Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded and Mixed June 28, 2016.

 

Genesis: I got hooked on Hank Williams in the early 1970s. I wrote “Once in Awhile Forever” (Week 13) in 1978 as a tribute to his style of singing, writing, and arranging. In 1982 I came up with the line “let’s cancel the wedding and start the honeymoon.” I quickly gravitated to a Williams song archetype. This one too went into the file cabinet. I rediscovered it last year and made a few lyric tweaks (dropping the “and” in the concluding verse line.)

June is a big month for weddings, so I decided to release this tune now.

Side note: I am halfway through the 52 Tracks project this week. I have lots of songs on the drawing board for this summer.

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

Lyrics

Cancel the Wedding

Tomorrow is our wedding day

My feet ain’t cold but I’ve to got say

I think I went and spoke too soon

Let’s cancel the wedding start the honeymoon

 

You don’t need a diamond ring

We’ve got each other that’s everything

I think I went and promised the moon

Let’s cancel the wedding start the honeymoon

 

We don’t have time to dawdle

You can leave your wedding gown

We can make it ‘cross the state line

Before your folks know we’ve left town

 

Half that get married get a divorce

We don’t need a license to keep us on course

I know I’ve gone and changed my tune

Let’s cancel the wedding start the honeymoon

 

Your parents won’t believe it

Till they’re standing in the aisle

The guests will cough and snicker

The preacher will flash a nervous smile

 

They’ll come looking by half past four

I left a note on my back door

It says I went and spoke too soon

Cancel the wedding start the honeymoon

Cancel the wedding start the honeymoon

Honey, honey, honey, honeymoon

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

Recording and Mixing Dates: April 10, 2015 and June 19, 2016. Mixed June 19, 2016.

 

Genesis: I wrote this song on March 14, 1985 and promptly filed it away. I rediscovered it last April as I started recording a solo album. I cleaned up the lyrics a bit and that was that.

I believe I came up with the title and clicked on the idea of someone overwhelmed by gossip, rumor, and innuendo. We now live with the Internet and 24/7 cable channels, making it more difficult for someone in the public eye. Bob Dylan and Van Morrison have written a number of songs based on this theme, so I am in good company…

Theresa had the idea of me recording two unison vocals on the hook line so there would be three voices reinforcing the triple talk theme. Thank you!

Production: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitars, Drums.

Lyrics

Triple Talk

I heard it from her

I heard it from him

Now I hear it from you

Baby, I can’t win

All this Triple Talk

It’s taking its toll on me

 

First it’s a rumor

Then it’s a tale

Now it’s the truth

Baby, where did I fail?

All this Triple Talk

It’s taking its toll on me

Triple Talk

Cakewalking around the facts

I’m sick of the denials

The trash and the trials

My name attracts

 

Nothing can stop it

It’s rested and fed

At least in the long run

Baby, we’re dead

All this Triple Talk

It’s taking its toll on me

All this Triple Talk

It’s taking its toll on me

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded May 10 and June 16, 2016. Mixed June 16, 2016.

 

Genesis: I worked with Daniel Foley, a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Judge Foley was an imposing figure physically and verbally but he also was a great storyteller and the possessor of true Irish wit and wisdom. One day, while we were discussing an administrative issue, I raised another matter that could have lead us to who knows where. Judge Foley stopped me, looked me in the eye, and said, “Don’t wake the baby to hear it cry.” I suppose this is an Irish variation on the proverb “Let sleeping dogs lie” but my songwriter self told me to write that line down. About 15 years later, in January 2006, I finally found a story line that could support the phrase. The music came easily and by January 2008 the song was completed.

 Production: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar, Piano, B3 Organ, Harmonica, Drums.

Lyrics

Don’t Wake the Baby

You’ve got troubles up to your eyebrows

Still you’re searching for more

You’re hearing things that aren’t really out there

You keep checking your door

We can’t control

Most of what’s out there

It’s pointless to try

CHORUS:

Stop looking over your shoulder

Don’t Wake the Baby to hear it Cry

Don’t Wake the Baby to hear it Cry

 

You double-check and second-guess now

Fear’s a four-letter word

What’s and If’s cloud your horizon

Till every bright line is blurred

In the night

When all should be silent

I hear a weary sigh

CHORUS

You’ve been beaten down, you’ve been beaten down

I can see that very well

Give me a little time, just a little time

And maybe time will finally tell

 

Live in the moment, give what you’ve got now

It’s a world filled with chance

Or stake your claim way back in that corner

Where you can sit out every dance

I want to break

The spell that you’re under

Change that look in your eyes

CHORUS

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

 

 

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded May 14-15, 2016. Mixed May 15, 2016.

 

 

Genesis: There is a strange story to this song. I have dealt with the “Black Dog” of depression twice in the past twenty years. The last episode started in the late 1990s and continued until the summer of 2006, when a family intervention lead me to again seek treatment. Though I had been in denial about my mental health, in October 2005 I wrote “The Lost Years,” which described what I had been going through and concluded with the idea I had come out the other side and was better. I can see now I was pretty far down the rabbit hole…

The first verse and refrain lyrics went into my word processor on October 10. By the end of the month the remaining lyrics were completed and the music had been composed. I worked on arranging the song and even thought about an album entitled “The Lost Years.” I tweaked the lyrics several times over the years.

As my depression lifted, the song became a forgotten stepchild. Last year I decided to make a recording but the results were less than compelling. This weekend I sat down and retooled the arrangement, sang the vocals, and played electric guitar.

I am not sure what the listener is to make of this work, as this is a very personal song.

 Production: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitars, Drums.

Lyrics

THE LOST YEARS

I didn’t wander out in the desert

Wasn’t locked in a padded room

Didn’t find myself in the gutter

Howling at the moon

But seven years came and went

With nothing much to show

At the time I couldn’t see

Now I’ve come to know

 

Refrain:

All and all

Those were the lost years

All and all

Those were the lost years

 

I can see I lost perspective

Trying to find the one best way

Nothing ever measured up

I had no more dreams in play

I dodged the toughest questions

Life was a roundabout

And when the dust had settled down

Fear was clutching doubt

 

Refrain

 And I can’t get ‘em back

No, I can’t get ‘em back

So I guess I’ll just say “Adios”

 

And what about the future?

Well, I haven’t been advised

So I take it day by day

With a lot more compromise

I’m living with the knowledge

That it’s easy to backslide

And slip across that shadow line

Without breaking stride

Refrain

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded April 5, 2015. Mixed May 11, 2016.

 

Genesis: I wrote this song on April 8, 2010. The lyrics came quickly. I made a few small revisions two weeks later. The song title came from my songwriter’s notebook. The music wrote itself. I feel fortunate that this song came into the world almost fully formed. And I referred to “cottonwood” again…

I recorded the song almost immediately but I filled up the tracks with piano, fiddle, mandolin, organ, pedal steel, etc. The song collapsed under the weight of the arrangement. Last year I went back and stripped things down to very spare acoustic arrangement, emphasizing the brightness of the banjo-guitar and the darkness of the baritone resonator guitar. I also added the pause before singing the last line of each verse.

Production: Bass Guitar, Banjo-Guitar, Baritone Resonator Guitar, Drums.

Lyrics

Out Along the Western Sky

 Out along the Western Sky

Crows and wolves pass on by

Whispered words like cottonwood

Blow away misunderstood

Trees have roots that hold them true

Straight-line wind can drop them too

Wishing I had said goodbye

Out along the Western Sky

 

Out along the Western Sky

Two half-truths make a lie

I have walked the King’s Highway

With righteous pilgrims led astray

Dust and thunder play duets

I’m so close I’m not there yet

Wishing I had said goodbye

Out along the Western Sky

 

Out Along the Western Sky

The softest thoughts amplify

Fallen idols cast about

Planting fields with seeds of doubt

Cut myself on common sense

Against the grain of coincidence

Wishing I had said goodbye

Out along the Western Sky

 

Out Along the Western Sky

Shadowed hands mark my eyes

Bloodied moon black-eyed sun

Countdown days have just begun

Fellow travelers in my heart

Look for things to take apart

Wishing I had said goodbye

Out along the Western Sky

Wishing I had said goodbye

Out along the Western Sky

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner   All Rights Reserved