Category Archives: Music

Too Much So Soon

He is alive and well. Warm. He breathes in, he breathes out. He is inside his mind, mulling over manchoices underneath the loud chant of a tractor, a mower, a tiller. He must have 9 hours a day inside his mind. Yet he doesn’t have much to say. He doesn’t let on with me–just asks me out again and again, and again and again. I’m barking up his tree, I’m tugging at my heart, I’m wanting him to choose me, I’ve already chosen him. He is alive and well. I did not know.

I thought he might not exist at all. And then I saw him, standing, breathing, talking. I thought I might have missed him. With my birth, his death. I thought, I am too different for love. I am not chosen. I am pick-eee, but I met him, breathing and talking. Now, now I need him to pick me, to keep me.

If not well it’s back to the drawing board, numb hands, no ink in my pen, well run dry, stiff, deadlove girl. He moves me. Makes me come alive. Takes my breath away. This is. This is it.

 

Music Inspiration–When I Can’t Write at Least I Can Listen

Feature O’ The Day (click to listen!):  Hopeful by Josh Ritter

Supposedly it was a wise wise man
Who said it’s better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all, never to have loved
How many times does the truth that you take to be true
Is just truth falling apart at the same speed as you
Until it all comes away in a million degrees
And you’re just a few pieces of fallin’ debris
And she’s hopeful
Hopeful
For me
I’m coming out of the dark clouds

She went away and she packed all her lovin’
I could not believe it how little there was
I stood in the cold kitchen with nothin’ to say
Who’d keep the whole world spinning when she went away yeah?

She kept telling me about the good things I deserve
That I wanted somebody I’d mistaken for her
But one look in my eyes and she’d know she was wrong
So she wouldn’t look back at me until she was gone

How many times did you give all your love
And find out it was so far from far from enough?
I followed her out into the street in the rain
And the whole world stopped spinning and just went up in flames

And she’s hopeful
Hopeful
For me
I’m coming out of the dark clouds
She’s hopeful
Hopeful
For me
She says it to me often

The sunlight corroded and the days started to fail
The rocks in the road sharpened shadows to nails
The fencepost were empty and so were the trees
Had the bluebird of use on its last tune for me

I’ve seen her around now with someone new I don’t know
She likes greed-eyed boys who are haloed in hope
But I know the look in his eyes and I know all the old signs
Just a couple more curves before his own road unwinds

These days I’m feelin’ better about the man that I am
There’s some things I can change and there’s others I can’t
I met someone new now I know I deserve
I never met someone who loves the world more than her

She has been through her own share of hard times as well
And she has learned how to tear out the heaven from hell
Most nights I’m alright still all rocks roll down hill
But she says I’ll get better, she knows that I will

And she’s hopeful
Hopeful, for me
I’m coming out of the dark clouds
She’s hopeful
Hopeful
For me
Comin’ out of the dark clouds
Comin’ out of the dark clouds

The word is as the world is
Everybody’s gonna hurt like hells some times
The word is as the world is
Everybody’s gonna hurt like hells some times some times

Music Inspiration–When I Can’t Write, at Least I Can Listen

Feature O’ the Day:

Van Morrison: Astral Weeks

If I ventured in the slipstream
Between the viaducts of your dream
Where immobile steel rims crack
And the ditch in the back roads stop
Could you find me?
Would you kiss-a my eyes?
To lay me down
In silence easy
To be born again
To be born again
From the far side of the ocean
If I put the wheels in motion
And I stand with my arms behind me
And Im pushin on the door
Could you find me?
Would you kiss-a my eyes?
To lay me down
In silence easy
To be born again
To be born again
There you go
Standin with the look of avarice
Talkin to huddie ledbetter
Showin pictures on the wall
Whisperin in the hall
And pointin a finger at me
There you go, there you go
Standin in the sun darlin
With your arms behind you
And your eyes before
There you go
Takin good care of your boy
Seein that hes got clean clothes
Puttin on his little red shoes
I see you know hes got clean clothes
A-puttin on his little red shoes
A-pointin a finger at me
And here I am
Standing in your sad arrest
Trying to do my very best
Lookin straight at you
Comin through, darlin
Yeah, yeah, yeah
If I ventured in the slipstream
Between the viaducts of your dreams
Where immobile steel rims crack
And the ditch in the back roads stop
Could you find me
Would you kiss-a my eyes
Lay me down
In silence easy
To be born again
To be born again
To be born again
In another world
In another world
In another time
Got a home on high
Aint nothing but a stranger in this world
Im nothing but a stranger in this world
I got a home on high
In another land
So far away
So far away
Way up in the heaven
Way up in the heaven
Way up in the heaven
Way up in the heaven
In another time
In another place
In another time
In another place
Way up in the heaven
Way up in the heaven
We are goin up to heaven
We are goin to heaven
In another time
In another place
In another time
In another place
In another face

Music Inspiration: When I Can’t Write, at Least I Can Listen

Feature O’ The Day:

Michael Franti: Stay Human (All The Freaky People)

This one’s dedicated to all the freaky people out there
All us freaks n’ weirdos
Just tryin’ to make it through life
You know what I’m sayin’
Sometimes
It’s rough out there
Just try and keep a sense of humor
Try to stay human

Starvation is the creation of the devil
A rebel
I’m bringin’ food to the people like a widow
Bringin’ flowers to a grave in the middle
Of the city
Isolation is a riddle
To be surrounded by a million other people
But to feel alone like a tree in a desert
Dried up like the skin of a lizard
But full of color like the spots of a leopard
Drum and bass pull me in like a shepherd
Scratch my itch like a needle on a record
Full of life like a man gone to Mecca
Sky high like an eagle up soaring
I speak low but I’m like a lion roaring
Baritone like a Robeson recordin’
I’m givin’ thanks for bein’ human every morning
Morning morning

Because the streets are alive
With the sound of Boom bap
Can I hear it once again
Boom bap
Tell your neighbor tell a friend
Every box gotta right to be boomin’
Because the streets are alive
With the sound of Boom bap
Can I hear it once again
Boom bap
Tell your neighbor tell a friend
Every flower got a right to be boomin’

Be resistant
The negativity we keep it at a distance
Call for backup and I’ll give you some assistance
Like a lifesaver deep in the ocean
Stay afloat here upon the funky motion
Rock and roll upon the waves of the season
Hold your breath and your underwater breathin’
To be rhymin’ without a real reason
Is to claim but not to practice a religion
If television is the drug of the nation
Satellite is immaculate reception
Beaming in they can look and they can listen
So you see don’t believe in the system
To legalize you or give you your freedom
You want rights ask ’em, they’ll read em’
But every flower got a right to be bloomin’
Stay human

Because the streets are alive
With the sound of Boom bap
Can I hear it once again
Boom bap, tell your neighbor tell a friend
Every box gotta right to be boomin’
Because the streets are alive
With the sound of
Boom bap
Can I hear it once again
Boom bap, tell your neighbor tell a friend
Every flower got a right to be boomin’

‘Cause all the freaky people make the beauty of the world
All the freaky people make the beauty of the world
‘Cause all the freaky people make the beauty of the world
All the freaky people make the beauty of the world
‘Cause all the freaky people make the beauty of the world
All the freaky people make the beauty of the world
See all the freaky people make the beauty of the world
All the freaky people make the beauty of the world

Y2K ya know is a moment
In time we find that we can open
Up a heart that’s locked or been broken
By the pain of words not spoken
Or shot by guns a still smokin’
Cartwrights out on the Ponderosa
Or drive by bang in Testarossa
We need to heed the words of Dalai Lama!
Or at least the words of yo mama
Take a mental trip to the Bahamas
Steam your body in a stereo sauna, sauna, comma

Because the streets are alive
With the sound of Boom bap
Can I hear it once again
Boom bap, tell your neighbor tell a friend
Every box gotta right to be boomin’
Because the streets are alive with the sound of
Boom bap, can I hear it once again
Boom bap, tell your neighbor tell a friend
Every flower got a right to be bloomin’
Because the streets are alive
With the sound of Boom bap
Can I hear it once again
Boom bap, tell your neighbor tell a friend
And every box gotta right to be boomin’
Because the streets are alive
With sound of Boom bap
Can I hear it once again
Boom bap
Tell your neighbor, tell your friend
Cause every flower got a right to be bloomin’
And every box got a right to be boomin’
And every child gotta right to be zoomin’
Every voice got a right to be scooby-doin’
Scooby-dooby-dooby-dooby-dooby doin’

Cause all the freaky people make the beauty of the world
All the freaky people make the beauty of the world

Music Inspiration–When I Can’t Write, at Least I Can Listen

Feature O’ The Day:

Widespread Panic: All Time Low

Black heart sun rides the sky
Now your eyes are running dry
Oh, like the space around me
I take my spot in time

Who knows who is both your best friend and brother
When everyone’s deserted you
Who’d shoot first and ask questions later
If anybody’s messed with you
Pretty soon we’ll all be tumblin’ like a barrel
Thrown from the top of the waterfall, well
I’m drowning in piranhas in the river
Man, what a drag, man

Black heart sun rides the sky
Now your wells are runnin’ dry
Like the space around me
I take my spot in time

Who knows who is both your best friend and brother
When everyone’s deserted you
Who’d shoot first and ask questions later
If anybody’s messed with you
Pretty soon we’ll all be tumblin’ like a barrel
Thrown from the top of the waterfall, well
I’m drowning in piranhas in the river
Man, what a drag!
Man, what a drag!
Man, what a drag!

I was talkin’ to my teacher
Said I didn’t have a clue
I think my principles are reachin’
An all time low
I saw my lady in the streetlight
She was walkin’ with her man
They were headed for the fire
That was burnin’ in the sand
I think my principles are reachin’
An all time low
I think my principles are reachin’
An all time, all time low
All time low
All time low
All time low
All time low

Music Inspiration–When I Can’t Write, at Least I Can Listen

Feature O’ The Day:

Bob Dylan: To Ramona

Ramona, come closer
Shut softly your watery eyes
The pangs of your sadness
Will pass as your senses will rise
The flowers of the city
Though breathlike, get deathlike sometimes
And there’s no use in tryin’
To deal with the dyin’
Though I cannot explain that in lines.

Your cracked country lips
I still wish to kiss
As to be by the strength of you skin
Your magnetic movements
Still capture the minutes I’m in
But it grieves my heart, love
To see you tryin’ to be a part of
A world that just don’t exist
It’s all just a dream, babe
A vacuum, a scheme, babe
That sucks you into feelin’ like this.

I can see that your head
Has been twisted and fed
With worthless foam from the mouth
I can tell you are torn
Between stayin’ and returnin’
Back to the South
You’ve been fooled into thinking
That the finishing end is at hand
Yet there’s no one to beat you
No one to defeat you
‘Cept the thoughts of yourself feeling bad

I’ve heard you say many times
That you’re better than no one
And no one is better than you
If you really believe that
You know you have
Nothing to win and nothing to lose
From fixtures and forces and friends
Your sorrow does stem
That hype you and type you
Making you feel
That you gotta be just like them.

I’d forever talk to you
But soon my words
Would turn into a meaningless ring
For deep in my heart
I know there’s no help I can bring
Everything passes
Everything changes
Just do what you think you should do
And someday, maybe
Who knows, baby
I’ll come and be cryin’ to you.

Music Inspiration–When I Can’t Write, at Least I Can Listen

Feature O The Day:

Michael Franti: Pray for Grace

Why must I feel like this today
I’m a soldier but afraid sometimes
To face the things that may
Block the sun from shinin’ rays
And fill my life with shades of grey
But still I long to find a way
So today I pray for grace

I take a moment to myself
So I can heal myself
Feel myself
And be real myself
Life’s addictions and afflictions
Cause abrasions from their friction
Sometimes, it’s easier to live in fiction
I can run, but I can’t hide
From the pains that
Reside deep down inside
There is no pill
That can be swallowed
There is no guru
That can be followed
There’s no escapin’
From my own history
Those that I hurt,
And those that hurt me
I was dead for a million years
‘Fore I was born and
I’ll be dead for a million more
After I’m gone
So I live, to give somethin’
That can live on
Like the way you hum a song when the music’s gone
Like the warmth on the sand
When the sun goes down
And I’m sittin’ with myself
Nobody else is around but

Why must I feel like this today
I’m a soldier but afraid sometimes
To face the things that may
Block the sun from shinin’ rays
And fill my life with shades of grey
But still I long to find a way
So today I pray for grace

Been a long, long time
Since I been away
Been a long, long time
Since I felt this way
Been a long, long time
I found the words to say
How much I’m grateful
For my life today
‘Cause under every cup
You might find a nut
Behind every corner
You might get jacked up
At the end of every rainbow,
You might find gold
The last bite of your sandwich,
Hope you don’t find mold
‘Cause none of us
Can live the perfect life
The kind that we see on Nick at Night
And sometimes, we all
Just lose sight
Of the pain that will guide us
From dark into the light
We fall down yes, but we get up,
And sometimes we just need
A little bit of love
To help make it
Through another day
Into the night, into the light,
Into a Saturday
So in the morning when I’m waitin’
For the sun to raise
And my head’s a little foggy
Like I’m in a haze
I remind myself that
Everything is gonna be okay
I take a breath, slow down and say

Why must I feel like this today
I’m a soldier but afraid sometimes
To face the things that may
Block the sun from shinin’ rays
And fill my life with shades of grey
But still I long to find a way
So today I pray for grace

Music Inspiration–Because When I Can’t Write, at Least I Can Listen

Feature O The Day:

Brett Dennen: Darling Do Not Fear (What You Don’t Really Know)

When I arrived in my old set of clothes
I was half a world away from my home
and I was hunted by the wolves
and I was heckled by the crows
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know

Alongside my innocence I laid in bed awake
conflicted and estranged with the impetus of age
but like a phantom she crept across the floor and out the window
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know

From its place on the mantel my heart was taken down
scattered in a thousand little pieces on the ground
and I below the streetlamp like an orphan with a halo
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know

cuz it won’t last
worries’ll pass
all your troubles they don’t stand a chance
and sometimes it takes more than a lifetime to know
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know

Your confidences fall as your faith etched in stone
neither could comfort you from the wild unknown
so bury your burning hatred like a hatchet in the snow
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know

If you have a broken heart or a battered soul
find something to hold onto until they go
to help you through the hard nights
like a flask filled with hope
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know

Cause it won’t last
your worries’ll pass
all your troubles they don’t stand a chance
and it always hurts the worst when it’s the ones we love the most
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know

Sometimes your path is marked in the sky
Sometimes it fails to fit in between the lines
Sometimes all you can do is say no
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know

I said when I arrived in my old set of clothes
I was half a world away from my home
and I was hunted by the wolves
and I was heckled by the crows
Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know
I said Darlin’ do not fear what you don’t really know

Listen to it