#31: All In the Blood (July 29, 2011)

This week's tune is "All In the Blood". I guess I also consider this another of my "literary" songs, if only for the Hamlet reference in the last verse (identifying that is left as an exercise for the listener :). It's pretty much a rock and roll song, with some perhaps interesting chord changes, also left to the listener to determine (whether they're interesting, that is).

lyrics

This week's tune is "Train o'Time", recorded Monday, August 1 up in Jason's Pub. "Train o'Time" had its genesis decades ago, back at the (legendary) L&N Cafe in Birmingham. My running group had recently all been converted to Deadheads, largely by virtue of their (also legendary) free concert on the Vanderbilt quad in October of '72, to which we had all driven overnight from Tuscaloosa. None of us had seen the Dead before, and it was a game-changing, in many ways a life-changing, concert. Months later, I was putting together a book wherein people could just scribble hippyish thoughts about the Grateful Dead, with the intention of presenting the finished homage to the band when we drove down to Tampa for a 2 day concert. I even set up a table at the UA Ferguson Student Center, soliciting input. A few other people had tables set up with anti-war petitions and such. I was educating people to the Grateful Dead.

Anyway, I carried the book to the L&N, a well-know Deadhead hangout in B'ham, and several people contributed, among them (the legendary Deadhead dentist) Bernie Bildeman. At some point during the night, an unknown author wrote in the book, in giant letters, the phrase "Come man, come, like a big truck tire with the Grateful Dead"; I used to think it was Bernie, but we all build up legends of our past lives, and who knows? Anyway, that phrase lead immediately (in my brain at least) to the lyric, "Time keeps moving like a big truck tire", and the rest of the song just naturally fell out from there.

Whenever Bimini Road plays this song (and before that, Mister Charley, and before that, Ragged Mountain Edge) , when we get to the 3rd verse ("The Lord made time to help you to forget"), on the last line of that verse ("wondering which way that it's gonna go..."), we generally take the song to Crazy Town, and jam until we find a place to go, usually another song (or 2 or 3), then eventually find our way back to the Train. Sometimes we're gone for a long time. In this version, we just give a taste of the meandering jam, then reprise the verse. After all, Youtube has a fifteen minute limit :).

Special thanks to Richard Eade for helping mix this puppy down. He's a master of the console. Hope you'll take a look and give a listen. As always, I'd love to hear your feedback on the song (or any of the songs in the SAW Project).

#33: Peace Of Mind (August 14, 2011)

This week's tune is "Peace Of Mind", recorded Monday, August 8 up in Jason's Pub. I wrote "Peace Of Mind" because I wanted a gig closer other than the Bimini Road standard "We Bid You Goodnight", not because WBYGN is a bad song, but we'd always done it in the good ol' Grateful Dead style, and I thought it would be nice to have one of our own to sing. It's a feel good tune, and the intent is put everyone in a nice place, a "go on home and sleep tight" place. Bimini Road plays it at a slower when we do sing it. This endeavor has Clark on drums, Jason on bass and Ruthie on vocals. In addition to the instruments on camera, I added a little piano after the fact.

Lyrics

#34: Forty Two (August 21, 2011)

This week's tune is "Forty Two", recorded Monday, August 8 up in Jason's Pub. Besides being pretty much a straight up rocker, "Forty Two" has to also be classified as yet another of my "literary songs", at least if you consider Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy to be literature (I do). The title and much of the spirit of the song comes from that sci-fi/comedy classic. Not to mention the reveal in the last verse where we discover the basic flaw in the structure of the Universe, perhaps the very root of the existence of Evil in an otherwise perfect realm. (Hint: It has to do with mathematics.) Plus, I make mention of Nietzsche (the philosopher, not the linebacker), so that must count for some literary legitimacy. Clark on drums, Jason on bass and Ruthie doubles me on vocals. Note: there is an alternate last verse, sometimes sung. It's shown in the extension on the video link. You can vote on your preference if you care to.

Lyrics