Tough Love

Shut yourself in a dark room in the daytime
Fill it with your own oppressive smoke
Your eyes will water--really you're just self-blind
Better realize it's you before you choke

If you're not happy, do something about it!
If you're not happy, do something about it!

So you stumbled on a tripwire that you strung out
When you promised everyone you had control
And you fell into your pride now you can't get out
Until you return to yourself the time you stole

If you're not happy, do something about it!
If you're not happy, do something about it!

You say the world is just a darkened mirror
You can't see anything that's worth your sweat
It's only you and you don't know what you're here for
Well, if you're all alone, then alone take your first step!

If you're not happy, do something about it!
If you're not happy, do something about it!
You have to see: you're the one who can
You have to be more than just a plan

And you medicate yourself with words and plans to fix yourself
But those pills are blowing clouds across your eyes
You slide into bed thinking that you're really doing well
Forgetting that you haven't even tried!

I'm sorry that I couldn't fix your problems
I can't accept the gift of all your grief
Once you climb a person, you can't be down there with them
I can't move 'cause I'm buckling underneath

If you're not happy, do something about it!
If you're not happy, do something about it!
You have to see: you're the one who can
You have to be more than just a plan

------------------------------------------------------------

My mom recently asked me if I ever planned to post any happy songs, so here's one with an explicitly positive message. Real life is real life, though, and most ideas I end up writing about are at least touched by trouble. Sorry!

To my memory, I've only performed this song once, at a Whitman Coffeehouse in 2006. Revisiting the words, I'm pretty happy with the flow, straightforward economy, and a few nifty bits. But the music is straightforward and poppy, especially compared to the kinds of stuff I've been working on recently, so I don't know how well it'd fit. Recently, though, I've been thinking more about how a lot of artists these days obediently accept the conventions of a single genre, which can get a bit boring, unless it's really well done (I think I was reading a review referencing the eclecticism of the Al Kooper-led Blood Sweat and Tears album Child Is Father To The Man). Then again, you can't be too eclectic--you've got to have a recognizable sound, and there's danger of becoming a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. Getting way off track here.

Not too much going on that can't be gleaned from reading the words. Mostly it deals with those times a person (sometimes myself, sometimes others, as is often the case) spends more time lamenting problems, feeling sorry for oneself, and rationalizing depression by blaming others when the only real solution is taking responsibility and owning the agency to improve the situation. The side note in the bridge is the maddening practice of "OK, this sucks, I'd better do something. Wow, it felt good to admit that--I'll get around to dealing with the problems tomorrow, maybe." Meanwhile, time passes.

Maybe I'll resurrect this one for the next gig.

Echoes (Broad-and-Boundless)

Come along with me and we'll turn over every stone
We can set out to turn on the lights
Please don't stay behind--it wouldn't be the same alone
And I'd hate to think that you're staying out of spite

Come along with me, come along with me

Come along with me and let's find the answers
Maybe something new from what we're shown
Oh, you know, you can't think on it forever
But let's make it something we can call our own

Echoes of you in me, we're so much more than we seem to be
Reflecting me in you, bending the rules of what we can do

Come along with me and we can breathe it in
Intoxicate ourselves with essence pretended
A thing so pure could never be sin
So we know it's not true when they say we've surrendered

Come along with me, come along with me
(Surely, we belong in the broad-and-boundless field)

Come along with me; it's time to leave
We've found out that our answer is wrong
But reality is built from what we believe
It's plain to see that we belong

Echoes of you in me, we're so much more than we seem to be
Reflecting me in you, bending the rules of what we can do

Spinning up and out
All expands but everything is we
Looking all around
Infinity that only few can see
Feelings unbearable
Connecting dots to build a plan
Knowing impossible
Doing more than they admit we can

Surely, we belong in the broad-and-boundless field!

` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` ` `
A call to make up your own rules and access potential that remains untapped due to unconsidered conformance with religious, cultural, governmental, societal, superstitious (etc.) rules. What could be more human than formulating your own interpretive framework for understanding the world, and what could be more human than rushing headlong into that unknown tightly gripping the hand of a companion who's of the same mind? If, at the end of your days, you find out you didn't quite get all of it exactly right, don't worry--you're likely in good company, historically speaking. What could the human race accomplish if we dropped our collective baggage? A favorite line: "All expands but everything is we(e)." Wish I had more meaning-soaked lines like that up my sleeve.

Looking back, this song marked the beginning of the more experimental and progressive acoustic direction I've continued in up until the present, so it's become a bit of a personal anthem. I recorded a passable version with all of the guitar parts from my head; it's on my Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/elliotknapp) if you're interested.