Month: May 2019

As a songwriter, and as a romantic, it is not uncommon that I find an inspiration in something I see or hear or someone who bounces into me. And I never write something to aim solely at communicating to anyone in particular for I hope to paint a melody or song in such a way that it can be taken into an individual on their individual basis.  I’m sure there are dozens of my favorite songs when growing up that my interpretation of them would make those songwriters wretch.  But the disparity between how I heard them and invested my feelings and story into them and how a story actually brought them to life through them should not be a source of anything but happiness for us both.

Yet the rub as a songwriter can be how when anyone actually associated with the genesis of a song thought actually encounters the finished product however many years or decades later, when they don’t get it or simply can’t take it in at all, there is this awful sense of loss that can infest a song if I’m not careful.

For me anyway, songwriting should remain a one way street with audience participation being about how they receive it, if at all – and NOT about any sense of my satisfaction if they do or don’t ride the same road I thought they would inside of me.  I suppose one nice thing about the infinitesimal and glacially slow progress my recordings have made in generating plays and listens over the past dozen years is that it has allowed me time to record and enjoy making the music without having to embrace this lonely disconnect as much as road performing songwriters do.  My ability to avoid having a song performance interrupted by a cell phone going off, or hearing crickets to the best melody in a song while then watching a wild acceptance of some part of another song I know was weak and didn’t measure up to my mind’s ear – both of these pains I’ve been somewhat spared by anemic success thus far.

I accept how this may actually have been a giant blessing from God as regards my continued songwriting.

 

Remember now those times gone by
And the way your eyes did shine
And all those visions I rewind
How they play now on my mind

Go on home – Say goodbye

There is no anger I recall
But I’m sad after all
I lift my finger from the play
Close my eyes that is all
And you will slowly pull away
We both wish you could stay

It never dies – Say goodbye

Playing back old memories can be like looking at slides – almost like those you see in celebration of life moments. Until you take your finger off of the play button no goodbye can really happen. But allowing someone to back away after you stop calling them forth can be a haunting somber thing.

This song can be heard either way. Perhaps as a lover who, while not saying goodbye themselves, will none the less endure one by failing to call out and tempt any more; thus allowing the departure of one dear. Perhaps as a mourner allowing the memory of a recently departed friend to fade enough to move on. Either way there is a sad giving that is the theme and guts of the song. “I lift my finger from the play” is the spinal chord, get it.  🙂

Currently available via bandcamp site at CLICK HERE, it will eventually appear via the other slower usual channels.

 

The film “Dancing with the Wind” gave air to the fact that the Wind Ketcher is a beautiful sailboat. However, if you have taken an interest in the music of the film, then you need to know that the acoustic piano that generated the sounds inside DWTW is a vintage Victorian era Steinway grand made in 1875. Lovingly restored in the late 1980s and meticulously maintained, #31542 and my joy in playing her is largely how the music of DWTW came to be.

I’ve come to appreciate the kinship that often exists between sailboat enthusiasts, romantic music, and those who enjoy flying old kites (older airplanes of tube and fabric), and I think it is fitting that the piano in the film is every bit as classic and lovely as the sailboat.