So, yeah, today’s trio is up. In the true spirit of Trio, it features brand new and mostly unrehearsed material recorded in one ten minute take. The new song might be called “Colorblind,” and that’s the first time i ever played it. The second song is the infamous Ani tune from earlier this week (which i transcribed by ear yesterday), and the third was linked way back on last Sunday. So, this is actually a relevant Trio. Enjoy.
my music
My emotions flow out like sand in an hourglass filling up the past. They’re from a beach full of grains, like a pallet of colors, but this is what i’m left to paint with. I used all of my red to make a beautiful heart – that’s where it all started. And i lost the black and blue painting it to match you, and wiping out all the working parts. I had a rainbow of colors to paint our love, but now it’s just sand through my fingers. I’ll be lucky if i’m left with the grey sky that it was cast against to paint what lingers. I gave you my first times and I gave you my trust, and you just smoldered like a furnace. We were hot enough that all we did was combust, and ashes are all we’re left with. I had a rainbow of colors to paint our love, but now it’s just sand through my fingers. I’ll be lucky if i’m left with the grey sky that it was cast against to paint what lingers. The enormity
of you and me made me colorblind. And now that that we’re through I’m scraping together all that’s left over of the colors i can find. I found a discarded green: the color of your envy. I’ve got white for my spotlight. ‘Cause you were center stage; you stole the applause from my life. And i’ve got just enough left over to paint a four leaf clover. Yeah,
I’ll need all the luck in the world. ‘Cuz i’m standing here drained of all of my color, and my hourglass is shattered – it will never be the same.
So, um, yeah. My mother hated last year’s demo because she’s stupid. Or, rather, she is all about the show that’s put on for her, and she can’t notice lyrics or songwriting without it. The demo was explicitly meant as a showcase of those two things, since it totally lacked quality of production, but she could never get past that so she never really listened to it. So, suddenly she’s handed a tape with a studio quality “under my skin” on it, and she wants to send it to the record companies right now despite the fact that it still pretty much sounds like shit. Of course, she doesn’t care, because the studio EQ and the backing vocals are there so she can gush all over it and say that i’ve never done anything worthwhile ever before in my life. Which is the worst compliment she could ever pay me, because this is the product of my life, not its sum total. Or something. This is why she’s in Florida right now and i don’t mind so much…
I’m starting to feel famous. Or, more accurately, people are actually starting to know and recognize my songs. Sure, it’s not hundreds of people, but i have enough of a market for the upcoming disc that i’m actually looking into getting it printed rather than just burning them one by one. The fact that i played “Under My Skin” last night twice and that people sang along makes it that much better. Amy thinks it’s an ego thing, but honestly i’m just happy that all of my sonic toiling is finally having an effect on people. Not quite a rock star yet, but i’ve got some years left before i get my diploma to work on it :p
I started playing “Hold on Me” and Selina walked into the shop halfway through the first verse. Have you ever played a song written about your ex-girlfriend while you still really liked her in the same room with her after the breakup? Well… you’d think it’d be really fun, but really it was an exercise in subtly changing lyrics to reflect the current situation, and keeping your eyes pressed shut tightly so you don’t have to look at her. After i launched immediately into “Splinter” Selina eventually left the shop, and Gina got me to lay off the mean relationship songs. However, we then played “Under My Skin” again and i performed the “i don’t miss you anymore” extended mix (much to Gina’s confusion and delight). The first time i ever sang the song in this fashion was to Selina when we first started seeing each other, and the “miss you anymore” was my way of telling myself i finally was over Laurel. The demo version is much more conflicted at that point of the song, because it was physically sung to Laurel, who i was over but still very pleased to serenade. The version last night brought me full circle back to sitting in Selina’s dorm room with my guitar, pouring out my heart to her. It was empty for a while, but i hear refills are free.