Songwriter's Challenge

So the coffee shop I've been terrorizing with my off key singing and problematic guitar playing has a songwriter's challenge.  Not quite sure how the challenge works, but I know the theme is Dancing, and the deadline is tonight.  So I'm going to write this song and hopefully perform it tonight.


There's thunder in my heart
that won't quiet down,
there's voices in my head
that drag me around

And though it feels allright
when i feed my restlessness
There's still a little girl
that I'll always miss

and I
lay awake at night and can't lose the day
and then i think of her and it slips away
I watch her
dance

It was last september
since last I was home
I hope she remembers
that I love her so

The thunder is a pounding
in my restless soul
but now it's telling me
it's time to go home

and I

lay awake at night and can't lose the day
and then i think of her and it slips away
I watch her
dance

and the lightning screams
through my restless dreams
i packed my things
and baby I'm coming home
to see you dance

In the Night

I wrote this song in 1987.  I use to write songs and the pieces of note paper would run away and find little corners of rooms, and piles of papers to hid in.  And soon I would forget about them.  A favorite hiding spot was in my brothers studio.  Occasionally someone looking for a song to do would scoop one up and make a song out of it.  This is what happened with this song, it had been done a couple of times before but never quite found it's way onto an album. 

Scott was looking for a song to do to break in his new studio software.  He didnt' want to waste one of his great songs on a learning curve so went in search of a "crappy" song to destroy.  He found this and decided to remake it.  I'm very glad he did.  He made a beautiful arrangement, and did quite well for his inaugural project.  The only flaw was the vocals.  Yes that's me singing, and everything else is Scott.  He did a great job.  Check it out.

In the Night

Sometimes it seems,
I'm barely alive.
I've gotten lost
hanging on this ride.

I stare up through
the neon lights,
I can't see the stars
shining down through the night,
shining down through the night.

Time was always
on my side,
I could do,
whatever i tried.

someday I'll jump
off this ride
and look for you
somewhere in the night,
I'll come look for you
somewhere in the night.



If I had you here
would it be the same
If I had you here
could I ever see the night.

We use to walk alone in the dark
all night, but we'd never get far.
I promised all you dreams would come true
and I'd come back to you,
somewhere in the night,
I still reach for you,
somewhere in the night.

If I had you here,
could it be the same,
If I had you here
could I ever see the night,

Somewhere in the night.
 
In the Night

Another step.

I've become quite fond of existentialism.  The main thing for me is to really focus on where you're at and make the most of that.  In doing this the next footprint on your journey just sort of appears automatically and all you have to do is simply put your foot into it.  Eazy peazy.

As I've become immersed in my music journey  I've met several musical folks, some in the physical world and some in the virtual world.  They've all been critically important to me, and slowly my world and musical support system began to grow.

This has taken me to another new step on my journey.  Tonight I did a short live set with just me an my acoustic guitar.  Many people are surprised to learn I had never done this.  But it is true.  I've been a bass player for most of my musical world and a closet acoustic player otherwise.  I've done some singing in a band context but never solo.  And so tonight I crossed that line I had not dared cross before and technically became a singer/songwriter instead of just a song writer.

The nervousness was unreal.  Not as intense as my first live audition way back in the day, or even as scary as the first time I sang karaoke in public, but very scary none-the-less.  I was prepared for such a thing though and had my first two songs be quirky little songs that could absorb some nervous mistakes. It worked. The next time I do this i think I might try an easy cover as the first song.  We'll see how that goes.

I'm excited to play some more now.  And will be over the next couple of months.  As I am now standing in a different place in my journey. I plan on making the most out of this spot until a new footprint appears.