Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded May 16, May 26, and December 12, 2015. Mixed May 13, 2016.

 

Genesis: I came up with this song in 2000. I think I wrote the lyrics at my work desk during my lunch period and then that night composed the very simple tune. My English major wife, Theresa, had a hard time with “laying” instead of “lying.” Over time she has gotten more comfortable with the word.

About six years ago, Jan Hauenstein, a friend and songwriting collaborator, asked if there were any lyrics of mine that he could set to music. I sent him a few lyrics that had no music, along with “Laying in the Weeds.” Jan had not heard my version. He came up with a mellow tune that ended up on his next album. After hearing Jan’s recording, I recorded a simple folk-blues demo.   Last year I finally tackled a full arrangement with a harder edge.

Production: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitars, Acoustic Guitars, Drums.

Lyrics

LAYING IN THE WEEDS

I tried to find a reason

I learned a fiddler’s tune

I played out all the horsehair

By the harvest moon

I might be laying in the weeds

I might be laying in the weeds

 

Imagine all the questions

Suspended in the air

Waiting for the moment

When you’ve time care

I might be laying in the weeds

I might be laying in the weeds

 

You think that have you science

Sitting by your side

You think you got protection

But all you got is pride

I might be laying in the weeds

I might be laying in the weeds

 

I sense what you’ve forgotten

Is making you believe

The world has got you thinking

It has something up its sleeve

I might be laying in the weeds

I might be laying in the weeds

 

You hear the leaves a-rustling

In the sundown wind

You start to get the feeling

Your exits have been thinned

I might be laying in the weeds

I might be laying in the weeds

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner   All Rights Reserved

 

Recording and Mixing Dates: April 13-21, 2015. Mixed May 12, 2016.

 

Genesis: This song took a long time to complete. I came up with the music in the early 1990s. I recall playing it on a grand piano at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota in July 1994, during a break from recording my first album, Transfer Point. Brent Sigmeth, the recording engineer and co-producer, thought it sounded pretty cool.

I wrote the first set of lyrics on February 10, 2008. I had read a news story about Cairo, Illinois, which recounted how the city had descended into an abandoned, obliterated place. Cairo, pronounced “K-Row” by outsiders and “Care-O” by locals,  sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. From the 1860s into much of the Twentieth Century, Cairo was a prosperous town. Merchants and shippers built great Italianate mansions. Photos I have viewed online show these buildings in decay.

I imagined an interior dialogue by a truck driver heading out from Memphis on Highway 51, bound for Cairo. The driver is trying to sort out his life as darkness descends. I revised the lyrics on April 16 and 21, 2015.

The arrangement is spare, though I couldn’t resist playing a guitar solo.

Production: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Electric Piano, Organ, Drums.

Lyrics

From Memphis to Cairo

From Memphis to Cairo

On Highway 51

I’ll get there by midnight

And head back with the sun

Try as I might

To think thoughts of her

As she comes into focus

My mind starts to blur

From Memphis to Cairo

On Highway 51

 

Staring into twilight

Going back in time

When I was a young man jumping

Into my prime

I’d make my mark

Break all the rules

Now I’m following orders

Written by fools

From Memphis to Cairo

Going back in time

 

Heading into darkness

I keep losing the thread

Policing my memory

For something I thought or said

Long story short

I’ll make my amends

To long fallen angels

And other loose ends

From Memphis to Cairo

Searching for the thread

 

From Memphis to Cairo

Where mighty rivers meet

A place that’s so lonesome

Abandoned, obsolete

My destination

If just for the night

After these shadows

I hope for the light

From Memphis to Cairo

Where the mighty rivers meet

 

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

 

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded May 7 and May 8, 2016. Mixed May 8, 2016.

 

Genesis: This song dates back to 1979. I was in graduate school and was making music with John Plomondon, a fellow American Studies student and a multi-talented musician. I came up with the descending chord progression that opens the song and the rest of the music quickly followed. I can’t recall where I came up with the title/chorus line.

I recorded a guitar demo and in 1980 John played piano on another demo version. I never returned to make a final version until this week. The earlier versions were taken at a slow tempo. This version is much more upbeat.

 Production: Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitars, Electric Baritone Guitar, B3 Organ, Drums

 Lyrics

Shifts of a Curious Heart

Twisting and turning and burning for you

Day after day

Juggling my life trying to keep myself sane

Why do I stay

I never thought that you’d ever hurt

A man as true as me

You’ve had your fun

Now look what you’ve done

You say it’s only curiosity

Chorus:

Hard to follow

The Shifts of a Curious Heart

Hard to follow

The Shifts of a Curious Heart

 

You promise you’ll change and you always do

So who are you now

You live in a world where no one gets hurt

They never learned how

Remember that night in the candlelight

When you turned away from me

You went to that man with the sandpaper tan

Just to test my jealousy

Chorus

 Twisting and turning and burning for you

I’m crazy I know

You make it so hard for me to hold on

I’m not letting go

You’re never sure what you’re looking for

So you try everything you see

You’re not made of flesh and blood

But of flesh and mercury

Chorus

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

 

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded May 1, 4, and 5, 2016. Mixed May 5, 2016.

 

Genesis: I was goofing around with my wood-bodied National resonator baritone guitar on November 28, 2012. I hit upon a melody/riff and played around with it for 20 or 30 minutes. The line “down on the cabin floor” came out of my mouth and I decided that I would stick with that for the title and refrain. It was a catchy blues. Some of the lyrics on the final version are on the demo I recorded to my iPhone that day. However, it was not until November 1, 2014 that I wrote the final lyrics and added the bridge section.

Unlike my recent postings, this is no singer-songwriter tune with poetic lyrics. It is just a raunchy blues, built on the repetition of the word “sometimes.” In my head I hear the late Levon Helm singing it. I think a gravelly voice would suit the tune best, but it seems such voices are the result of heavy cigarette smoking.  I really enjoyed playing the electric lead guitar on this track. I haven’t done much electric blues picking the past few years.

Production: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitars, Piano, Organ, Drums, Percussion.

 Lyrics

Down on the Cabin Floor

 Sometimes she will break me

Sometimes she’ll forsake me

Sometimes she will take me

Down on the Cabin Floor

Sometimes I will wander

Sometimes I will wonder

Sometimes there is thunder

Down on the Cabin Floor

Down on the Cabin Floor

 

Bridge:

Without her by my side

I’m next to nothing

She has got that something

I do crave

 

Sometimes she will choose me

Sometimes she will lose me

Sometimes she will use me

Down on the Cabin Floor

Sometimes I will spite her

Sometimes I’ll invite her

Sometimes I’ll delight her

Down on the Cabin Floor

Down on the Cabin Floor

 

Bridge

 

Sometimes she will tease me

Sometimes she will freeze me

Sometimes she will please me

Down on the Cabin Floor

Sometimes I will teach her

Sometimes I’ll beseech her

Sometimes I will reach her

Down on the Cabin Floor

Down on the Cabin Floor

Down on the Cabin Floor

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner   All Rights Reserved