It’s been about four months since I started this little experiment, and Dr. Smith has yet to weigh in with his half of the songwriting process. So, to provoke such involvement, I give you “Give Up.” As with most of Sam’s songs, he brings them to practice, and they’re pretty much already structured. This is as opposed to my songs, which I birth and then abandon until I have three other people around to help me raise it. “Give Up” was the first demo we recorded with Travis’s brother’s brother-in-law (what?), Derek, and that demo, in itself, is a whole other blog’s worth of ranting and complaining.
Basically, this is the first song we didn’t consciously add background vocals and harmonies. Before, we’d always said, “Hey, maybe we should, you know, uh, add some other vocals in here.” Just kind of happened as we worked the song out at practice. Something about gaining confidence as a band unit? I don’t know. Of the parts that I wrote, there’s this little bendy thing that coincides with Sam singing “We do as we please…” that I did completely too soon when we played the song at the Eleven East, but it sounded so good that way. And I’ve never been able to do it with that off timing again. Alas.
You might be interested in the lyrics. Sam could fill you in on the thought process in writing the lyrics, and I will prod him until he does such a thing.
shake me down now to bare branches
with your Manchester swagger and designer sunglasses
freshly kissed cigarette lips
and I let my process slip
tied up in a thousand knots
when you hit me with everything you’ve got
but I grown in any garden
and my stupid heart with harden
leave the test-tones on
let the dishes be
they’ll be there in the morning, and so will we
it’s okay to be afraid
sleeping in the bed that we made
I long for longer days
when all my tumblers will fall into place
we do as we please–perfect hair, perfect teeth
leave the test-tones on
let the dishes be
they’ll be there in the morning, and so will we
it’s okay to be afraid
(no one is as afraid as me)
sleeping in the bed that we made
(and no one’s more ashamed)
