Less Than You Need - MP3
This weekend, I spent nearly eight hours on one song. This is not that song.
That song is called, "For You," a simple crescendo in D. It began a few weeks ago as I sat and reacquainted myself with my guitar. A simple D pattern and a few lyrics emerged. And so, with some time on my hands Saturday night, I invested in the idea. By the time it was too late to keep my eyes open, I had eighteen tracks (mostly guitars, but also one suitcase standing in as a bass drum).
Sunday night, then, found me watching my new favorite show, 60 ...
Breathe In - MP3
I knew I was in trouble when I found myself face down on a massage table in the Maldvives nearly a week into my honeymoon and I couldn't silence the worries in my head. It was making me kind of nuts to be somewhere so beautiful, so tranquil, and with someone I love so much, but to be incapable of being still inside.
So I took a deep breath, and forced myself to concentrate on the inhale, and the exhale, and the inhale,and the exhale...
We've been back a few weeks now. I feel nuts already.
Writing this song, though, ...
The Last Time - MP3
My hand to God's, here's how it happened.
I woke up late on account of getting home late from last night's "Besides" release with a bonus Sundown show afterwards. I jumped online to update the set list on my site, then checked out Sundown's site to see if they'd updated anything (like, "We hung with our buddy Benjamin last night and boy is he talented!"). From there I surfed to Wes Hutchinson's site, which autoplays "Long Day" from his CD, "Down In Flames."
Next thing I know (and I'm really not sure what happened in between, but I ...
Make It All Alright - MP3
This one found me.
I was finishing my coffee, just pacing around the living room with my guitar, when I started strumming this progression. I mumbled nonesense until "baby take a look at me" and "someone save me" emerged.
The rest is here on tape (or, um, mp3). Those polyrhythms you hear in the bridge and final chorus, by the way, are me bangin' on a wooden stool (on the right) and a plastic chair (on the left).
I'm not nuts about the vocal; I probably should drop it a half-step. But, well, too late... until I officially record it for ...
Everybody Knows - MP3
Sometimes songs come easily.
I woke up from an afternoon nap around two o'clock (late night at Alphabet Lounge) with a dog eared copy of Ben Fong Torres' Gram Parson biography, "Hickory Wind," at my side, and heard a melody with the line "If you're goin' back to L.A., tell my father I said hello" in my head.
An hour later, I had this.
Songs like these come kinda' quickly as the form sorta presents itself. "Radio," for example, has verses that begin with "morning," "afternoon," and "nightfall." Easy to write, and easy to ...
(I Won’t Let You) Get Away From Me - MP3
ProTools has finally made it out of its box in the closet of my new apartment to the floor of the closet of my new apartment. Just in time to capture this new idea (which is sorely in need of a Chris Abad solo) that hit me Saturday morning.
The form and structure is super-familiar (I can just hear Chris saying, "It's such a Benjamin Wagner song!"), kinda' "Milk & Honey" in reverse.
It's the melody that excited me.
Promise (Live @ Rockwood Music Hall) - MP3
Ken, who owns and runs sound at Rockwood Music Hall, recorded our entire performance last night.
I was thinking about releasing it as an iTunes-only EP, but I'm kinda' on the fence. The performances are pretty good, and the recording's pretty good too. But somehow, neither seem good enough.
That said, drummer Ryan Vaughn, who was stuck in the Holland Tunnel for most of the show, made it just in time for "Promise."
I wrote it for Abbi and was performing it for the first time with the band at a show I booked to celebrate our engagement ...
Wonderwall (Live @ Rockwood Music Hall) - MP3
I realize this is one of the most over-exposed pop songs in recent history, but I think there's good reason for it.
It's all about the letter "A."
When Noel Gallagher rocks "Wonderwall," the E in "maybe" is more of an A. All the better to rhyme with "save," and -- for that matter "me" (so long as you do the same with that E).
There's something natural and pleasing about singing that long "A" sound.
Likewise, the rhythm of the song. The way Chris, Ryan and Tony play it, anyway, I could strum it forever.
Add in the fact that ...
The Year Of Magical Thinking - MP3
Once again, the epiphany arrived at the intersection of 72d & Broadway.
The first few drops of the first spring rain were falling. The air was thick and warm. Rush hour traffic was slowing. A few blocks uptown, spotlights searched the sky above The Beacon. I was double-crossing Broadway and 73d concurrently when I thought, 'Everything is good right now. Remember this. Don't get hit.'
I'm a longtime fan of Douglas Coupland. He might be the only author (save maybe JD Salinger) about whom I can say that I've read everything he's
...
Starting Today - MP3
I spent a few hours trying to multi-track this one, then returned to the original demo.
I was trying to write something that balances the protest of Bob Dylan or Billy Bragg or Woodie Guthrie with the romance of... well, everyone else. Which was a dangerous proposition cuz no one hates preachy, dogmatic songs worse than me. And no one is more sensitive to avoiding treacle.
But I had this idea -- inspired by a great song written by Smokey Junglefrog guitarist Jamie Dunphy years ago -- that nothing could be more romantic these days ...
