The Song Project, Weeks Three and Four

I just realized that while I did record and post my song for Week Three (here it is), I never blogged about it. I spent the last week down in the Jackson Hole area without a computer, so I'm just now getting caught up. I wrote song Four while I was down there, but let's start with song Three:

God's Only Daughter

It was week three. I'd been listening to Nick Drake again, and wanted to write a song inspired by his smooth, mellow style. God's Only Daughter was the result. Here's the lyrics:

Sunday night before you went to bed

you took my hand and touched my head

before you told us you were leaving home

you gave me a song in the shape of a bone

of how we read the book and took the wine

of the jealous god we left behind

you disappeared into the dying sun

the gentle hands, the gentle tongue

Behind the chair in the living room

hiding from the wandering moon

afraid of the dark, afraid of the light

we told each other it'll be alright

we knocked on the walls to find the dead

to flee the shadow sleeping in our bed

if there's a way back to London town

I'd find you now

Put me in the ground give me sun give me water

Living in the lost and found with God's only daughter

Oh in the dark of night

with your face to the wall

afraid of it all

coming down

Oh in the morning light

you're back into the world

back to the girl who's living in the 

lost and found

Trace your skin from memory

one more time I'm almost free

a box of answers in a dusty room

all the ones I never sent to you

I've made a song from the Queen of Hearts

but I messed it up right from the start

If I could I'd follow you down

and find my way back to London Town

Put me in the ground give me sun give me water

Living in the lost and found with

God's only daughter

Yeah, it needs a little editing, but I'm basically happy with it. It's got a nice melody. 

I spent very little time recording this song as you can tell from the occasional extraneous noises in the background.

***WEEK FOUR***

Jackson Hole and the Great Divide

The song can be heard here.

On Sunday, we returned from a week in Jackson Hole with my parents and sister. It was a lovely area (we were staying just outside Driggs, Idaho, a mile from the Wyoming border). The gorgeous scenery of the Grand Tetons was the inspiration for this song. I wrote it on Thursday, and recorded it tonight. Since I had the whole evening to record without writing, I spent a little more attention on the process. Anyway, here's the lyrics:

There's a ring around the edge of the world

where the stones that we throw disappear into the gold

when you dream do you dream of the stars

the silver lights over Jackson Hole

the broken hills, the morning chill

the bitter will of our own shadow

Give your heart to the fallen and the wicked

give your eyes to the blind

give your hands to the lonely and the broken

give your love to the Great Divide

Don't it seem like we float between the nights

the orchestrated fights that leave us buried in the air

and Don't it seem like we dance before we fall

and in the wonder of it all we learn the way back home

the passion plays, the longer days

we found our way back to Jackson Hole

Give your heart to the fallen and the wicked

give your eyes to the blind

give your hands to the lonely and the broken

give your love to the Great Divide

Don't you weep for the children of the dead

or the dreams that you had before you ran away

don't it seem like we fumble for the light

from the dark into the brightness of the day

from you to star, from star to coal,

from coal to far away from Jackson Hole

I rather like this song. I could see writing some lyrics for the bridge if I go back to edit this one later.

I've gotta say, I'm enjoying this project a lot. Writing a song a week is challenging, which of course is the point. If I could write 50 songs a year, I think I would easily be able to pick enough good tunes to put out an album a year. And that would be pretty cool, because I really enjoy making albums!

Be well, and have a good week.