AhhhI

I think I wrote this in 2007....

Recorded at Rockwood Music Hall on March 1, 2009.

Shoes

Shoes

I can't figure out my shoes
I can figure out my hair.
Yesterday's jeans are fitting tight
and somehow it still feels alright.
I don't always have the words
to explain what I just heard -
some kind of craziness -
people getting by saying things that I would shy away from.

Am I always in a crowd where I feel I'm not allowed?
Never understand just why, and I'm wondering just how that came to be,
but I know I draw a line,
and I know my life is mine...or do I

cuz the sun goes down,
i find i'm flying all over this crazy town just to lay some ground so i can go to sleep,
when the sun sun comes down, i find i'm flying all over this crazy town just to lay some ground so i can go to sleep.

who am I anyway?
who?

who am I anyway?
who?

the sun comes down,
i find i'm flying all over this crazy town
just to lay some ground 'fore I go to sleep,

when the sun comes down,
i find i'm flying all over this crazy town
just to lay some ground 'fore I go to sleep,

when the sun

goes down

i find i'm

flying all over this crazy town

just to

lay

some

ground

before i go to sleep.

...I can't figure out my shoes
I can figure out my hair...

Yesterday's jeans are fitting tight
somehow it still feels
alright.

====
Wrote the above all during the week last week. The first few lines have been in my head for awhile. In fitting with the lyrics, I recorded the video in between running around and had about one hour when I could either get it done or not have time for another week. I like this song solo, but can also hear that it would be really fun to do the chorus part with a full band and a little more forward on the beat.

Stills

I can't remember when I wrote this. A few months ago? It popped back into my head cuz I was thinking about my solo show on March 1.



Stills

I feel this heartache and pain,
feels like I'm running around insane,
feels like I'm running around insane.

I feel this heartaching pain,
feels like I'm running around insane,
feels like I'm running around insane again.

And I know the dawn is the darkest,
just before that daylight breaks on through,
but to keep on turning on and off like a light switch,
when there's nothing you or I can do.

do...
do...
do...

I feel this heartache and pain.


Oh, the highs and lows,
will get you up there, then they drop you down again, yes.

Oh, the yes and nos,
will get you up there, then they drop you down again, yeah.

I feel this heartache and pain,
feels like I'm running...
feels like I'm running...

And I know the dawn is the darkest,
just before that daylight breaks on through,
but this keep on turning on and off like a light switch,
when there's nothing you or I can do.

do...
do...

I feel this
heartache
and pain.
feels like I'm running...
aa
raooo
und...

Rebuild the Bridges

This song that is actually two songs together...

Or actually... poem by Genevia S. Wylie + a song of mine, made into one song.



I can no longer feel the flame,
no longer smell the smoke.
I've moved way past the bridges burned,
but the Son shines light on the path to say
"hey, hey, see what is good?"

showing the wreckage in my wake,
my eyes are wide open to see the mind unsure of what to do
now that it's time to rebuild the bridges
to mend the cracks
extend that open hand and bring the good on back

and it's so hard to make up for the wrong
survey the damage done
scope the scene, live this life like i mean
things i've said, what i'm known to believe
"hey, hey... know what is good? you should talk about it.
it's time to say 'hey, hey, i know what is good.'" you should talk about it, it's time.

cuz the world is changing,
it's spinning round,
yes, the world is changing,
in some ways upside down
Thank God about it.

in the faces of people, the smiles on the street
in that moment of honesty, when our eyes meet
in this love that you've found, in the moments you share
it's your feet on the ground and your hope's in the air
so say what is good, you should talk about it,
it's time to say "hey, i know what is good."

in the look in your eye, what tomorrow will bring
in your faith in the world and in each human being
like the saving of children from oncoming trains
these aren't temporary things, these are what will remain

hey,
say what is good, you should talk about it,
it's time to say "hey, i know what is good.
hear me talk about it, it's time."

"hey darling,
i'm finally seeing tomorrow happening today
oh my friends,
i'm finally seeing tomorrow happening today."

hey,
say what is good, you should talk about it,
it's time to say hey, i know what is good,

---

I wrote the last part (in white) in early 2007, then I think shortly after called up Genevia to see if she had anything to add to the front of it. Her words (in grey) inspired the different melody/chords at the front of the song, which is something I really enjoy about working with Genevia! Usually when we collaborate we each do separate sections, but this time, it seemed like in order to blend the two pieces, that the chorus-ish part should come earlier. Sometimes I feel like it really is two separate songs, but sometimes I feel like it's one :) I think it depends on the performance, or the frame of mind when i'm listening. What do you think?

Waves Into Strings mp3

Finally recorded a draft of Waves Into Strings.



Used to think in waves,
now I think in strings
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet
between...
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet

You danced on a train,
I was heading west,
You danced on then
danced back off again.

And lingered in my head
like a silhouette,
long arms reaching
both ends with a hand

2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet

Circles into circles into lines
starts and ends aren't difficult to find,
but a moment in an amplitude of time,
in the middle's different too...
define:

2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet

...move me closer,
closer to free.
just move me closer.
closer to free.

[the last part may change into "we're moving closer..." time will tell :)]

Used to think in waves, now I think in strings...

I ran into an artist friend, Doze, on the G train last week. I hadn't seen him in years, but randomly he hopped on the train and sat down right in front of me. We caught up quickly before he had to transfer a few stops later in the way that often happens on NY trains. I thought about his artwork, time passing, and the distance that energy carries between people and how it also carries in the different directions that the two people go.

As I walked from the train over the Gowanus canal, I wrote a draft of the music with the below draft of lyrics. I will post a draft mp3 next week...

2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet...

I used to think in waves,
now I think in strings
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet
between...

You danced on a train,
I was heading west,
You came in and danced back out again.

lingered in my head,
like a silhouette,
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet
2 feet, 5 feet, 15 feet

I could see the line
circled in a dance
long lit flowed arm
ending in a hand.

You Must Let Go

Hey,

I posted about this the other week. But here's the latest draft. enjoy. :) m



You must let go of something,
so let go of yourself,
til you remember who you are...
til you remember what it is that you believe in.

So let go of that title,
That one that brings you down,
til you remember who you are
til you remember who you are
do you remember who you are
do you?
remember who you are:

you're just a face,
in a beautiful crowd.
you're just two eyes...
seeing just one other way.

I must let go of something,
so I let go of you,
cuz I remember who I am,
and I remember what it is that I believe in:

dolls in a house?
were never for me.

putting on faces?
was never for me.
all of this chasing around,
was never for me.
all of this racing...
was never for me.

cuz i'm just two eyes,
seeing just one other way.

i'm just these hands
who have always made my way.

i'm just this voice,
i will always sing my say.

i'm just a face...
in a beautiful crowd.

i'm just a face...
in a beautiful crowd.

Amber is Falling & Myxomatosis

Just finished rehearsing with Dayna Stephens, Tim Bulkley, Mike Abraham, and John Shifflett...will be joining Dayna's set tomorrow as a guest vocalist. exciting! We'll be doing Dayna's arrangement of my tune Amber is Falling, which I wrote for him in 2003, and we'll also be doing Radiohead's Myxomatosis which will be fun since I'll be using my effects. >:]

Don't stop to ask... :)

Yes, I love this song!

You Must Let Go of Something, So Let Go of Yourself

Above is a scrawling of a new song that I thought of when I wasn't near a piano.

Usually writing, for me, happens as a song while I am walking around or in my regular life. I then work on that song in my imagination until it is fully memorized and then write it out on using piano or rhodes. (Rhodes these days since we don't have a piano.)

As is also usually the case, I have the idea, don't have time to develop it right then and there, so scramble for a piece of paper so that I can jot down the melody and any bass notes I hear.

I wrote the above while in the lobby outside Phill Niblock's concert at ISSUE Project Room.

His amazing music, combined with the thoughts about the stock market crash, combined with a conversation I had with Peter Imig (member of Nelly Boyd) about the stock market and his comment that "as artists we are outside the stock market" and so the crash is just another strange moment in a life of being outside of the stock market process, combined with the past few months of remembering that I am not interested in social heirarchy, combined with remembering that I am my own entrepreneur...the end result? Was the beginnings of a new song pictured above with lyrics below:

You must let go of something,
so let go of yourself,
til you remember who you are...
til you remember what it is that you believe in.

So let go of your titles,
That one that weighs you down,
don't you remember who you are?...

You're just a face,
in a beautiful crowd.
You're just two eyes...
Seeing just an-other way.

You're just a face,
in a beautiful crowd.

You're just two eyes...
You're just these hands.

...

still working on the rest of the lyrics, but thought I would share the latest! Hope to post the mp3 soon.

M