Track 15: Wednesday Again

Selections from Wednesday's Child, most of them folk tunes, many older - Recorded in the first 3 weeks of July 2010

Also including a video, with lyrics only, from a separate collection Life Model Decoy)

The Window

Written in 1983

I happened upon these lyrics buried in a stack of forgotten scraps of paper, that read like poetry. I do remember writing the first line after spotting my neighbor walking home, and I thought about that, how we go about on our way and never stop to ponder what's around us. We walk by houses and inside are strangers with lives we'll never know. Being a shy kid, a bit of a loner, I addressed the idea of life passing me by as I watched from my window. Though I had no chords written down on the page, I did recall the style and reconstructed something that I felt would have been similar. The guitar is reminiscent of the Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina", the instrumentation spars and pointed and delicate. 

Lyrics

I sit by the window, as rain traces icy webs

I see you go by, unaware, a distorted vision, still I stare

I look from the window as autumn leaves, tap lightly as if to call

Their death songs beckon my past, memories allowed to fade

And oh, the life that burns through my veins

And each tiny thought that dares remain

If I had the notion to clear my eyes

Could I face a moment allowed to die

(Whose is that reflection?)

I lay by the window, and touch the velvet night

Moonbeam lightly brushes my cheek, from the window darkness will speak

And all that has gone before, I shall morn

And oh, it was I who fathered, the seclusion born

And in final breath the voices speak to me

Haunting remembrance (written as "remnants") I never wanted to see

I was always the observer and never became

Part of the scenery

I Haven't Slept in Days

Written in February of 2002

I was singing this as I was walking, with brain fried, through the mall on my lunch break, feeling detached from the world, I was a ghost passing among the living - that's what happens during a bad case of insomnia.

I wanted to see what kind of song I could write when I was completely out of my mind from lack of sleep. 

My declining vocal prowess hinders the recording and I spent over a week re-doing vocal tracks and splicing the good pieces together like a puzzle. The fuzz lead was played on the Ovation acoustic because the electric telecaster died. In the intro, at the top of each guitar note I turned the FX dial briefly to the extreme, then back to the normal setting, to get that big, static distorted sound.

Lyrics

Someone has painted pupils on my eyelids

Feels like I haven't slept in days

I have the power to see the auras of decay, swallowing the light of the dying

It's a gift I don't appreciate, wish I could go invisible instead

To walk around unseen, would be a dream within a dream

I practice every day, and at times, when people look at me

They look right through me

When we die, can we fly

Or are we grounded, our feet in chains

And I haven't slept in days (repeat) 

My eyes are cut by the sun and its laughing rays

My flesh is mocked by the searing moonlight

I have the power to see the auras of decay, swallowing the light of the dying

It's a gift I don't appreciate, wish I could go invisible instead

Chorus

Oh, to sink into the weightless night

Oh, to gently fade away

The 275th Song I've Written You

Written on July 15, 2010

I was coming to my 275th recording and felt I should do something special. Musically it draws from the 30-second, "Song 64", which I've always wanted to expand. The title is silly, but I thought, "what would it be like to love someone so much that every song you wrote, was about that person?" With standard folk melody, it's about appreciating every moment you have with someone.  

Lyrics

You got the knack, and an unbridled sense of wonder

You've got the spark, for stringing words together on a lark

And that I can't always understand you, is all part of your charm

And I still feel that flutter, every time you take my arm    

Every time you take my arm

And this is the 275th song I've written you

And every one I play, you approach like a brand-new day

Wide eyed as a child, as if it were the first

As if it might be, the last

You carry the notion, that this hour could be the hour it ends

And so we kiss, as if this were our parting kiss

And that you understand me, sets me to calm

This is the best day, and tomorrow might never come

Tomorrow might never come

The Wicked Things (Terrified)

Written on July 22, 2010

I had room on the disc but didn't feel like digging for another old number, so I wrote this on the quick, in 3-hours I had it written and recorded. The lyrics came first, and it surprised me how the music I wrote after, fit like a glove, there were no re-writes. I was listening to Will Oldham the night before, did that have an influence. Maybe in that no matter the slight production, or that his voice wasn't strong, he sings it, he tells the story, expressive and with truth.

The part of about being afraid of God's judgment came from an actual conversation, "you don't know the things I've done"  

Lyrics

I've seen you terrified, I've seen you locked up inside

I've seen the way your shoulders bend, over a heartache that'll never mend

I've seen you terrified, over the thought of goodbye

I've heard that heavy sigh, when you thought about what waited for you when you die

You tell me, I'm so afraid, afraid I'll be judged

Because you don't know the wicked things I've done

I've seen you terrified, I've seen you worried sick

I've seen the little girl, so easily cut to the quick

I've heard the uncertainty when you've had your cover blown

And unlike me, you take no comfort in being alone

But I'm your friend and I love you with a love that'll never end

Despite the wicked things you've done

This nest of regret, this tangled burden

None of us walk through these woods unmarked

But I'll kiss your scars, and I'll cool your brow

And I'll be your friend in the here and now

I tell you, don't be afraid to live, afraid to forgive

Despite the wicked things we've done

Despite the wicked things we've done

One Dark Night

Written in 1980, with some minor re-writes in July 2010

My first attempt at writing something socially relevant - though I was a naive teenager at the time and really didn't have a full grasp, or the skill to articulate/tackle this subject as well as someone more mature could have, I was outraged by the treatment of rape victims I saw in reports, docs, dramatizations in film at that time, and needed to express this outrage in the only way I knew how, through song. Written decades before "Me Too", where you were still hearing that old garbage being hauled out (what was she wearing), or there would be discussions on the mindset of the man, and it seemed the woman and her suffering was lost in the maze.

Lyrics

The sick sound of violence, screams through the town

She scratches and claws but she can't escape (don't make a sound)

He leaves her cold and frightened, with nowhere to turn

She wants to keep it quiet, but oh how their cold stares burn

They contemplate his broken childhood and analyze his bleeding mind

They ask if he was led into temptation, a victim of emotions he couldn't bind

What about the hate behind it, what about the scars she wears inside?

And all the tears from one dark night

Oh, the pain

Oh, the shame

Oh, the fear

And nobody seems to care

Talk about justice, talk about society

Talk incessantly about the mechanism and miss the point completely

Is there anyone for her to talk to?

is there anyone who understands all the hell she's going through

Some People

Written on February 14, 2010

I thought I might try my hand at a Weezer-esque type tune. I think I got the rhythm down, while still putting in my own voice to keep it from pastiche. I like the lyrics a lot, I find them clever and well-constructed. 

I recorded the lead guitar later -originally, I sang the chorus again, but I felt the tune was getting repetitious and needed to be broken up, so I replaced it with a guitar solo. On the last verse, the line was "Slate, flat and gray", but I sang it as Slat - guess wooden/board fit too, so I kept it. I added a few new lines at the end because I felt it ended too abruptly, both versions are on CD to keep and compare, but only the second version is included here.