Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded September 28 and 29, 2016. Mixed September 29, 2016.

 

 

Genesis: I wrote this song during the Carter Administration—1977. This is a wistful song in waltz time that displays the singer-songwriter environment of that decade. I can hear traces of Dylan, Neil Young, and even David Blue. I never recorded the song until this week but I recall rehearsing it with a harmonica in a harmonica rack.

I wrote a new verse this week—I needed to fill in a gap. Apart from that, this song has not changed in almost 40 years.

Production: Acoustic Bass, Acoustic Guitars, Pedal Steel, and Drums.

Lyrics

Marita, Marita

Marita, Marita

Where are you now?

If you would tell me

I’d get there somehow

Trapped in this city

Give me reason to leave

Marita, Marita

My heart’s on my sleeve

 

I remember the moment

When you said goodbye

Snow on the ground

Smoke in the sky

Nothing has changed much

It still hasn’t cleared

The nights are so long

So much worse than I feared

 

I held you for a while

But I couldn’t hold you back

I tried to pursue you

But I only lost track

The postmarks keep changing

They show where you’ve been

Lost and found

And then lost again

 

Marita, Marita

My hope’s almost gone

With time standing still

I can’t get to the dawn

Wearied and wondering

What more I can do

Marita, Marita

Come out of the blue

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

 

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded September 5 and 22, 2016. Mixed September 22, 2016.

 

Genesis: I wrote the lyrics on July 2, 2009 in one sitting. I couldn’t find the right music until March 27, 2011.

The lyrics were written two years before I retired from my day job. It is a fantasy about how my days would be spent—waking early, sipping coffee, and writing. I think the song is heavily shaped by two of my favorite songwriting craftsmen, Guy Clark and Rodney Crowell.

Theresa laughed when I told her the gist of the song—I never get out of bed in the morning before her. That’s true. I also have to walk the dog and the cats have to be fed. As I said, it is a pleasant fantasy.

The arrangement is based on the Clark/Crowell Texas singer-songwriter sound. A pretty nylon-string guitar, a sweet accordion, and a short swell of pedal steel guitar give the song a mellow, morning treatment.

Production: Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitars, Accordion, Pedal Steel, and Drums.

 Lyrics

Morning Song

Sitting on the porch

The sun appears

A rabbit scampers by

The cobwebs clear

A mug of coffee

Pad and pen

Another chance

For me to spend

Time inside a place where I belong

Listening for another morning song

 

In my younger days

I worked the night

The world made much more sense

In black and white

Into the darkness

I would fly

To seize the words

Out of the sky

I had no doubts judging right from wrong

A bird of night with his evening song

 

All things settle

And come to rest

Some feel cursed

Some feel blessed

Some free and clear

Some repossessed

The chips always fall where they may

 

She’s sleeping in our bed

Just down the hall

When she gets up

She’ll scan my messy scrawl

I might just have

Some lines she likes

Some may end up

Called third strikes

In time I’ll have enough to string along

One more child one more morning song

Copyright Fred Grittner 2016 All Rights Reser

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded September 10 and 14, 2016. Mixed September 14, 2016.

 

Genesis: I wrote the lyrics on January 9, 2007. I revised them in 2010 and 2016 but they were minor changes. The lyrics appear to be random lines but I was dealing with work and family pressures. After 20 years as a court administrator, I realized I was being marginalized in part because of my long tenure. The music wrote itself.

For this recording I went for a roots rock/grunge sound.

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

 Lyrics

DONE

Done with the hollow laughter

Done with the sweet hereafter

Done with cash infusions

Done with these grand illusions

Done clean up this mess

Done clean out your desk

Done I can see the light

When all is said and done

 

Done cash in your winnings

Done no extra innings

Done with the slow striptease

Done turn in your keys

Done take it off the griddle

Done playing second fiddle

Done I can see the light

When all is said and done

 

I’ve been there and done that

Why would I do it again?

I wish I knew my beginnings

As well as I knew my ends

 

Done with these no-good feelings

Done with these old glass ceilings

Done stop heroic measures

Done there’s no buried treasure

Done turn the pages

Done open up the cages

Done I can see the light

When all is said and done

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

 

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded August 21, September 5 and 8, 2016. Mixed September 8, 2016.

 

Genesis: I wrote this song sometime during 1984, while working on a soon-to-be abandoned album project. The album was modeled on David Blue’s wonderful 1973 album, Nice Baby and the Angel. That album featured David Lindley on lap steel guitar, fiddle, and viola. I love the moody ballads and the up-tempo rockers.

This song is very transparent: a drug deal that is going to go terribly wrong. I believe I had been reading several early novels by Graham Greene, hence the hint of religious guilt in the first line of the chorus.

Production: Bass Guitar, Electric Guitars, Lap Steel Guitar, Organ, and Drums.

Lyrics

Monterrey Sun

Mexico on the Fourth of July

Ain’t nobody celebrating here

Standing in a furnace called Monterrey

Can’t drink I’ve got to stay clear

Sipping warm Coca-Cola from a Styrofoam cup

Waiting for a man who hasn’t shown up

One more day my cover gets blown

One more day ship my body back home

 

CHORUS:

Father forgive me for all that I’ve done

Stop torturing me with this Monterrey Sun

White heat pours from the end of a gun

Take me away from this Monterrey Sun

Take me away from this Monterrey Sun

 

The money I’m holding is covered with sweat

My nerves are crazy with heat

A child keeps crying but nobody comes

Mad dogs careen down the street

Can’t make a phone call no line is secure

The locals are restless I’m not so sure

When I get back gonna get what I’m owed

Got to get out or it’s the end of the road

 

CHORUS

Here comes the Chevy all covered in dust

With a woman behind the wheel

She motions me closer I shouldn’t move

No strangers was part of the deal.

It looks like a set-up but I want to go home

We drive through adobe bleached to the bone

When I came to there was blood on the stone

Took a moment to realize that it was my own

CHORUS

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

 

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded August 25 and 30, 2016. Mixed August 30, 2016.

 

 

Genesis: I came up with the music on December 10, 2001 and called it “Forgotten Laughter.” The jazzy chord changes and the slow tempo suggested a moody lyric but nothing came until August of 2003, when the song was retitled “Wishing Now Was Then.” I imagined a musician, actor or writer walking the back streets in the middle of the night, ruminating about missed chances, betrayals, and dead ends. I rewrote the lyrics in December 2006, and then revised the song heavily on August 25, 2016, eliminating a number of unnecessary words.

Since 2001, the arrangement of the song has moved from a slow jazz swing style to a mournful straight feel ballad with a pedal steel guitar and a string section and then back to the slow jazz style, this time with a tenor sax included. I imagined a torch singer performing this right before closing time. I can hear a bit of Tom Waits in this song but my voice is much too smooth to evoke Waits in this recording.

 Production: Acoustic Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Tenor Sax, and Drums.

Lyrics

Wishing Now Was Then

Sweetheart deals

Teardrop stains

Stale perfume

Flat champagne

Walking through

The back street rain

Wishing Now Was Then

 

I am blind

But I can see

The telltale marks

Of futility

There is little hope for me

Wishing Now Was Then

 

Much was promised

Or so I thought

Doubting questions were all spurned

At the time

I assumed the best

Oh but I learned

 

Drop the curtain

Strike the sets

No more drama in me now

I’ll depart

This worn out stage

Taking one last broken bow

 

Peeling off

The sugar coat

Of what I sang

What I wrote

All that’s left

Is this long blue note

Wishing Now Was Then

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved