baby" is Fred's forlorn, sexy account of the end of love. i built the whole feel of my song by stealing his line "that dress you're wearin".

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once again, i chose to change it mostly with the male character, while still lost because of love, at least realizing he is better off out of it.

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it feels like something i will love to sing. once i learn it.

Beast and Brother

there is a noble beast / a feast for the sporting eye

we give him his release / never say "die"

yes, there is blood to spill / but it could be ours

in this clash of will / Art versus Power

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(refrain) beast and brother / in the stands, a lonely girl

we love, we kill the other

'round goes the world

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and in the second act / played in the hot red dirt

you try to follow that / someone gets hurt

yield to the younger man / the man of peace

let him find his own / release

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beast and brother / and still a lonely girl

we love, we kill the other

'round goes the world

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and the noble beast / no longer waits

we give him his release / and a gate

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beast and brother / there stands a lonely girl

we love, we kill the other

'round goes the world

'round goes the world

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are we having fun yet? holy moley. i'm having a blast, learning about the way i write and trying things i normally wouldn't, while i mine for ideas to write multiple varying songs.

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this one is an indirect response to the last song on Dusty, "Carne del Toro", a tour de force of Spanish/American rhythm and melody under a killer metaphor.

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as i listen daily or so to Fred's album, and live with the images, i find myself looking for ways to lighten the emotional load. this one changes voice in the middle to turn things around and instill some optimism, misplaced 'though it may be. the omnipresent Old Guy (matador/Hemingway) has the first word, his conscience the next, the naive young man the last.

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as for doing what i normally wouldn't - i'm trying to remember if i've ever done this before - the last refrain is a different melody, simple and brooding, but somehow ending the song with a cool spaghetti western vibe. or something.

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im looking forward to March, when i can relax and look(/listen) back on these songs.

I See You in Crowds

i'm counting on a friend of a friend
to get word to you and back / that since the end
i found a crack / in my resolve to forget
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i'm hoping you will be glad
that i remember / what we had - fire in December
and not a thought to regret
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(refrain) i see you in crowds / the music is loud
two deep at the bar
i hate to think / that's you sharing a drink
in a booth, in the back, in the dark
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i'm wondering what i might say
if i get the chance / i'm not ready today
to ask you to dance
i never did - how could i start?
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believing my own fantasy
stronger than doubt / even in me
you made it out
with half of my heart
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i see you in crowds / it's always the same
get a strange look when i call out your name
i hate to think of us sharing a drink
in a booth, in the back, in the dark
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that's all i want to say, really.
ok if you don't know Fred's song "Crowds", you should. it's the classic obsessed lost love song, true work of art.
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Fred's character's obesession is that he still looks for his lost love in crowds. my character sees his there.
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and it made it somehow easier that the song is so perfect - the bar is set so high that there is no longer a bar.
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the song is very short - about two minutes flat. i considered a bridge in the middle, but the two parts, before and after, are balanced and need no exposition.
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plus - the month is young, i'm sure i'll need something in reserve at some point. this project is a marathon - my songwriting is usually a sprint.
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Still Dusty

DUSTY by Fred Eaglesmith

Across the mesa, the daylight shines

in your eyes, and it makes you blind

And in your head, sirens wail

They just let you out of jail

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-(refrain) You're just dusty now / There's flies on you

Your guns are rusty / and your soul is too

The Texas is wearin' off of your leather boots

You're just dusty / There's flies on you

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There's tobacco inside your cuffs

and you drink too much

but it's never enough

People stare at you

as you stand and cough

Might be the weather / Might be the dust

-refrain

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(bridge) Rain, rain, rain, in a western sky

Teardrops in your heart and gravel in your eye

-refrain

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the project is "songs inspired by the Fred Eaglesmith album 'Dusty'", but i thought the title song should be more of a direct response and tribute. "Still Dusty" was the project's working title, but i had a fair idea from the start that the title song would relate more literally to its forbear. i changed the perspective to the first person, and with the phrase "I'm still dusty", realized it could be in waltz time, rather than the original 4/4.

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i started jamming on lyrical ideas, with that 3/4 rhythm, and soon came up with three ideas for verse, bridge and refrain. looking at those, it seemed they might be too different to fit together. but i trusted that they were coming from the same place of inspiration, and settled in to bring some sense to the disparity.

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the song fits a familiar pattern for me, where i start with an image that may get a laugh before the audience realizes it's a sad song. c'est la guerre.

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STILL DUSTY

i was reading the Peanuts, wondering "which one am i,

Linus or Charlie Brown, philosopher or clown,

dark or daylight?"

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-(refrain) I'm still dusty / It's what it must be

I'd never be free / if it weren't for the dust

My guns are rusty / it isn't just me

I'd shoot me something / if it weren't for the dust

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Now, sitting ain't easy / when you've walked the world 'round

Canyons and hillsides, / alone or by her side,

Upsides and downs

-(refrain)

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-(bridge) She was the nurse, when i banged up my knee

in that bang-up rodeo i did for free

she said "fool, that's no kind of deal"

i said it's better to feel

something

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She kept calling me "fool" 'til the day that she died

I guess i'm Charlie Brown. I miss her even now

in dark or daylight

-(refrain)

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Well, that's song two, early on February 4th. i'm beginning to think this idea might not be so crazy after all. i have no idea what the next song will be. first plan is to listen to Fred's album this morning, and get whacked upside the head with a phrase or idea. so far, it's working...

Songwritingly Challenged

Happy Groundhog Day!

Wiarton Willie predicts an early spring. so are we skipping winter?

i was walking home from work the other night, with a few things in my head. my friend Susan had alerted me to a crazy idea: February Album Writing Month. that's right - the challenge is to write fourteen songs in twenty-eight days.

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i was also thinking, as i always am, that i need to find an idea for a new songwriting project.

i also had a topical phrase in my head which i thought might become a song: "There hasn't been a winter yet".

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that day we had snow, something we haven't seen much of so far. i got home and shovelled the drive, with the new song growing in my head. when i entered the house, Deb had a cd on - Fred Eaglesmith's "Dusty", one of my very favourite albums. and hers: "I love it because it's about old guys".

Ka-Ching! the world conspires to bring these things together: my new project would be "Still Dusty", an album of songs inspired by my love for Fred's album.

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so i'm right on track - one song, two days - for how long, no one knows.

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I'll Be Ready

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There hasn't been a winter yet / the pattern is on hold

I'm doing what i can / i will until i'm cold

There hasn't been a winter yet / i don't feel it coming on

The evening wind is empty / but it pulls another dawn

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refrain: When winter comes, i'll be ready

When temperatures are low, and steady

Life goes underground

Snow contains the sound

When silence comes around, i'll be ready

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There hasn't been a winter yet / the ponies are getting soft

The old wolf can't hide / when they go running off

There hasn't been a winter yet / the trails ain't open

Thin ice on the lake / begging to be broken

refrain

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There hasn't been a winter yet / but time does not stand still

It marches on 'til March is gone / and the sun hits the hills

There hasn't been a winter yet / i'm watching from the porch

The creeping south will soon engage / the armies of the north

refrain

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There hasn't been a winter yet / we're suspended in fall

The colour-scented season / beneath it all

There hasn't been a winter yet / that didn't end in spring

Cemetery flowers / you won't have to bring

refrain