I was walking downtown
Where the streets are paved with gold
I was feeling like a stranger
I was feeling kinda old
He was lying in the doorway
Like he was waiting for a dime
And his eyes looked right through me
He was somewhere else in time
His coat had seen some better days
But still it made a pillow for his head
And as I felt for change
He turned away and said
I don't need a hand
I'm a man who's seen it all
I've had everything and lost it
And now I'm waiting till St Peter comes to call
He said yeah I've known love
I had a family in my day
And I've known pride
And yeah I still got some today
And I'm sure you've got your problems too
So you take care anyway
I sat down by his side
And I looked him in the eye
And he reached under his blanket
And he drank his bottle dry
He said don't you try to help me
Cause I've got all I deserve
And I know where I'll be going
I just got to keep my nerve
I don't need a hand
I'm a man who's seen it all
I've been everything I dreamed of
I know my spirit will walk this world so tall
Sitting here
In the comfort that I've earned
And I'm thinking through
All the great wisdom that I've learned
And I'm wondering if I
I could have climbed so high
Without my friends around
I don't believe that I
Can ever say those words
I don't need a hand
I'm a man who's seen it all
I've been everything I dreamed of
I know my spirit will walk tall
I don't need a hand
'Cause I'm a man who's seen it all
I've been everything I dreamed of
And now I'm waiting till St Peter comes to call
Thank you Toni! The lyrics from one of my favourite songs from 30 years ago - Deacon Blue's "Dignity" - have always made me feel a certain way, and I think it was in the back of my mind when I wrote this one. That and John Cougar Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" from a few years before, I loved the interaction of the piano and guitar in that one, and that chorus line "life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone" I think I was maybe subconsciously trying to put the two together.
You have a masterful way of weaving a story through your songs that sets my mind on fire with empathy and compassion. I will have to include this in the Social Commentary show too.
Fabulous Chris!
Thanks so much Tricia. It's taken a little while to find the voice again after a few years away. Coming back now though, getting better, just need to keep at it...! First song for a long time where I've been confident enough in the first take not to resort to melodyne or whatever to fine-tune the vocals. Maybe I'll sing live again one day... who knows
Thanks Dace! I've always struggled with trying to get the sound I wanted when producing my songs - always tried layers and layers of effects to try and get things to sound right and ended up with a bit of a compromise every time. A couple of months ago I upgraded my Sonar DAW software to the Platinum version and suddenly all the things I found really hard to do became SO much easier. I also joined a user group on FB that's given me a load of tips and showed me how easy it can be. The biggest change is using a linear multiband compressor on the master, but also the level of Eq and compression on all the individual tracks makes a huge difference. This song has five instrumental tracks and one vocal, which is pretty minimal for me. No pads anywhere and only two FX busses. With what I was using before it would have sounded too empty to my ears, but with this new stuff it seems to make it wall-to-wall. I'm having a lot of fun at the moment!