Landlocked Memorial Day Blues
May 27, 2009 11:50 PM
A song for Memorial Day, posted a few days late.
So I had this tune kicking around the back of my head, not much more than half a melody, for about a week. It had been placed in my head (I eventually recalled) by a visiting friend playing guitar at our campfire a few weeks ago. And then I realized it was a Bright Eyes song (Landlocked Blues) that he had been playing that night. By the time I figured out what it was, I had already written a couple verses, but they fit with the spirit of the original song, so I just made a rewrite of all the words in the song, keeping the chorus mostly unchanged. (The parade becomes a May parade in this.)
It's loosely about a certain person I once knew in a far away land, a world war II veteran with a drinking habit.
I'm not terribly sure about the ethics of taking an established song and changing all the words, but being sure to maintain attribution, but it seems like how a lot of old blues songs got spread around back before authorship was such a big deal. But minus the attribution in those days. cf, Carter Family vs. Ledbelly.
I recorded this with my new Micro BR, which is a magnificently minimal piece of recording equipment. Best $60 on ebay I've spent this year!
So I had this tune kicking around the back of my head, not much more than half a melody, for about a week. It had been placed in my head (I eventually recalled) by a visiting friend playing guitar at our campfire a few weeks ago. And then I realized it was a Bright Eyes song (Landlocked Blues) that he had been playing that night. By the time I figured out what it was, I had already written a couple verses, but they fit with the spirit of the original song, so I just made a rewrite of all the words in the song, keeping the chorus mostly unchanged. (The parade becomes a May parade in this.)
It's loosely about a certain person I once knew in a far away land, a world war II veteran with a drinking habit.
I'm not terribly sure about the ethics of taking an established song and changing all the words, but being sure to maintain attribution, but it seems like how a lot of old blues songs got spread around back before authorship was such a big deal. But minus the attribution in those days. cf, Carter Family vs. Ledbelly.
I recorded this with my new Micro BR, which is a magnificently minimal piece of recording equipment. Best $60 on ebay I've spent this year!
posted by kaibutsu (1 comment total)
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It's an old wound left over from my rambling days.
Got a half-ounce of lead to remind me always,
and to stab me when I turn away.
I'll call you a bit after ten
To tell you the mess that I've found myself in
It's not unlike the last one, it's still not ok
But don't hang up, don't leave me this way.
I found love in a bottle of gin,
And now I'm picking up pieces all over again.
And once I'm cleaned up again I will say
Next time I'll just walk away.
Let go of me just let me go.
I've got nothing to add and nothing to show
For all that I've bothered and the dues that I've paid -
Let me go, just walk away.
I found a liquid cure
For my landlocked blues
And it passes on slowly like a May parade -
It's leaving but I don't know how soon.
There's someone asleep in my bed.
She lies there as still as the dead.
And though she's put up for years of my troubles and pains
When morning comes she'll walk away too.
I fought in a forgotten war
Against ill-defined foes over obsolete mores
But I still carry all of those violent ways
I know that I can't walk away.
All that you love will soon die.
It's as sure as the wind and as true as the tide.
It gets easier each and every day -
Soon I'll close my eyes the same way.
I found a liquid cure
For my landlocked blues
And it passes on slowly like a May parade -
It's leaving but I don't know how soon.
I mean I'm leaving but I don't know how soon.
I mean I'm leaving but I don't know where to.
Yeah I'm leaving but I don't know where to.
posted by kaibutsu at 12:30 AM on May 28, 2009