The Salesman of Song

The Salesman of Song

Born to the middle class

They called him Joe

Full of talent

Full of song

Bringing to life

People’s wishes and thoughts

Make people cry or laugh

Whatever he sought

Growing up he took it so lightly

Musicians were not like him

Seemed to flighty

Years had passed

The pressure had grown

To make some money

Have some kids

Own a home

Through all he had been taught

All he had learned about

Never had the nerve

To sing his way out

See what songwriting could earn

So he went to school and got a degree

Went on to teach middle school until he was 53

Then came the recession

The ugly layoffs

He got caught up in the process

Now he had no job

His paycheck is much less

Would push a mower with his hands

Making sure the kids were fed

Keeping steady the natural family plan

Took out a loan and went back to school

No one ever thought this man a fool

Earned a PHD

Still struggling to find what he wants to be

He writes books on religion

Sells them at the doorstep

He knows that he missed

Stumbled when he could have leapt

He just writes songs on the side

Did it all along

Never had faith to make a living

Writing a song

He sells the idea to the young generation

Asking people for help

Feels the weight of procrastination

In a hole so deep

Playing songs so beautiful to the ear

But no singing can anyone hear

He is too old to try out new tunes

Wants to pay off the house and retire soon

He clearly knows years ago

Where it all went wrong

All that is left

Is the Salesman of Song

Great Nostalgia – 13 Years Ago

Tonight post is short and sweet. We just rocked out at a sweet house party in Downtown South Bend the night before our big show here in the bend for St Paddy’s Day. I am kinda wiped out – but I will give it my best. I am feeling a little nostalgic because I realized that tomorrow will be our biggest performance in South Bend ever and I have been playing in the bend for 13 years!!! Holy shit! I played my first show when I was 15, my mom dropped me off at a local coffee house called “Higher Grounds” in DT South Bend. It was an amazing show and now tomorrow I will be on stage in front of 8,000+ crazy to look back at the journey – and funny how life works. But I am super excited – a poem will be written post show to summarize the feelings and emotions. For some reason word press is not letting me space correctly so this will be read by using commas (not for grammatical purpose)

All the chatter, Play it this way and what is the matter, Chords still ring out, I cling to this guitar like a mad hatter, I have seen many a shops open and close, Sang them a song before they had to dispose, Of all their assets and move out of town, Kinda sad to think that I would never again see them around, This town or any other for that matter, People have come and gone, Some great inspirations, Some not so much, But in some meaningful way it was my life that they touched, I think back with great nostalgia to the first show posters, My life since those first days has been nothing short of a great roller coaster, I have now traveled from coast to coast, I have found places I loved the least and the most, With my guitar I have traveled, I say this not to boast, My humble beginnings playing in Coffee shops to onlookers playing chess, I did not have a fabulous voice, I can honestly say that I gave it my best, Only 15 looking for a grand time, Little did I know that love and a calling I would find, Years went by, I continued to play, I tried to give it a little something just about everyday, Then music led me to my love, She landed in my life as gentle as a dove, She would sing I would play, Anywhere and we did not worry about pay, 10 years have gone by since then, I can not believe it has already been 10, Now we get to play on a much great stage, I guess you could say that we have turned the page, From the empty coffee houses to people packed in, I used to know this city when the music scene was thin, Now it is robust and growing, Songs are being written, People now create great art, I am humbled to think that I played just a small part, I hope South Bend continues to grow, What it will become in ten years nobody really knows, To do my part I will just continue to pick up my guitar sing and play, I hope for the best for this city one day, Wishing it the best on this St. Patrick’s Day.

Fades Away

Here are the lyrics to a song that is currently under construction. Most of the ground work (guitar parts and melodies) have been written. Now I am just taking a couple of different approaches to the lyrics. The key of the song is the chorus where I was caught looking at these massive clouds in the air and how they just vanish. Reminds me of how my life sometimes creeps away from me too. But it is a love song because these feelings were not experienced alone. I would like to call this a rolling post because I will edit it and change it as I refine it. Hope to have a youtube video of the final product up in a couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Oh I think of her

Feeling fine

Laying in the summer grass

On borrowed time

Oh the world is new

For you and for me

This is the where

We will live

Between thoughts

And dreams

Where you will find

You will find

You will find

Us

-Chorus-

And OH

Don’t you just wonder

How the clouds can fade

They just fade away

And oh

Don’t you just wonder

How life it fades

It just fades away

It fades away

The world is different now

Than yesterday

Change will not know itself

In shadows grey

But then again

Days like this we remember

Velvet nights in late September

Between your arms

We will make it through

To mornings light

Wn the light

And morning bright

We will be

Shit My World is on Fire

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ9BhsYX4FU&feature=youtu.be

Here is a song that I wrote about how sometimes you let things go just a bit too long in your life before you decide that something has to be done. In a similar fashion as to that one time I was in college and left the pizza in the oven and forgot about it. I take a light hearted look at what an angel could do in that moment also – how it would really help because when shit hits the roof – you could definitely use some help in getting life back in order. So this is called “Shit My World is on Fire”. Enjoy!

Shit My World is on Fire

Well I’ve been thinking

About all this time up here

I’ve been wasting

The thing I do and say

Well I am no Angel

But if you see on please

Send her my way

She can save me from all of the trouble

I’ve been making

It would be so much fun

I’m just sayin’

Whoa oh oh

I look around and

Shit!

My world is on fire

Who oh oh

I can make it out

But only with an angel

Whoa oh oh

Look around and see

She can only take me higher

Whoa oh oh

Drink in that sun

My world is on fire!

That got me thinking

When God made this world

She was kinda funny

Now I am just running around now

Making Monday

But there ain’t no way

It ain’t that easy

Just take me and break me destroy me and build me up later

Take a quick minute and pass me

Your lifesaver!

Whoa oh oh

I look around and

Shit!

My world is on fire

Who oh oh

I can make it out

But only with an angel

Whoa oh oh

Look around and see

She can only take me higher

Whoa oh oh

Drink in that sun

My world is on fire!

Whoa oh oh

I look around and

Shit!

My world is on fire

Who oh oh

I can make it out

But only with an angel

Whoa oh oh

Look around and see

She can only take me higher

Whoa oh oh

Drink in that sun

My world is on fire!

Oh my world is on Fire

Fire

Fire

Oh my world is on

Fire

Fire

My world is on fire

 

I hope to have more videos and songs up with descriptions soon so stay tuned. I am casually working on a possible full length album as my first commitment is The Bergamot. A Pop/Rock duo and we play with a full 6 piece band so we can have killer dance parties. Check us out and listen to our entire catalog of work at http://www.thebergamot.com! Cheers!

Crook

Let your imagination run free on this one. Think you know what I am talking about? Have a guess? Post it as a reply and if you get it right I will send you a Free ‘The Bergamot’ album!

Laughing and clapping

She is such a crook

Send her to jail for all she has took

Call her a savior

But what lies beneath

Behind those bleached teeth

The ultimate hoax

Of the most terrible kind

Robs your soul

Troubles your mind

Sitting to admire

Her wonderful empire

Of things stolen and destroyed

Keeping everyone employed

Not much sympathy in my soul

For those vying for control

Over you and me and trees and flowers

The whole damn thing leaves me sour

Yet people run to be first in line

This will continue for quite some time

The world spins on

In such a great sublime

These feelings swell in winter season

Defying rational thought and reason

If I may say so myself

I have witnessed this treason

The world does not need

Another singer songwriter

One of a million calling out

This I know if forever a doubt

Yet stand in attention

And all hail to the chief

If I had known better

I could have known her a thief

Making a dollar

Never looked quite so easy

Red dresses worn

So old and sleazy

Crack the code

And underneath we find

The act of betrayal

Leaving the mind

Left to stale

But now let us curtail

This power and drab

We were all given

The gift of gab

So gab it on the mountain

Proclaim it free

Don’t let this truth die

Between you

and me

Let the words flow out

As the pouring rain

Let it put out the fire

Of deceit and of pain

For I know no truth

This I must hold true

But deceit is deceit

And behold

I have told you

I am no Poet

This was written right after watching the presidential inauguration. I really enjoyed the poet Richard Blanco and his poem “One Today”. I used it, and the rest of the ceremony, for inspiration. I thought that it would be important for me to really focusing on what it is that connect us together as Americans, and also can devise and separate us through erroneous use of our egos etc. I hope you enjoy it! Cheers!

For I am no poet

No writer, nor musician

No athlete or businessman

I am but nothing and will return

I must be stripped of all

Before I know what I am

What I am made of

What wiring makes my soul

All the confusion and static

The noise and the stammer

Of what others want

And I need

In the confusion I believe one

And forget another

Only to remember

To be reminded of yet another

So I challenge myself and you

To strip away what is

And to find what will be

What is it that you stand for

To look at these flesh and bones

And find what the meaning is

Beyond the labels and toys

Finding a simple meaning within

For we are all connected in a manner

An inner webbing that connects us

That unites us

And if we so choose tears us apart

Yet we strive for more

To seek meaning that is greater

Than the sum of our parts

And unifies us

This is our challenge

Our calling

Our honor

To be what we are

To forget the other meanings

And find our own

Not in our own minds

But from deep within

Over Rated

This is a new song that I have been working on very diligently in the past couple of

weeks. It is about the pressures of always looking for the next best thing and

looking to the future in life – when really all you have to care about is going on

right in front of your eyes. This song will be on our next album out in late 2013.

Enjoy!

I’m feeling so over rated

My life is so complicated

Not the best but I face it

These feelings are fresh

But I am jaded

Oh and I feel like I am going

Nowhere

And I feel like I want to be

Someone

I don’t want to write this song

Forget about tomorrow

If you want to live today

Forget about tomorrow

If you want to live today

If you want to live today

Remember what I say

My thoughts can be so relentless

You ‘bout gave up when I said this

Now that I know that you’re faded

Well I had to go but I waited

For you

Oh and I feel like we are going

Nowhere

And I feel like we are missing

Something

And I don’t want to write this song

Forget about tomorrow

If you want to live today

Forget about tomorrow

If you want to live today

If you want to live today

Remember what I say