One Day At A Time - January 8, 2012

2011.  Phew, what a year.  It was a tough one.  In fact, before going any further, a toast.....2011, suck my balls.  The concept of this blog is simple.   After an interesting, yet harrowing year musically and creatively, I found myself struggling with music....and not playing as much as I need to maintain mental and emotional well-being.  I wanted to reconnect with playing songs, simply, then be able to diffuse the songs and performances to people without playing lots of existentially bleak gigs.  Like most blogs, this is about me...but I hope it will be interesting and entertaining enough to engage you.

So I employ a simple construct.  Video/record a song a week and post it on the blog.  Rule-making in the creative arena forces artists of every stripe to be active - one of the oldest tricks in the book.  Some of them will be songs I’ve written, some covers.  There’ll be stuff about the song, info, history, lyrics, etc.   Enough chat, let’s get to it.

One Day At A Time – The Flatlanders/Willie Nelson

One Day At A Time was written by Willie Nelson and appeared on his 1965 album Country Willie – His Own Songs – but I only JUST found that out doing some research on the song!  The version I am familiar with is by The Flatlanders, a band comprised of three giants of the Texas roots scene, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock, and in their first incarnation supplemented by Steve Wesson on musical saw and autoharp, Sly Rice on string bass, Tony Pearson on mandolin, and Tommy Hancock on fiddle.   One Day At A Time appears on  More A Legend Than A Band,  a 1990 Rounder re-release of the original album. It was not included for release back in 1972.   Recorded in 1971 by Shelby Singleton (Sun Studios), the promotional single “Dallas” was a commercial failure, and the album saw only limited 8-track release to fulfill contractual obligations.  It is not surprising that this fully acoustic country band with a strong tie to traditional music, a subtle psychedelic bent, and an interest in eastern religion was out of step with what was going on in Nashville in the early 70’s.  Bhagavan Decreed is no Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’.   Colin Escott writes “...the music that the Flatlanders cut that month could have come from a different planet than that emanating from every other pore of Music City.....It sported none of the lyrical contrivance or woeful over-production of much that passed for country music at the time it was recorded”

The Flatlanders reunited 30 years later and have released some albums since, but for me, this is the only one.  I have been listening to it for 20 years – it’s a record with staying power.  Dallas is “The Hit” from the record and I started performing that with the first band I was in, The Dogbreath Brothers.  This summer I was going through yet another heavy listening phase with this record and learned a few of the other songs including One Day At A Time.  I have been singing it pretty much every day for the last six weeks.  I find the chord cycle and melody meditative and what can I say about the lyrics....can spirituality and existentialism meet at a lyrical crossroad?  It is an appropriate song for the beginning of a new and better year.


******Star Date January 13, 2016:  This was my first effort and was recorded directly to the laptop through the webcam.  By the next week I had figured out a better recording system.

The Flatlanders - One Day At A Time

Here's Willie!

One Day At A Time (Flatlander version)

Chorus

I live one day at a time

I dream one dream at a time

Yesterday is dead

And tomorrow is blind

I live one day at a time

If you’re surprised to see me back at home

You don’t know how I missed you while I was gone

Don’t ask me how long I plan to stay

It never crossed my mind

I live one day at a time

Chorus

There’s a bluebird winging ‘cross a cloudy sky

He’s looking for a patch of sun, so am I

Don’t ask me how long I’ll have to follow him

Perhaps  I won’t in time

I live one day at a time

Chorus