Sunday, May 01, 2005
Inside My Untidy Mind
Any gig I do after the Cubbyhole in NY is destined to be a letdown if I compared. Since it's not a fair comparison, I won't. I'm grateful for it. Next.Well, next was last night at Bella Luna Cafe in Venice which is a terrific place to play for terrific people. I love the owners and workers there. Below this paragraph is a picture of Deja who is the manager. She constantly cracks me up and she is one of those types of people you'd be awfully damn lucky to work for. She also fixes me a nuclear espresso that could change my groove if I weren't an experienced yogi. Her Dad, Bill, owns and operates this cool coffee/wine cafe and he is a prince as well. I've been fortunate to work for some amazing owners. This gang stands out.
Last time I played there I got the lyric for Sing Through My Pain from the experience. See the April 12 Blog for that. Last night wasn't that kind of night but I had fun with the friends and fans who did show up. And Deja's special coffee kept me up half the night.
Yesterday's reunion lyric will take more thought, more work. Lately I've been successful starting lyrics, waiting for reaction and then finishing them. Music comes much slower. So any and all comments are welcome on yesterday's and the following. Feeding on reaction is an important part of songwriting. So please feed the beast.
My cousins reunion is an interesting problem. I'm tempted to use the family name and allude to my grandfather, Kingston Robinson. Or King as he was called with good-natured derision by his sons-in-law. This is my 88 year old mother's Dad and she is the last remaining offspring of King. Making her the family matriarch. A mantel she does not bear with any seriousness at all. Maybe she would if we bowed down more in her presence.
So much in common, the Robinsons
All hoping they can sing longer than the King
All hoping the last matriarch has won
The war with old age and death's sting
So I started out rhyming within the line to the end and then switched to the A B form of rhyming. The right tune can pull this off but I'm uneasy about it.
If ever there was a situation ripe with opportunity to go all cliche', this is it. I may not finish this one. And who cares about the name Robinson? Just try to make an intelligent rhyme with it. Also there is huge danger in writing about family. They seldom appreciate it. My daughter is a notable exception. She loved the most recent song I wrote for her( see March 25 blog) and wrote me a beautiful letter in return. So if everybody else hates that song, it doesn't matter. It's already paid for itself. But one can't help wondering what dinner was like around the Cat Steven's table after Father and Son came out. Or Harry Chapin when he did Cat's in the Cradle. And I have to wonder if it was really a song Marvin Gaye's father murdered him over.
So this is a look inside my head during the process. Not pretty, is it? But then again it's prettier than that of a serial torturer/killer. Unless they think in verse. No, I'm not going there.
posted by Bud @ 7:39 AM
Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post: