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

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

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded March 28, April 3 and 4, 2015. Mixed April 27, 2016.

 

Genesis: I love black and white movies from the 1940s and 1950s. One of my favorites is Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, a film that dissects Hollywood of the early 1950s. In 2005 I read a book about the making of the film: Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard by Sam Staggs. One of the chapter titles used a line from William Holden’s opening voiceover: “Ten Thousand Midnights Ago.” I immediately wrote that line in my songwriter’s notebook, knowing there was a song inside it.

I came up with the music on September 8, 2005, written in 4/4 time. Five days later I changed the meter to 3/4 or waltz time. As for lyrics, all I had was the title line as the concluding line of each verse.

I fooled around with lyrics but didn’t come up with a final version until August 7, 2007. It is an enigmatic lyric: the story mysterious, the narrator imitating Holden’s voiceover, referencing the film’s themes and movie storytelling in general. I would be interested in hearing what listeners think is going on, as I resisted a straightforward approach and let my subconscious prevail.

Production: Acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, banjo, pedal steel, drums.

 Lyrics

TEN THOUSAND MIDNIGHTS AGO

Sipping a whiskey

And watching the northern night sky

The stars that I dreamed on

Have gone to the sweet bye and bye

The first chill of winter

Descended tonight

Along with a dusting of snow

The moon was much fuller

Ten Thousand Midnights Ago

 

Exterior morning

The camera pans wide for the shot

A man and a woman walk slowly

Then stop at a plot.

The woman starts crying

The man holds her tight

The close up shows more than we know.

Life was a mystery

Ten Thousand Midnights Ago

 

Falling from grace in a heartbeat

Suddenly yesterday’s news

Pushed off the track

Slow fade to black

And you’re gone

 

Sunrise is tricky

It promises more than it gives

I prefer sunset

It knows where the other half lives

Only a stranger

Could see through this town

And wait to deliver the blow

Fate drew a pistol

Ten Thousand Midnights Ago

The world changed direction

Ten Thousand Midnights Ago

The floodgates were opened

Ten Thousand Midnights Ago

The moon was much fuller

Ten Thousand Midnights Ago

 

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

 

 

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded November 14, 2009 and February 15, 2010. Mixed April 17, 2016.

 Bandcamp Player Link:

Genesis: I wrote the music and a different set of lyrics in 1985. I completely rewrote the lyrics in 1993 and tweaked them in 2002.   I used the phrase “chimes of midnight” as a homage to Orson Welles’ film of the same name.   I think the theme of the song is self-explanatory.

 Production: Bass guitar, electric guitars, organ, drums.

 Lyrics

YOU’RE NOT HERE

I can hear the chimes at midnight

And the rolling of the tide

I would be with you this evening

But the water is too wide

I fooled myself in thinking

The ache would disappear

Life don’t mean a thing

You’re not here.

 

I misjudged the situation

Took for granted what we had

You gave me ten last chances

I never learned to add

The love we had in common

Charged the atmosphere

Now I don’t feel a thing

You’re not here

 

I thought in time.

You’d come back to stay

But in those unforgiven moments

I drove your love away

 

Now the chimes keep on ringing

And there’s the turning of the tide

The torch I hold grows brighter

For the love that’s now denied

I’ll walk out in the darkness

To the farthest pier

The dawn is slow to come

You’re not here

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded November 2010. Mixed April 6, 2016.

 

 

Genesis: In the fall of 1999, while taking a walk, I came up with the first verse of the song. In late December of that year I came up with the music and wrote six additional verses. On November 11, 2002, I condensed the song to three verses and a bridge.

I spent most of the decade recording and arranging several versions. On November 18, 2010 I thought I had the song nailed: bass, drums, guitar, pedal steel guitar, fiddle. I emailed a rough mix to my friend Paul Rybolt for review. Paul has great musical taste and good ears. He told me that the arrangement was too busy and heavy—the sound detracted from the spirit of the lyrics. He suggested I strip it back to bass, acoustic guitar, and the fiddle. He was right. I added a second acoustic guitar, on which I placed a capo high on the neck. The treble sound is reminiscent of a tenor guitar. The song was lighter and airier; the fiddle part became the emotional center of the song.

I made a rough mix and shared the song on my Bandcamp website. I never went back to do a proper final mix. Last week I realized the bass guitar part could be better, so I replaced it. Then I took the time to make the song sound as good as possible.

 Production: Bass guitar, two acoustic guitars, fiddle.

Lyrics

FEEL MY BURDENS EASE

I woke at daybreak

As the freight train roared

The thunder was calling

The rain just poured

Like ripened apples

Falling from the trees

One by one

I feel my burdens ease

 

Gonna get me a boat

Row it back upstream

That’s where I left her

In a young man’s dream

Don’t care if I find her

Before the winter freeze

I’ll keep searching

As I feel my burdens ease

 

Just like that oak tree in the backyard

So many seasons in the wind

But for all of the changing

It’s the same all over again

 

I wrote this song

Many times before

Gave it a new name

Pushed it out the door

I sang it in Saigon

And in the southern keys

Now I’ll sing it

As I feel my burdens ease

 Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved

 

Recording and Mixing Dates: Recorded January 13 and February 15, 2010. Mixed April 5, 2016.

 

Genesis: Sometime around 1976 I read a volume of poetry by Charles Baudelaire in English translation. In one of his poems he writes of the “sorrows of the moon.” I liked that phrase and recorded it in my lyric notebook. Two years later I used it as the title of this week’s song. I imagined the moon looking down on us and having no recourse but to observe our human follies. The singer is trying to console a friend or lover over some predicament but is also suggesting that things could be much worse and that it was time to move on.

I was deeply into singer-songwriters at the time, so it is no surprise that Jackson Browne influences my lyrics and music in this song.

 Production: Bass Guitar, Piano, Drums.

Lyrics

SORROWS OF THE MOON

 The teardrops angle down your face

Your voice begins to crack

Your words come in a torrent

As you take the long road back

Sad tales and bitter stories

Find their way into this room

But they’re nothing when compared to

The Sorrows of the Moon

 

So many disappointments

You’ve taken them to heart

Now your dreams are either hiding

Or trying to depart

Your song may be a sad one

But it’s an old familiar tune

And the music pales when compared

To the Sorrows of the Moon

 

Silent and forsaken

A piece of frozen stone

Shining bright – reflected light

Not its own

The dark side holds a secret

In the never-ending night

And whatever must be concealed

Time will not make right

 

You could be two miles wide of paradise

And never find the gate

You could miss your fateful moment

And never know you’re late

Your prayers have not been answered

If they are it may not be soon

So while you wait contemplate

The Sorrows of the Moon

 

Posted like a watchman

An eye upon us all

Observing our mistakes and lies

The risings and the falls

It takes these sights in nightly

Unless obscured by clouds

And then it hears our voices

Crying soft or shouting loud

 

I’ve dried your salty tears

But I don’t see a smile

I think you kind of like this mood

You’ll keep it for awhile

In time you will feel better

Freed from memory’s tomb

You will mend but they’ll never end

The Sorrows of the Moon

Copyright 2016 Fred Grittner All Rights Reserved