New Blues #3 - Funeral Blues - Songwriter workshop intro song - July 22, 2012

The blog, staggering through the summer - staggering fo' sho' - A Song A Week in name only.  Maybe I'll pile multiple songs into weeks later in the year to make up for the summer doldrums.

So next week I'm heading up to Barkerville to participate as an invited artist in a week long songwriting workshop facilitated by Dave Bidini and his band.  Following that I'll be performing at the Arts Wells Festival.

 I must admit to a certain level of trepidation about this workshop, not that I know what to expect really, but being in a group/classroom situation and having to come up with songs definitely takes me out of my comfort zone. I don't know what "comfort zone" means, or is, or if I have ever been there, but I won't be there next week. I kind of spew songs out as they come to me, as I filter the world and my experiences and emotions through the cerebral song grinder.

Last week, I recieved this email

Your instructor, Dave Bidini, would like me to pass on a message, regarding your Song Writing Course. He would like you to come up with a short, one-minute song. This song will tell the class who you are, and will be played at the first session. Yes, you have homework already!

I exited the comfort zone, put my head down like a good little boy and wrote a song.  It's a minor blues middle age lament about funerals and storms.  

New Blues #2 (Funeral Blues)

I emote with icons

stumbling down the passage of time

two thin dimes on my feet silver dollars on my sockets

draped in a cool white sheet

I could see the storm a-rising as I rolled on 'round the bend

thinking 'bout the funerals I've been planning to attend

in my cum-stained pants and my curly hair shirt

with my sack of blood and my bottle of dirt

my wagon of woe, my world of hurt

when lightning struck the cruise ship

it shattered like a pomegranate

and I clung to two hearts

that keep me anchored on this planet

oh woh woh woh woh woh

oh woh woh woh woh woh

oh woh woh woh woh woh 

woh

****Star Date:  January 12, 2016:

So a couple of things happened since I posted this blog and now.  Over the past coupla years rehearsing and recording,  I mixed up the order I composed my "New Blues" series.  This song, Funeral Blues, in reality #3 became New Blues #2.  And I wrote some more lyrics.  And it got recorded with a band.  I'll post a version of it soon!    

Horseleg Swastikas - Silver Jews Cover - July 8, 2012

I had been staying at my friend Dave Gowans' place, we were milling around before I departed to catch the ferry, and he put on the Silver Jews  album Bright Flight.  I was struck by the vision and imagery of David Berman's writing and his startlingly original wordplay and became an instant convert. I've been a serious fan since, accumulating the entire discography and covering a couple of songs....this one, and from the album American Water, the song Random Rules which we recorded  and released on my CD Mantennae.  The sweet girl vox featuring Rachelle Reath and Megan Boddy, plus percussive touches, were added later by DJ Hairwolf at The Palace Of The Golden Dragon.  

CLICK HERE to listen to our version of RANDOM RULES recorded by Scott Bennett live in the living room at Walnut 

Street. 

Here my version of the song

Horseleg Swastikas - David Berman

Drunk on a couch in Nashville

in a duplex near the reservoir

every single thought is like a punch in the face

I'm like a rabbit freezing on a star

On the wrong side of Sunday morning

shattered in a terrible light

working for a bankrupt circus 

on the wrong side of Saturday night

And I wanna be like water if I can

'Cause water doesn't give a damn

water doesn't give a damn

Chased by a floating hatchet

you can't just shoot your way out and go

I could tell you things about this wallpaper

that you never ever wanna know

There's an altar in the valley

for thing in themselves as they are

and the triumph of the obstacle

and horseleg swastikas

And I wanna take a ride on the back of a sunbird

up into the highest number

up into the highest number

And I wanna be like water if I can

'Cause water doesn't give a damn

water doesn't give a damn

If you haven't heard the original, check it out!