On our way
Lyrics
there's a little bit of snow on ground there's a little bit of cold in the wind i'm still thinking bout the last time i saw you it won't be long until we meet again see the miles turn to dust between us I'm not with you but I'm on my way and our love filling up these days I'm not with you but I'm on my way there's a bird in the sky out the window catching air but he's standing still another winter out of work would be a long one and so you traveled out to idaho there's a river in the valley by the highway going nowhere but its flowing on it won't be long until we hit the road together but there's a lot of things we've got to do alone a job and its an education we're not free but we're on our way gonna take us to a better situation we're not free but we're on our way we could settle in the middle of the city we could go to the bars and see some rock and roll bands work and tuck away a little bit of money get ourselves just a little bit of land we can live the way we want to live we're not home but we're on our way we'll build it all right over our heads we're not home but we're on our way there's a little bit of sun on the ground there's a little bit of wind in my hair I feel you with me even when we're not together cause we're together and we're going somewhere and the miles turn to dust between us I'm not with you but I'm on my way and our love is filling up the days we're together and we're on our way
Notes
Yay! More low-fi recordings! I wrote this song for my boyfriend for Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day, Nick!!!! I wanted to make it sound like Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, or Bruce Springsteen, because we both like those musicians, but I think it needs more harmonica and drums and electric guitar to make that happen. As it is, its sort of an earnest, simple, poppy song. I had a very clear objective to communicate certain things to a certain person with this song, which made writing the lyrics a lot of fun - it also made the lyrics a lot less obscure than they usually are which I like. Overall, i liked the idea of writing a song for a specific person to hear. The tune might be a rip off of Steve Earle, but whatever, like he's never done it beofre.
Comments
New Becky song, hooray!
Lots of things about this one:
The approach you describe (saying specific things to a specific person). The thoughts you had about it really resonated with me, since I did that whole EP of songs like that once upon a long time ago. I also found writing the P1xel material to be a similar experience in that I had a set amount of plot points to get through per song, which was a similar kind of constraint. Those kinds of songs are easy to write on one hand, because you've already decided what to say, but hard on the other hand, because you have to find interesting ways to say those specific things and only exactly those things will do. I'd done the work of writing the P1xel story when I sat down to work on the songs (the first half, anyway), so I had a lot to go on, but I couldn't change the story to accomodate a neat rhyme or something; I was stuck with it.
In any kind of creative endeavor, I always work best with a pre-conceived system of constraints. That's why I like comics and LEGOs and pop music, really. My brain just loves structure, and it's easier to build when you've got a foundation, however limiting or challenging or inspiring. Sometimes I think my songs suffer because I'm always trying to be so specific. I admire how Conor is able to leave so much to interpretation in his songs (at least to my ears). In any case, it's neat to hear about how you noticed those same forces at work.
Secondly, it strikes me that I once attempted to write a song on a variation of this same topic, Honey I'm Home a song which I now detest and plan to rewrite almost completely. So I like yours better. But it's the same sort of "Going through the necessary business of life apart while looking forward to a time when you and your man/lady can be together" kind of thing, though on a cross-town scale, not on a cross-country one. I like how we brush up against some of the same sentiments, sometimes even in similar kinds of ways.
Thirdly, this is probably the fourth or so happy love song to come out of this little collective in as many months, and that's some serious synchronicity.
Finally, the song: My favorite lines are:
- "work and tuck away a little bit of money": the verb tuck is underrated; also, somehow you've rhymed "city" and "money" even though those don't rhyme.
- "get ourselves just a little bit of land"
- "I feel you with me even when we're not together/cause we're together and we're going somewhere": pretty much sums up the tune, i think.
- "the miles turn to dust between us": nice because said miles probably are dust already, but I still know what you mean. So it makes a great hook, and I like that you use it as such.
- I like the way a lot of these lyrics scan, as far as emphases fitting into the rhythm of the tune. Contributes to catchiness.
Modest suggestions:
- what if you changed the melody slightly for one of those stanzas in the last third? i know nothing about the style of music you're working with here, so maybe that's not kosher? but i think a bridge might be nice.
So long, sorry. Thank you for sharing this one!
Gabemcelwain 13:57, 18 February 2008 (PST)
