Song #2: Alone

"One is the loneliest number..."

What I find most interesting about "Alone" is not the way in which the character "uses" love, but that he's self-aware enough to be doing so consciously. A rather somber exploration of isolation, loneliness and loss of identity.

PLAY: 

LYRICS:

One love that started to fade

He moved towards her and she moved further away

Now he's left standing

He's never known himself all alone

When she's gone, he doesn't know

who he is 

"I loved you for who that made me

And I know that that's not healthy

Oh God, no... it seems I don't like me

when I'm left standing alone"

As long as there's her, it masks all the pain

Devious voices inside, they whisper his name

In deafening silence

Now without, his head in his hands,

Forced to peek inside  

at the dragons within

"I loved all them because they saved me

And I know that that's not healthy

But still though, I need them to like me

  I can't stand being alone"

Now what is this?

New eyes look his way

He feels again, his worth from within

He's got his fix, there's fire in his veins

He knows again he's claimed

And everything's OK

"I love you because you'll take me

And I know that that's not healthy

But just hold me and don't you leave me

Anything but just not alone"

Let Me Tell You A Story...

One of the cool things about this project is the ability to be a storyteller. In writing 52 songs over the course of a year, there's no possible way for them to all be "about me." It's true that some of my personal experiences will color my writing, but I look at each song as narrative. Each will have it's own characters, it's unique perspective, it's own rules: in essence, each composition is a microcosmic universe. When you read a novel, the author may have his or her voice, but the contents of the novel are separate. My angle on songwriting this next year will be similar in tone.

A friend of mine recently told me that he heard a musician say, "When I found out that every song I write doesn't have to be about me, it changed everything." So I look forward to stepping out of my own shoes and into those I've never been in before - those of friends, of archetypes, of myth, of people I see around me - and to see what can be uncovered as it relates to the topic of love.

I'll be posting my next song (or should I say 'story') tomorrow night. It's a bit of a doozy but I think it turned out beautifully. As my 6-year-old daughter said, "That's the saddest song I've ever heard. Turn it off, Daddy, I'm going to cry."  So I guess you have THAT to look forward to... ;-)

Song #1: Witness

We all want to be seen. A woman, especially, wants to be noticed, known, understood. This is ultimately the purpose of a relationship: to co-create life; to partake in life's depth of experiences with another. As Christopher McCandless said in Into the Wild:

Happiness is not real unless it is shared...

PLAY:

CLICK HERE to download this song for free

LYRICS:

there will be times
times when you cry
when find yourself alone in the night

there will be days
when your beautiful smile
will light up the night sky like a fire

there will be days
with all you hold inside
you'll long for a man      
to come along your side
and that's where you'll find me
I want to be the witness to your life

when that old movie makes you laugh
when you can't believe what you've just seen
when you have a dream that no else believes in

when your heart, it takes a hit
when you just don't give a shit
when you look at your life wonder, "Is this it?"

there will be days
with all you hold inside
you'll long for a man      
to come along your side
and that's where you'll find me
I want to be the witness to your life

you are seen
you are noticed by me
you are lovely

when you slide on that dress
and fix your hair just right
when you spend all that effort and that time

I want to be there right behind you
look in the mirror and smile too
and gently whisper, "sexy girl you're fine,
you're beautiful and I'm proud to call you mine
I'm so lucky; I get to be the witness to your life"

So it begins...

Week one, song one. I actually get a bit of a pass this week as I'm re-mixing and cleaning up a song I wrote and recorded a few weeks ago. In fact, this track was actually one of the impetus...es (impetii?) for me to start this whole new project.

Even still I'm starting to learn the dynamics of how much time this is going to take, how much sleep I'm willing to sacrifice as well as getting the new studio space all set up. And I know what you're wondering --- yes, that's a painting of The Dude and Walter behind me.

Step into my chambers...

Studio Room

MacBook Pro workstation