For Better Or...

[waitingman]

I've been reading a biography of Leonard Cohen, found at an inner-city Market a couple of weeks ago. Finding out that some of his poetry was written decades before it was ever published - sometimes because he would continually refine it over the years... & his description of kneeling in a hotel room, surrounded by bits of paper, banging his head on the floor, convinced he'd never actually finish writing 'Hallelujah'

My thoughts turned to my own work, which grew out of the usual cliché of the misfit teenager, staying up late writing godawful poetry about how nobody really understands me, or anything. Picking up the guitar & joining a couple of bands put paid to that crap, but I've occasionally dabbled in writing lyrics - most of which have languished, yellowed & faded in a dusty folder that has somehow survived several household moves & general cleanouts...

May I humbly present, from 'Unsung' - a collection of never-performed-or-published lyrics & bits - a piece from 1987, revised this morning... mostly because I couldn't find the original & had to improvise from memory. This one is rare, in that it actually has music & a melody that were written for it, unlike a lot of others that either have no music, or were written to fit pre-existing music

Have you ever seen a stranger's tears? Well, look at mine
Three people here, all looking for a better time
I can't tell you how to live your love of life, in your hollow home
But I could show you things, so you'd feel better about your own

Now I live & wait for you to come to me
Haunted by the scenes & what we might have been
I don't know where you go, or do, or who you call your own
But I still hold my dream of you, behind the door of my hollow home

In all those years, I've only ever seen you once or twice
Living the life I paid for, cheap at half the price
Two single thoughts, another time, we could have been alone
Locked all the doors & burned the memory of this hollow home

Definitely some lingering teenage angst there... I was only 20 after all. I still hear this song in my head sometimes... along with many others. 30 years of playing in bands & working with other singer/songwriters & I've never really found the right players or vehicle for my stuff. Nor have I splashed out & bought recording equipment good enough to do it myself. Maybe this year??

Is 50 too old to make your debut as a solo recording artist?

Comments

[basefinder]

50 is not too old! I was 48 when I went into my cousin's studio and recorded a song I wrote that year (2007). If you are still hearing your songs in your head, why not get them down on tape (or whatever it is the kids record on these days).

I dabbled at songwriting back in the 80s and early 90s. I probably still have some documentation tucked away, though it would probably be embarrassing to read now. My early writing was on an actual piano (how many households have those today?) before I poured some money into a Yamaha SY22 synth and a Yamaha C1 Music Computer, using them with Cakewalk MIDI software. I never did add a recorder to the mix... my interests shifted to the "easier" path of stand up comedy leaving music by the wayside.

I don't have that gear anymore, or the guitars I could never quite master. And I haven't written a thing since that brief burst in 2007 (it helped having a music producer cousin who invited me out to play in his studio).