The Soundtrack Of My life

It was cold and snowing this morning, gray outside. I woke from a dream where some girl was smiling at me amidst great flooding. I had a major headache (vodka), way back in the gray matter (where the dream came from). I was drinking coffee and reading Rolling Stone. I don’t know if it was inspiration, exactly, or the just urge to write something simple and good, but a few chords popped into my head, and on the radio they were talking about investing in gold, so I plugged my acoustic into my amp, and wrote “Golden Wings,” a big-rock mid-tempo thing.

“I’m gonna’ rise up and seize the reigns / We’re gonna’ fly on golden wings / I’ll take you / I’ll take you / Away from all of this.” I know, sounds kinda’ cheesy, and maybe it is — big rock power chords and earnest lyrics. But it felt good and hooky, and, when I recorded it onto mindisc, it clocked in at exactly 3:30 — perfect pop song length. It’ll be a good set opener at CB’s next month.

Meanwhile, in contrast to big power-chordy rock, I’ve been listening to Pete Yorn’s “musicforthemorningafter,” like, non-stop. Like Ryan Adams’ “Gold,” I fought and fought the hype, but eventually caved in and listened. And man, it’s an amazing record. He doesn’t reinvent anything, but neither do I. There are wisps of Wallflowers, or David Gray, or Dave Matthews. Bob Mould even. It’s totally melodic and rhythmic, simple but textured enough to be a process of discovery. Songs like Yorn’s “Sense” and Adams’ “Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard” are the fuel, the soundtrack to my life.