THE MAGIC WORD PT 1

  Since I first learned to read I've been spellbound by the magic of words. Since the fisrt time I realized how vivid a picture words could paint in my mind, no tv, no audio, nothing but words, I knew there was power in writing. I realized that I could Prompt a reader to think, or draw them into a temporary state of empathy for an idea, or even a fictional character. It's the original "high definition", deeper than any movie screen, wider than any painter's canvas. I,ve accumulated some years by now, and quite a collection of songs, poems, essays and hopefuly soon, a novel.  The icing on the cake, if you will, is that words act as markers as to the way you thought or how felt during the different phases of your life. I would like to share a few examples of my phases, thru my words.

    When I wrote the following words, I was addicted, alone, and miserable.
 
                                                    CHANGE IN MY LIFE                          
        This is the first time I've felt this way.  Don't give a damn about tomorrow, didn't give a damn about today. It's all old news, routine, see trough, fuckin' boring.
I can't take another minute of this stagnant cesspool I brought my life to this place like a damn fool
         I don't know where I lost my passion. Don't know if I'll ever feel again. I know there's something more for me this time, I'm makin' a change in my life.
          Remember, we used to talk of the fortune and fame, how we would walk to the top of the scene. You and me, but they kicked our asses back to reality.
So we played by the rules. They played us like fools. guess that's what they mean by payin' your dues. It's crazy, hectic, stone-age, eclectic. And I don't know when I lost my passion. Don't know if I'll ever get it back. I know there's something more for me, this time, I'm makin' a change in my life. I've got to get it right. Feels like I'm runnin' out of time.

          Those were darker days indeed. I often say I like to write things down so I can see myself think. I realize now what an Important vent writing provided. that wasn't the end of my misery, but it was the beginning of the end. It's magic.
                                     
                                                      Lonely night

           Every day, you know I count my blessings. Life is ful of changes, it keeps you on your toes.  Every new day, I learn another lesson. You can put your faith in destiny, but hey, who really knows.
                                     I've seen a lonely night, but tomorrow's another day
                                     You know it'll shine if you give it a try

           Now I know, you think you got it rough. Your're caught up in emotions and this world can be so mean. But life wasn't meant to be lived in just a day.
you gotta roll with the punchs, you gotta work with the routine.

            Those words are a little bit more positive, but it was more or less a statement to how I should be thinking. It would be a long time before I could look forward to a shiney tomorrow, but that day did come, and addiction was removed from me. I wrote a song about it.

                                                  SECOND CHANCE

Opened my eyes this mornin' to another fine Georgia day.
Glanced out upon a miracle, but I never used to see it that way.
Took a little quiet time, just reflectin' upon my past.
Said a little grateful prayer 'cause I know I'm a free man at last, yeah
Never did a thing in my life without pushin' it to the edge.
Never needed a reason to slow down.
I was lettin' my life go by without ever knowin' how to live.
I don't try to explain, cause I know I can't
I gotta second chance.
I guess somebody up there likes me.

There was a time when the world was mine
and yeah I had it all figured out.
Lookin' back I gotta laugh at myself and wonder
What the hell was I thinkin' about?
Never cared for anything that wasn't part of my old routine.
drowned all my troubles in a bottle 'til nothin' at all really mattered to me.
Never did a thing in my life 'cause I've always been afraid to change.
Guess I didn't see a reason to slow down.
In one clear moment my whole life changed.
It's like heaven opened up my eyes.
And I'm not afraid of gettin' on my knees,
cause it's plain to see,
Somebody up there likes me.

         SECOND CHANCE is the first song I ever wrote sober. Funny thing, what you think about when you're trying to change your life. The prospect of losing my ability to write songs weighed heavily on my mind. I felt that way about just about everything because I was an alcoholic before I was a teenager. The last 11 years have been a learning experience for me as I meet the man that I never gave myself a chance to become.  As it turns out, the soul can be healed, and happiness can be restored, and the words are still magic.

          As a songwriter, I  automatically draw from personal experiences, as I assume every writer does from time to time. At the age of eleven I began to commit to my dream of making it big in the music business, and even then I was of the opinion that playing my own original music was the only way to make a mark in the music business, so I bought a book on songwriting, and read it like a jesus freak in bible class. I learned about the different styles of songwriting. The formulas that create lyrical rythyms that fit the various styles of music. I learned cool little phrases like "repetition is key", and learned to break the non-existant assumed rules like " everything has to rhyme". It was exciting, and I started to get a feel for it.
    One of my earlier songs was a rock-a-billy piano tune called "ON THE ROAD". I sterted writing it when I was about ten years old. I wrote the first verse and it got lost in clutter of my mind until the year 2006, when I finally finished the song, and recorded it.

                                                 ON THE ROAD

I'm on the road all day and all night
Don't make much money, but I do all right
Play my music wherever I please
If you wanna come along man
well that's fine with me
I'm on the road and that's where I'm gonna stay

wether it be a big city or a one horse town
just say the word baby
and I'll throw some jams down
I can rock you all night, or I can make you cry
The only thing for certain is we're gonna say goodbye
I'm on the road and that's where i'm gonna stay

Well I might hang with you for a couple of days
'til the call of the wild gets me up and on my way
places to see, so many people to do
you can bet your ass baby i'll be back to see you


Ahh, the love song. In my opinion, the best love song ever written has to be YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL TO ME by Billy Preston and Dennis Wilson of the Beach boys.  With only four short lines, that song gets to the bottom of the writers sentiment in a powerful, poetic way.
       I tend to fall on the heartbreak side of the love song, though I've written some Positive love songs  with hooks like this one:

                                                  ".... It' a good thing to know.
                                                    Knowin' you love me babe,
                                                    knowin' you're by my side,
                                                    makin' my everyday.
                                                    It's a good thing to know,
                                                    knowin' you need me to,
                                                    like the way that I need you.
                                                    It's a good thing, a good thing.

    Wouldn't it be nice if we could all feel that way all the time? nice yes, realistic? Hell no!
But love is a double edged sword. It cuts deep and causes a pain that can linger even beyond the offending memory.  My experience running away from the pain of heart break has left me with the ability to recall some of those feelings when I need them. I think I could win the lotto and write a sad song about it! Just kidding! Heartbreak has given quite alot of practice putting my emotions on paper. Songs like "Rainbow at night" and "Anyway"come straght from my, at the time, wounded heart. My song "In the night" helped me to thru a difficult break up in which my girlfriend and I both knew months in advance that we had grown apart and our relationship had become a "goin' through the motions" kind of thing, yet neither of us could take the step toward the inevitable end which in turn made the end harder than it had to be.

                                                     IN THE NIGHTLookin' back I see a world that maybe came to me just a little to easy
Lookin' back I see a girl you know she showed me things she was everthing to me
she held all the keys, she was the perfect puzzle piece
As it goes you live your life, day day out you know you're really knowin'
When you grow apart what can you say? Just another part of growin'
Such is a in a life.
Another fucked up perfect memory.

Could it be
we just missed each other
in the night?
maybe the time just wasn't right
for you and me
We just missed each other
in the night. In the night
But I never said die,
even when I felt tike a fool for tryin'
No I never said die,
learned how to fake a smile
when I felt like cryin'.
And when it didn't make sense,
I took a step back to see the big picture

Could it be
we just missed each other
in the night?
maybe the time just wasn't right
for you and me
We just missed each other
in the night. In the night.

      Everybody likes a good story. If it wasn't people telling great stories that were worth re-telling, we may never have written anything down in the first place. In recent years, interest in the spoken word has enjoyed a re-birth in the inner cities, and has reclaimed it's place in the world culture, art, and communication. The free style poet of today has captured the ear of their generation, much like the "beatniks" of the fifties. Free atyle improv poets have have carved out a niche, and is now a viable and lucrative part of social setting. The rise of the recording industry, and the pace of change in technology, at first glance, seems to have stolen the limelite from the traditional story teller. You need only to think back to the radio you loved as a kid to find them. they're everywhere. Ray Stevens' "The streak", C.W. McCall's "Convoy", Kris Kristopherson's "Me and Bobby Mahgee" and Charley Daniels "The ghost of Lusious Clay". All great examples of telling great stories through music.
     One day I sat down to write a song. I didn't really have a subject, so I let my mind wander a bit and soon I was thinking about cool movies that I had seen thru the years. The Paul Newman movie "Cool hand Luke" came to mind and Shaun Penn's "Bad boys" fell right in behind it. The common theme between the two films was that both characters were in prison, and both found occaision to escape. With that in mind, I started to write.

                                   SHE'S GONNA KNOW I TRIEDWell it won't be long, 'til they know I'm gone
And it's barrowed time, that I'm livin' on
Shackles and chains tangle in the weeds
I dare not slow down, though my ankles bleed
My baby's letter, said there's trouble at home
and I made her a promise, I'd never leave her alone
And if I don't make it back, to her arms alive,
she's gonna know I tried
She's gonna know I tried

       And said jailer man, won't you slow your step
got to see my family 'fore you shoot me dead
And I said jailer man, don't wanna hurt your pride
and I'm ready to die, and I'll be satisfied,
she's gonna know I tried.

       I can only guess, how far it is I've run
Maybe they'll shoot me down, with the risin' sun
Not much of a trade, when you've escaped from hell
A coffin's 'bout the same, as a prison cell
But they're on my heals, and they gainin' fast
Surely I know, today I'll breath my last
And if I don't make it back, to her arms alive,
she's gonna know I tried,
She's gonna know I tried

     If one day a man from ancient Egypt were to walk through a portal into our time, he would probably be really pissed off. He would  probably say Life in ancient Egypt was back breaking and slow. He'd visit Rameses the great and compare his mummy to Jim Morrison's picture on a doors cd and wonder why he broke his back working all those years, when we achieve what they  toiled for with a push of a button. The ancients achieved immortality. We wouldn't know a thing about them if they hadn't.
        There is a long list of people who have achieved immortality through music. Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin, John Bonham, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Bon Scott,The list goes on and on. Technology has allowed us to create a lasting testament, a virtual record of our greatest stories, our accomplishments, opinions. All of the dead rock stars are still here. We see them and hear them, year after year. Isn't that immortality?
   
        Every now and then I write a song That is at once personal, and meant to be heard. I've got two songs that come to mind that fall into that category. "It's the same "isIIi  about how I came to be in Georgia.  It's on my bands self titled cd, Blonz. My favorite "immortal family tree" song  is "Kentucky Breeze." As far as I concerned, if I change one word of this song it wouldn't be the same song. As a songwriter I know that sometimes you have to cut corners, or lose a certain word. That is the very thing that prompted me to take this song off the table. I won't change one word, because I can't. That's the way true stories work.

                                                    KENTUCKY BREEZE     I'd like to go back to old horse cave
down to hart county, where my family came from
and feel that sweet Kentuck breeze.
I'll never forget my uncle JT,
the man never failed to get a laugh outta me.
and that goat my brother tried to ride

                Green river's water's flowin' through my blood
                 and if I lose myself again
                I'll go down to where the water flows
                 Follow the wind trough the trees
                and you will find me there
                 Enjoyin' a Kentucky breeze

Mattie Mitchum was a fine young woman
born strong with morals you could raise a child on
And she gave this world sweet CONNIE JEAN

And I owe my life to Connie Jean
For sharin' here love and her family
Taught me wrong from right
then she let me be free
                    
                Green river's water's flowin' through my blood
                and if I lose myself again
                 I'll go down to where the water flows
                  follow the wind through the trees
                 and you will find me there,
                Enjoyin' a Kentucky Breeze

I'd like to go back to old horse cave
and put flowers on my relative's graves
and say a thankful prayer
for the future they gave us