Champagne for Breakfast

A new countrypolitan song about dreaming of a woman and waking to find her gone.

I've recorded this without distortion, despite the fact that I tend to like things to sound raucous and poorly recorded; it just didn't seem appropriate for a song that meant to sounds haunted and lovely.

The title borrows from a book by teenage author Pamela Moore, Chocolates for Breakfast, which was published in 1956 and tells the story of a young girl's misadventures and sexual awakening in Hollywood and Manhattan. Of course, the song I have written is a country song, and, therefore, details loneliness and regret and other depressing themes that country music handles so well. Drawing inspiration from an obscure 50s novel about cosmopolitan youth might be a little odd when you're writing a country song, but Ms. Moore was no stranger to the dark moods that inhabit the genre -- she killed herself at the age 26.

"CHAMPAGNE FOR BREAKFAST" LYRICS:

I dreamed of champagne for breakfast
And chocolates when we were still in bed
And then I woke up
in the same place
I laid my head
You whispered sweet words in my ear once
While I was sleeping in the bed we knew
But now I wake up
In the same place
That's empty of you

I dreamed of kisses to wake me
And champagne on the bedroom floor
But then I woke up
All alone dear
O once more
Now I drink coffee in the morning
In one cup all on its own
And in the evening
I go to bed
All alone

Two pillows for one head
And a bed big enough for two
Once it was full of the both of us
Now it is empty of you

I dreamed of kisses to wake me
And champagne on the bedroom floor
But then I woke up
All alone dear
O once more
Now I drink coffee in the morning
In one cup all on its own
And in the evening
I go to bed
All alone

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by Astro Zombie (4 comments total)

It's an unexpected turn from your previous songs that I've heard. I gotta say, I like your voice here more than in the rough, tomwaitsy ones. I think you could combine lo-finess in the recording with a straight singing like this to a very nice effect. Hope you don't mind the comment, I don't mean it as something bad about your other songs.
posted by micayetoca at 9:05 PM on July 12, 2008

I had a similar reaction to micayetoca. Maybe I was just getting worn down by hearing so many of the distorted lo-fi recordings in the row, but I found this one refreshing. Not that there was anything wrong with the others, but the variety is nice.

As is usual with your songs, my mind is filling in additional instrumentation. For what it's worth, this one is getting soupy glissando strings, like in Etta James's "At Last" or something. Make of that what you will. :-)
posted by danb at 12:00 PM on July 13, 2008

I appreciate the comments. I prefer a little variety as well. And glissando strings are totally appropriate for countrypolitan.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:28 PM on July 13, 2008

Thank you for introducing me to a new term. I've never heard of "countrypolitan". I picture this as a hidden track on an Elvis Costello album. With some piano thrown in for good measure. That's intended to be a compliment.
posted by quadog at 11:49 PM on July 14, 2008