Placed in time
A place and time your fellow
Man can't find
Find yourself inside.

Time and space
Timed in case they cannot
Keep the pace
Fall behind the human race.

There's a fire, I can clearly see
Bird's eye view, security.
Stay in the lines, what have we become?
My God, tell me what have we become?

We're living in a house of steel and glass.

Entertain
Endure pain, or say that
God's to blame
Blessings all to claim.

Starved again
Starve to gain until we
Break the chain
Break the serpent's game.

There's a fire, I can clearly see
Bird's eye view, security.
Stay in the lines, what have we become?
My God, tell me what have we become?

We're living in a house of steel and glass.

Ten points if you can figure out the meaning behind the words...I'm not even sure that I can figure it out.

The music for this song has been lying around for nearly two years, and because I really really dig the guitar riff (in my head it's the greatest guitar riff of all time...like a combination of the ones for "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Sweet Home Alabama," and the "Stairway to Heaven" solo), I've been too afraid to ruin it with a bad lyric. So today I decided to stop being afraid and come up with something. Thoughts?


*Granted, a two-bit lyricist who still has a long ways to go...but a lyricist, nonetheless.

Sorry for the recent lack of posting. It's been another too-tired-to-write-something-insightful-or-interesting week. Anyway, I meant to share this earlier.

Last weekend can pretty much be summed up in two words:

Painting and recording.

Painting: the kitchen of the house. I slapped down a layer of primer on Saturday night, and then did some of the cabinets Sunday night. Sibling bonding with the pseudo-sister ensued ("This is the most fun I've had with you in the two years you've been here," she said while trying to scrub splattered paint off her arms on Saturday night. I'd have to concur.).

Recording: Saturday and Sunday. We used GarageBand to work on one of Thom's songs, "Youth Culture," and I laid down some tracks on a new one I'm working on, tentatively named "Steel and Glass."

( If you want to continue reading my disjointed thoughts on my own songwriting, click here. )

OK, so two things that I'm going to share:

- As I previously hinted at, here's a shot of the new, aerodynamic look that I'm going with for a while. I certainly caught a lot of people off guard this morning at church, and I'm anxiously awaiting* the reaction from folks at work on Tuesday.

*And by "anxiously awaiting," I mean that I'm not really looking forward to having everyone give me that Ohmigosh-I-can't-believe-you-did-that-to-your-hair! look. It's hair, folks. It grows back. In the meantime, enjoy getting used to a more aerodynamic DT.


- Also, as I previously hinted at (a while back), I've finally uploaded a 1:15 minute sample .mp3 of one of my songs, and you can download it for your amusement here. It's "Governor," and you can also read the lyrics here if you wish.

I spent much all of this weekend playing with GarageBand on the new iBook, and once I got the hang of it, I started recording a few "fleshed-out" versions of my songs. The major difference between these and all of my previous recordings is that I could finally add drum loops, which add so much to the arrangements. So, in this song, you'll hear the following: drums (not exactly as I'd like them to sound, but pretty close), bass (going the fake, "software instrument" route on this one, sadly), acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, organ, and two sets of whiny vocals (recorded, like all low-budget demos, in my bathroom). Overall, I think it's pretty close to how I've always imagined it would sound, though it is still a very rough cut and there are a few mistakes here and there.

This is one of my first songs that really "works" for me, both lyrically and musically. Taking a cue from R.E.M., I tried marrying two themes together to make one story; it's a rather vitriolic and angry song during the first two verses (as you might expect in a song about betrayal), but I'd like to think that the third verse is the hopeful part of the story--the redemption.

Of course, you don't get to hear that; this clip is of the second verse. So I hope you like vitriol.

Man, I just wrote a lot about a 74-second clip. To be perfectly honest, though, it's because a) I'm really excited to finally share this with you, and b) I'm also rather nervous about sending this out into cyberspace for all the world (aka, 10 of you) to hear.

Regardless, there you have it: newly-shaved head and newly-recorded song. Lemme know what you think.

I'm back at the office, having taken a whole week off to play tour guide. I've got lots of random things to share--most of which I probably won't get around to posting--but either way, rest assured that you'll be hearing more from me now that I'm back in front of a computer for 7 painful glorious hours a day.

...

First up, a rant, in the form of a (poorly-written) haiku:

May the twenty-fifth
Thermometer reads four-eight
A travesty, this.

Since it's a slow day with little to talk about, I think I'll share some brand new lyrics that I'm working on. As usual, I debated about posting them; I realize it's too easy for me to hide behind the excuse of, "oh, I can't post the lyrics of a song that isn't complete yet," because in truth, that's a guise for the real excuse, which is, "oh, I can't share my work 'cause people will laugh at me."

¡Que ridiculo!

Anyway...Brief intro: This is a song I'm writing for my 13-year old "sister" (but don't tell her!). She happens to read a lot of those teen fashion/celebrity gossip magazines, and this should give you an idea as to what I think about the impressions they leave her with. Apologies to Madonna for hijacking one of her most well-known hooks.

( Read silly, semi-incensed lyrics here. )

[UPDATE: 12/23/05] I'm noticing that this page in particular has been getting a TON of hits recently, and I can't figure out why. The quality of my lyrics certainly don't merit this much attention (though, perhaps the lack of quality does, providing an example of how NOT to write!). Would someone be so kind as to leave me a comment with a quick head's up as to where the traffic's coming from? Thanks!

As many of you know, often times I like to share lyrics on this LJ, be they mine or someone else's. In the case of others' lyrics: sometimes I'd rather just throw up a set of lyrics that you can interpret a hundred different ways, rather than tell you what's really going on (though you can usually tell). And as for my own stuff: sometimes I get up the nerve to post them, even though they usually aren't very good, in my honest assessment. In the last year, however, I've written some songs that I'm rather proud of. Still, I've debated whether or not I should even posts the words to those songs, or if I should just wait until I have a complete song--lyrics and music, as in an .mp3 or something--to share instead. I think I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather let people read my lyrics, and if you think they're lame, you can save yourself the trouble of listening to them if and when I post the .mp3s (which I think I may do in the future).

So this page is going to be a storage facility, of sorts, for lyrics. Or, rather, the links to other pages with lyrics on them. I'll be adding links to the page as time goes on, in much the same way that Jonathan does with his 100 Things... list. It's a bit of an experiment, I guess...we'll see if it actually serves any real purpose in the weeks and months to come. At any rate, feel free to comment with thoughts on the lyrics. Now, let's see what we got lying around here:

DT ORIGINALS
- The Endgame (early version here)
- Governor (early version here)
- Sandcastle Builder
- Gravity Wins Again (a very, very, very early version)
- Glamorous Lie

R.E.M.
- Leaving New York
- Sad Professor
- So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)

OTHER LYRICS
- Coldplay - The Hardest Part
- The Decemberists - Engine Driver
- Willie Nelson (w/Leann Womack) - Mendocino County Line
- Newsboys - Lost the Plot
- Matt Redman - Blessed Be Your Name
- Snow Patrol - Chocolate