In Front of the Crowd

Update: 11/2/15
Sure enough the lyrics have undergone a change or two. Check out a live performance soon for the latest taste of this high-caliber number . . .

During the Late Joys gig last Saturday at the always fabulous Carousel Lounge, we did a bunch of old material among which were some of my soapbox songs (Ghost Town, Twisty System, Dresden, among others). Matt bantered that next on my to-do list was a song about gun violence, which as we all know is the scourge of today. Well, alright. I took up the challenge and wrote this little number. It still needs work (the lyrics have already changed a fraction) but until the band starts crafting it into a better song I reckon this raw version isn’t completely unlistenable (you be sure to let me know if it _is_!).

“In Front of the Crowd” gets its first public airing at tonight’s Butterfly Bar happy hour. You get to hear it in advance* cos you like the Late Joys (thank you for liking the Late Joys!).

In Front of the Crowd

You have a question
Come over, sport
You know I’ll keep my answers short
You don’t like Mondays
She makes you feel a fool
Go on, what have you got to lose

Never sent my children off to school
Never learned to live by the golden rule
Why are those people standing round?

Where am I?
I’m in front of the crowd

It’s so damn easy
When life’s so hard
We practiced late in the back yard
It’s not my fight
Don’t look at me
He pulls my trigger and he’s free

Never sent my wife to a dead-end job
Disgruntled co-workers, death by cop
Why are those those people lying around

Look at me I’m in front of the crowd
Look at me I’m in front of the crowd

Go text your mom go call the cops
I keep on popping and I just can’t stop
I hope you take it all to heart
So, baby, here’s my parting shot
Go blame the victim don’t blame me
Cos I’m not sentient like a human being
I think you’ll know just what I mean
You can read it in my magazine

You’ll never know where I’m concealed
You stand like statues or you kneel
I’ll fill your head with another round

Look at me I’m in front of the crowd
Look at me I’m the talk of the town
Look at me I’m in front of the crowd

*Assuming you listened to this before happy hour!

Kisses for All

Lately I have been completely hung up on the song Besame Mucho (I know the Beatles’ cover best).

For whatever reason, it keeps rising out of my subconscious whenever I drive the miserable roads of Austin. I sing it LOUD behind the wheel. (Cha-cha-boom!) 

Maybe it's an antidote to the fucked up drivers frequenting our congested byways, pissing me off. So I sing a big, loud kiss — maybe my message of love will get through to one of them one day. 

Lately, too, I am fixated on the Fastball song, The Way, because it’s going to play a part in a story I’m writing. I used to loathe hearing it 'cos it would stick in my psyche for effing ever. Argh: Song! Go away! I'm older now and I’ve grown to enjoy the invasion. I admit I've always loved the way the chorus rolls up and pays off with that growly guitar and melodic hook.* I admit it, I’m a sucker for that number. 

But wait.

Are they the same song?

Did Fastball tune into some universal melodic line when they turned Besame Mucho into The Way? To paraphrase: Did they even know what they what they were doing without even knowing the way? 

I have some doubts. And I'm not the only one.

There's a five-year old argument here. And I'm not even gonna start with the references to Delilah. 

Eh. Don't waste your time. Love the two songs. Okay, love Tom Jones and his mariachi conceit, too. Why the hell not? 

Kisses for all.

*And, really, this run always reminds me of the

segue into the bridge of Elvis Costello's Two Little Hitlers at this point. Just sayin'.

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