The Saddle & The Reins

I haven't been writing much lately, and was really hoping to write something upbeat. But this came... sometimes you've just gotta take what the muse gives ya.


The get up and the go
The saddle and the reins
A shovel full of coal
Lame horse against a train

The pulse and the steam
The weight pulled behind
All the roads into Rome
But one so hard to find

     CHORUS
     We’ve all been to hell, but then
     Some don’t make it back again
     Are you thinking of a name?
     Ding dong, the bells ring out
     And whispers trickle through the crowd
     Are you thinking of a name?

I used to have a friend
Who’d steal my bathroom pills
And try to numb his pain
With rolled up dollar bills

Bruises down his arms
Like falling minor scales
He could hide it in his eyes
You’d never know half the tale

     REPEAT CHORUS

BRIDGE
Everyone knows someone reaching out
Without a doubt, without a doubt

The get up and the go
The saddle and the reins
A shovel full of coal
Lame horse against a train

     REPEAT CHORUS

Standing There With Me (2nd revision)

I got feedback on the original and 1st edit from 3 different writers groups including this one. The major thread was that more verses and story line were wanted from the original. My 1st revision added a verse, but I still didn't feel 100% about it. The crux of the song's inspiration for me was the very first line, and what it meant to me. But I'd wimped out or was lazy in the first 2 cracks at it as fart as letting the listener in on that secret. This new version adds a final verse that sums it up and gives the song a true ending. That was a problem from the start. Another was that some writers were puzzled by the changing tense of the "standing there" lines in each verse. I didn't have that issue, but maybe that's becuase I knew the untold meaning and where the story went in my head. Now, it finally goes there in the song too. I tweaked a few other bits here and there too.

Standing There With Me

Come on girl, let me wrap my world around you and your faded jeans
Help me build a blue sky for dreaming bigger dreams
When all is said and done, oh darlin' it won't mean a thing
If I can't have you standing there with me

When we met, I tripped right over my tongue
But somehow I made you laugh, and that first lock came undone
And, ever since that day, every day's been a better one
Because I've had you standing there with me

     Life sure can take twists and turns on its way
     Winding through these precious few lucky days

I never really wanted kids until you told me that you did
Now I swear my heart has grown, I feel it bursting through my ribs
A lot of things have changed, yeah this old dog has learned new tricks
Because I've had you standing there with me

We’ve had our sleepless nights, and wiped away some tears
Once or twice I know it felt like way more than our share
Hell, I just can’t imagine getting through these last few years
If I didn’t have you standing there with me

     Life sure can take twists and turns on its way
     Winding through these precious few lucky days

So meet me under a steeple, or with a justice of the peace
At a clearing in the woods, or ankle deep on a beach
It doesn’t matter where, just so long as you’ll be
Standing there with me
No it doesn’t matter where, just so long as you’ll be
Standing there with me

Come on girl, let me wrap my world around you and your faded jeans

Overcome

Sometimes the shadows call my name
They don’t care about the sun
And I keep playing at their game
Feeling like I’m the only one
Whoever got knocked down while trying
Gotta let the light in or I’m done

     CHORUS
     There’s cold fear all over out there
     Someone else has stared down what you’re staring at now
     Over river or wall, you can climb, you can crawl
     It’s been done, it’s been done, it’s been done

     There’s cold fear all over out there
     Someone else has stared down what you’re staring at now
     Over river or wall, you can climb, you can crawl 
     It’s been done, it’s been done, it’s been done
     Overcome

I just watched a movie about that guy
Who wrote A Brief History of Time
And I know it’s impossible to compare
His load to mine
But we all get knocked down while trying
Gotta dig your heels into the grime

     REPEAT CHORUS

My Worst

This one is clearly not a country song. I wrote it on a bus ride to Toronto one morning last week. It was nice to have my old writing method resurface after so long in hibernation (with a few exceptions, more or less since I started trying to write country). The old method was that songs would just come to me, and I'd recognize in them the thoughts, emotions, pressures, fears, etc. from my life that'd been bubbling under the surface for the recent past. It's clearly not straightforward enough to be country. I'm fine with that.

I was delirious
The drugs just didn’t agree
There was no telling
What I did and didn’t really see

I was terrified
And I looked anything but strong
On a horse by my bedside
You rode the whole way along

   CHORUS
   More a blessing than a curse
   You’ve seen me at my best and worst 
   Much more a blessing than a curse
   You’ve seen me at my worst

I dropped the ball
Nothing’ll ever be that tough
Nearly lost the family jewels
These clichés don’t hurt quite as much 

   REPEAT CHORUS

BRIDGE
I will try until my dying day
Yet know some debts can’t be repaid
And that’s okay

   REPEAT CHORUS
 

Standing There With Me

On November 16, I woke up at 4:20 am from a dream. In it,  I was standing in a booth at a huge stadium. Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean came through a door behind me and said quick hellos and patted me on the back as they passed on their way down through the bleachers to an island stage in the middle of the floor crowd. They were co-hosting a big fundraiser concert. Jason was starting the show with his latest hit. I’d written it. The first line was all I heard before I woke up. I went straight downstairs and spent the next hour or so quietly writing on the sofa. This is the first song I’ve written in months. Very happy about it.



Come on girl, let me wrap my world around you and your faded jeans
Help me build a blue sky for dreaming bigger dreams
When all is said and done, oh darlin' it won't mean a thing
If I can't have you standing there with me

Remember when we met, I tripped right over my tongue
But somehow I made you laugh, and that first lock came undone
Well, ever since that day, every day's been a better one
Because I've had you standing there with me

BRIDGE
Life sure can take twists and turns on its way
Winding through these precious few lucky days

I never really wanted kids until you told me that you did
Now I swear my heart has grown, I feel it bursting through my ribs
A lot of things have changed, yeah this old dog has learned new tricks
Because I've had you standing there with me

BRIDGE
Life sure can take twists and turns on its way
Winding through these precious few lucky days

Come on girl, let me wrap my world around you and your faded jeans
Help me build a blue sky for dreaming bigger dreams
When all is said and done, oh darlin' it won't mean a thing
If I can't have you standing there with me

When all is said and done, oh darlin' it won't mean a thing
If I can't have you standing there with me

Turn Up The Fiddle

Well, I’ve been weighed down, brick of life
But I’m digging out, the pile goes on for miles
This week has taken ’bout a lifetime to go by
Now I’m ready for some Friday dynamite, dynamite

Yeah, Dynamite, let’s dance

CHORUS
Let’s get out in the middle
Lay it down on the floor
Tell the band, turn up the fiddle
Cuz I could use a little more
Tell the band, turn up the fiddle
Cuz I could use a little more

You’ve been leaning on that bar too long
I think it’s time I got your feet moving to this song
Leave your drink, I’ll buy another one later on
Something tells me this place’ll close before we’re done

Yeah, Dynamite, let’s dance

SHORT CHORUS

BRIDGE
There’s a time and place for slow dancin’, but it ain’t now
It’s time to kick your seat out, time to pick your feet up, time is running out
You wanna stretch this night until daylight? Well I can show you how
C’mon, stretch this night until daylight. Yeah I can show you how

LONG CHORUS

Milk

I've recently been introduced to one of life's little heart-wrenching experiences: not being able to console a newborn who only wants his mother's breast milk. It seems that's all our little fella wants... all     the     time! hehe.

I wrote all the lyrics and melody for this one while soothing him in the living-room armchair as mamma caught some much-needed sleep upstairs.




Oh, I see the way you look at her
And I can’t help but be jealous
I’d surely lend a hand if I were
Not just one of the fellas

CHORUS
But I will rise like the sun when you open your eyes
I will wipe away every tear that you cry
Do every single little thing that I can till you get your fill
Oh I will rock your cradle every afternoon
I will tell you stories of the man in the moon
Yeah, I’ll love you like your mama will
I just ain’t got milk
Oh, I will love you like your mama will
I just ain’t got milk

Even when your eyes are closed
I know you’re dreaming of boobies
I wish that I could get a two-bit role
In one of those movies

CHORUS

BRIDGE
The only thing you know is the river that flows white gold
Yeah the only thing you know is white gold

CHORUS