Take It Away

This is my second album, completed in April, 2003. I started writing songs for it in August, 2002. I usually make quick recordings of any good ideas I come across, and some have stayed locked away for several years. Most of the songs on this album were fairly new, with the exception of the standard J.R. Comics tune. By this time, I had acquired a bass guitar, which would help improve the quality of sound a lot. I wrote a lot more lyrics and took more chances with my voice. I still hadn't had any kind of vocal lessons though, so some of it is a bit rough. I was intent on putting a lot of different styles in this one. The songs are longer and have a more polished feel, but this was still before I had discovered the editing options that I had available to me.

Track 1: "Take It Away"
The title track is about perseverance through hard times. It could go with anything, although I was thinking about sports when i wrote it, particularly running. I didn't use the drum software for this one, just my pick against the guitar strings for a more generic backbeat.

Track 2: "Can You Change My Mind?"
This was one of the first songs I wrote specifically for this album. It's about a guy who is leaving his woman after a lot of disillusionment, and he's asking if there is anything else she has to say before he finally leaves. In the back of my mind, I knew he was going to be leaving no matter what. I used a light effect for the guitar, kept the bass simple. I wanted to do that to allow the lyrics to shine a bit, since it's rare when I actually put together thoughts that make sense for a song.

Track 3: "Sick"
I think this is pretty obvious. A guy wakes up hung over (again), misses work, gets fired, and realizes he's in big trouble. It's upbeat though, no need to cry for this old bum. He sounds like he'll be just fine. It may sound like an electric guitar, but it's just my 6-string with an effect. Obviously, I was really wanting to plug it into something.

Track 4: "Green Fire"
This is a favorite of Tamara's, and mine. The drum beat is not exactly an original, though I did wrap my own song around it. I got it from an acoustic version of a song from the Rolling Stones' "Exile On Main St" album. I won't say which one. I need to retain some kind of mystery.

Track 5: "Say My Name"
I finally used my 12-string, and was very happy with this song. It's trying to comfort someone who's alone, but she can always say his name to feel comforted. Must be a really swell name, like Mookie or something. I really wish I had thought to start using harmonies in my vocals, because this one could have been much better.

Track 6: "EasyBeat"
The "sequel" to the version on "The Second Ten", not much in the music changes, I just added lyrics. It's about love. Again. I would tire of this theme eventually. There's only so many ways you can musically pine for someone.

Track 7: "The Scratch"
THis is an electric guitar. I used my dad's Gibson Les Paul. I had been playing around with it one day and stumbled into this tune. I had to record it immediately. It's a bit different, just how I like 'em.

Track 8: "Room For Two"
Since my first album had brought us together, I had to write a song for Tamara to go on my next one. It talks about how I surprised I was to have discovered her, and how much I wanted to keep her once she was here. This is one of the very best pieces of guitar music I've ever written. I never liked the bass line, but everything else was good.

Track 9: "Ten Miles Over"
Oddly enough, this is about God. Someone knowing they're dying, and going towards the light. After I had written the guitar part but before I did the rest, Kelli and I got together one night and recorded this. As hilarious as that was, I couldn't let what I thought was another very good piece of guitar work be abused like that. So I wrote this, and it's one of the more fun songs to play every now and then.

Track 10: "Where Do We Begin?"
This is the first song I completed for this album, and the first 12-string song I wrote. Again, it's about love. I like it a lot, and was glad kept it simple, just the guitar and me.

Track 11: "Whistler"
I believe this was the first set of lyrics I wrote for this album. It's kind of a tribute to John Entwhistle, the bassist of The Who who died on the eve of their summer concert in 2002. We saw the concert, and it was great, but I knew it was missing something. Actually, the first verse didn't make a whole lot of sense, but it catches up with itself later.

Track 12: "If You Want To"
This contains one of the better bass lines I've written. I had been planning on this one for quite a while. It's too bad I sang horribly on it. I kept wanting to sing a bit higher, but I never had the guts. This one is about a guy who has to leave, his girl has been demanding certain questions be answered, generally being a nuisance. He responds by inviting her along, if she can accept him for who he is.

Track 13: "Follow It"
This was the first song I completed for the album. I know, it's a bit confusing, but the songwriting/recording process isn't very linear most of the time. This guy is telling everyone to follow him, because he's very enlightened and can help them. Sounds like a God complex of some sort, a la "Tommy".

Track 14: "Got To Change"
This is a blusey number I had first written back around 1996 or so. I'd been playing for a long time, and it was time to do something with it.

Track 15: "Two Leaves"
This is my first attempt at doing anything serious with piano. I had never written anything for it, and I think I was just messing around on my parents' when this came about. It's using about us much playing ability as I can muster, but it seemed to work out nicely. The title comes from the idea that piano keys are ivory, and that led to leaves.....and there are two instruments here.

Track 16: "Worse Than Before"
This one started out as a more ambitious project than what it became. I think the "electric" part doesn't quite work with it, but otherwise it was good. The guy is lamenting a bad relationship, going over the "what if's". He's bitter. And that's just how we'll stay.

Track 17: "7 Spaces"
Hmmm, no lyrics to this one. That must mean some obscure reason for the song title. Well, I finished this one in 2003. I had started playing the guitar part seven years earlier, in 1996. Sometimes, being able to work with the really old ones is the most fun. Plus, it was already "different", and after doing so many love songs, I needed it.

Track 18: "Annetta"
Here's the J.R. Comics tune. I kept the first verse intact ((c) 1992), but the others I re-wrote. This was the only song from high school that I ever tried to put a bass line to, so it seemed natural to let it grow here.

Track 19: "Cold In A"
The song was written in A major. There you go. I wanted to close the album with a "bang". This was about as big a bang as I could muster, given the instruments I had. It's also a lot of fun to play and, like "Green Fire", uses a type of drum kit that I had only recently discovered in my software, one that made things sound a whole lot better than what I had been using.