Apologies on getting this Monday song up a little later in the morning than usual.  My dog died this morning!  Jade lived for 9 years and brought more joy to my life than I can even explain.  I’ll post a picture in her honor.

Anyway. “The Way I Been Lovin’ You” is my Monday song for today.  I have a lot of ideas for this song that include other instruments, so don’t be surprised if I re-release it on a Friday sometime.  I wrote it in a way different than most of my songs:  the music and lyrics came at the same time.  The lyrics are below:

The Way I Been Lovin’ You

If you’re gonna do it; overdo it

If you’re gonna feel it; feel right through it

If you’re gonna let this big world get you down

Let it take you down to Hell, take you down to Hell

And if you’re gonna love somebody

You better love them the way I been lovin’ you

I was born this way

Born into a craze

They worried I’d wind up like this some day

Bottle is empty and the day is half gone

I lay awake wondering how last night went wrong

But if you’re gonna wake, do it feeling like you slept

If you’re gonna apologize, do it for something you really regret

And if you’re gonna love somebody

You better love them the way I been lovin’ you.

Somethin’ ‘bout the light in your eyes

Could brighten a country night sky

Somethin’ ‘bout the love in your bones

Now I know what no one else knows

There’s somethin’ ‘bout the way I been lovin’ you

If you’re gonna love somebody

You better love them the way I been lovin’ you.

3rd Monday song!  ”I Hope It’s True”.  Unlike all of the other songs released on this site so far, this song was not recorded in a professional studio—hence the weird hissing and quality I’ll refer to as ‘cool and low-fi’.  These lyrics are from a poem I posted earlier on this site—a poem that happens to be acrostic down both the left and right side—a first for me! I managed to turn it into this song and I recorded it at my apt. in Brooklyn with a usb microphone bought in Chinatown.  Ben Britz helped a lot with this one.  Lyrics are below:

Inverted I see the shadows on the street
For this is the chosen year
I see them and I just can’t breathe a
Jail for you lies here. Grant
Us wisdom, grant us grace
Sister, what am I to do?
Take offense to my grave then
Cross my heart and hope it’s true? I’ll
Only make exception here if you say it isn’t so
Nobody ever wants to die alone. Rev
Cold engines in the morning glow, I
Earn each strain down to its bone. In
No song sang or ever sung has this bell too early rung.

It’s Monday!  This song is called “Silence” and like last week’s Monday song, it was recorded live a few minutes after I wrote it.  The lyrics are from an acrostic poem I wrote early 2008.  Recording/Engineering:  Aaron Jacobsen.

SILENCE

This tacit argument has got its claws

Digging into my throat

In my defense, you’ve got no cause

So when my body floats

Awaken the priests so they can come see

A reproduction of what you wanted all along inside

Tell them God has forsaken me

Make them believe your lies

All I want is silence

And this is keeping me awake.

Everything you’ve worked for, if humble, is fine by me

That is where we stumble and we start tripping our feet

So grab your bags and draw a line

Half of all this shit is mine

“Nothin’ Gonna Change” is my first Monday release of 2010.  I wrote this song back in October while spending many late nights in a Star Wars-themed basement recording studio in Tribeca.  I wrote the lyrics on a yellow legal pad and the song minutes later.  In an effort to avoid forgetting it, we decided to record it live then and there just to keep a record of it.  It turned out that the recording was one we liked, despite its mistakes.  This is the first release of this song.  I’ll be playing it live for the first time this Wednesday the 6th at my show in Williamsburg.  Recording/Engineering:  Aaron Jacobsen.

NOTHIN’ GONNA CHANGE

When I leave my house tonight

To remind myself what the city’s like

Will you doubt me in your head?

Will you vow to never share a bed with me again?

You go back to the south

Back to your big empty house

Let the liquor warm your mouth

Convince yourself this will all work out

But ain’t nothin’ gonna change, my man

When you’re too broken to stand

Ain’t nothin’ gonna change, my man

And I’m not sure that it ever can

Well, once my flame and twice my burn

I caught that in a song I heard

And if I had not

Heard it from her

A million others would have been there just to confirm

That lost love will follow you home

Smile and ask why you’re still alone

Pull you close, grab your hands, beg you for another chance

But ain’t nothin’ gonna change, my man

When you’re too broken to stand

Ain’t nothin’ gonna change, my man

And I’m not sure that it ever can

You’re reaching for so much more

Dissecting the skies and watching the floor

What’s now true was before

If you wanted it enough

It would all be yours