The Process #5: I Can Still Write Self-Referential Songs That Center Around Tired, Overused Themes

Posted on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 // 0 Responses.

Name: I Can Still Write Self-Referential Songs That Center Around Tired, Overused Themes
Date Written: 8/2/08
Date Recorded: 8/13/08
Written for: Carbon Footprint

Aw, if I wasn’t the cheekiest little 19-year old kid! I’ve reached the “embarrassment” threshold with this project; if we go any earlier than this song, my hands involuntarily meet my forehead and a force known only as shame compels me to shake my head until 2007 goes away. You’ll get to hear some of those songs as time goes on. For now, let’s keep my face its normal shade of oh-my-god-does-he-ever-see-the-sun white, rather than oh-my-god-his-cheeks-are-so-flushed-he-might-have-a-fever-of-103 red. Because I’d be blushing. Just want to make that clear.

The writing process for Carbon Footprint was the most amorphous of all the albums I’ve written so far. Burning Up was more or less just the first 12 songs I’d ever written. With Small Talk, I’d been writing songs for a while and I better understood what goes in to constructing an album. While I was writing what would become Carbon Footprint, I was writing fairly prolifically, but the songs were all over the place. Eventually I was able to narrow the focus to make the tracklist for the critically-loved, fan-revered, and world-renowned Carbon Footprint.

So this thing is a CF b-side, written fairly early in that writing cycle. It is maybe the first time I wrote a song in second person rather than first person? There’s a rich tradition of that in singer-songwriterdom. It’s transparent. You ain’t foolin anyone. The most notable part of this song to me is the way that 3.5-years-ago me (lots of hyphens in this post. Sorry everyone) sang “sights.” I laughed out loud every time I heard it while I prepared this song for you to hear it. Sometimes you just don’t want to trash an otherwise good take for just one… we’ll call it a hiccup. Okay, bye.

Lyrics:

And if you don’t feel at home
At least now you know
You made a choice; you raised your voice
It just goes to show
It feels like a waste; a sojourn in a place
You never meant to stay
You’re older now, but you’re clinging to a town
You always used to hate
In your younger days

So you can’t make up your mind
If just suffering feels safer
Than giving an honest try

And it seems like everyone around you
Is going to leave
You start to live
From dream to dream
Nothing hurts when you’re asleep
And you hold fast
To the past and take it slow
And you believe in every atom of your being
That you’re way too old
To still feel so cold

If you never change your mind
You know you’re gonna die
You don’t want your legacy
To say you had no energy
So you write another song
Not sure it’ll make the cut
But it’s hope it’s therapy
And if you’re the only one who hears it
Then that’s how it had to be

So open up your mind
Hear the sounds and take in all the sights
You’re gonna be alright