Hi everyone
As an early Christmas gift I would like to give you the revised versions of the lyrics to "14 Plain Street" (dismal as they are), and a link to the song. Very sad song.......
There is a video coming in a few weeks!
http://www.joemerrick.com/songs
14 Plain street went up in smoke
Abandoned and ablazing on the six o'clock news
Somebody burned down where I grew up
I took a drive to the old neighborhood
Saw the black holes and boarded up windows
A patch of blue sky where the roof was
A part of me wanted revenge
A part of me wanted to cry
The rest of me had to say goodbye
I could hear the:
Echoes of decades-bikes to cars
Birthdays, bee stings, Santa Clause
Daddy's last words he spoke to me
First grade, first love
Kitchen talks,mended hearts
Gone in a day gone in a thousand degrees
A part of me wanted revenge
A part of me wanted to cry
The rest of me tried to say goodbye
We kept the keys in the cars
We kept the front door unlocked
The time and the town kept me and my family safe
The neighbors would drive by and wave
Now they just drive by....
And stare at the wreckage of a hollow house guarded by yellow police tape
A chimney brick, a souvenir
A little proof that we once lived here
Will make a good conversation piece
They'll tear down they'll replace
But my mind is where I find my only home base
To safely keep, Fourteen Plain Street
A part of me forgave
A part of me cried
The rest of me finally said goodbye
Friday, November 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
James Taylor meets Alice Cooper
In 1974 my parents had a Motorola Stereo console which I inherited and kept in my room. I was oddly obsessed with records. I remember around 6 years old waking up early every morning whispering to my mom as she slept ,"can I play music? I'll keep the volume on 2". They say I was an easy kid to take care of - just plop me in front of the stereo and go about your day.
Those days my parents had what was typical for pop records, Beatles, Creedence, James Taylor, Burt Bacharach, Partridge Family, Beach Boys and some cool hip bongo lounge record (Persuasive Percussion). I soaked in all that amazing music. My music intake was relatively smooth besides the beautiful brashness of John Fogerty's voice, and the tiny distortion on lennon's Revolution. I could go on for days about my thoughts and feelings for each one of those records but my intent here is to express that cataclysmic moment when I heard the big bang of the universe of Shock Rock introduced by Alice Cooper.
One of my brothers friends left a record of Alice Cooper's "Killer" at our house without the jacket. At that time he was on Warner Brothers records- so was James Taylor (what a great Record label back then). I used to listen to JT's "Mud Slide Slim" all the time....still do. Both these records looked exactly the same-dark green. One fine Saturday morning I picked up my green Warner Brothers record thinking I would hear the smooth singer/songwriter ease my 7 year old mind with "You've Got A Friend", but what I got was the Amazing, Crunchy, Screaming Assault of "You Drive Me Nervous"!!!! It was the screaming distortion of his vocals!! This guy was pissed! his "fn' throat was pissed! Those guitars were like atom bombs going off in my little room. Those scary minor progressions and the flanged cymbals....OH MY GOD ....LOVE LOVE LOVE I was in love. This was the sound of me - my guts my emotions. I may not have been able to defend myself to two older(big) brothers, but I could listen and sing to this stuff. This was my courage and my voice at the time. This memory is so vivid. I was in that room in awe all day. My grand parents were over and I never came out. I wanted more and more - I was hooked, a Shock Rock junkie. I mean c'mon who wouldn't be? He sung about death and dead babies and Hell! My mom eventually caught on and supported my infatuation (God bless her) by buying me more AC records. When I finally saw him on T.V. with the make up, the horror show, and the metal guitars, I made up my mind I wanted to be him. So much for baseball and normal boyhood.
Those days my parents had what was typical for pop records, Beatles, Creedence, James Taylor, Burt Bacharach, Partridge Family, Beach Boys and some cool hip bongo lounge record (Persuasive Percussion). I soaked in all that amazing music. My music intake was relatively smooth besides the beautiful brashness of John Fogerty's voice, and the tiny distortion on lennon's Revolution. I could go on for days about my thoughts and feelings for each one of those records but my intent here is to express that cataclysmic moment when I heard the big bang of the universe of Shock Rock introduced by Alice Cooper.
One of my brothers friends left a record of Alice Cooper's "Killer" at our house without the jacket. At that time he was on Warner Brothers records- so was James Taylor (what a great Record label back then). I used to listen to JT's "Mud Slide Slim" all the time....still do. Both these records looked exactly the same-dark green. One fine Saturday morning I picked up my green Warner Brothers record thinking I would hear the smooth singer/songwriter ease my 7 year old mind with "You've Got A Friend", but what I got was the Amazing, Crunchy, Screaming Assault of "You Drive Me Nervous"!!!! It was the screaming distortion of his vocals!! This guy was pissed! his "fn' throat was pissed! Those guitars were like atom bombs going off in my little room. Those scary minor progressions and the flanged cymbals....OH MY GOD ....LOVE LOVE LOVE I was in love. This was the sound of me - my guts my emotions. I may not have been able to defend myself to two older(big) brothers, but I could listen and sing to this stuff. This was my courage and my voice at the time. This memory is so vivid. I was in that room in awe all day. My grand parents were over and I never came out. I wanted more and more - I was hooked, a Shock Rock junkie. I mean c'mon who wouldn't be? He sung about death and dead babies and Hell! My mom eventually caught on and supported my infatuation (God bless her) by buying me more AC records. When I finally saw him on T.V. with the make up, the horror show, and the metal guitars, I made up my mind I wanted to be him. So much for baseball and normal boyhood.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Key Moments
In the next few weeks I will attempt to catalog the key moments that paved my musical road. I'll try and keep it to these six outstanding scenes in my time line.
1. Saturday...eight years old.....I found my voice of rebellion....my big brother...........Alice Cooper
2. How to get the chicks in sixth grade with one quick drum solo
3. Bass guitar and my secret desire to sing- the night I became a singer
4.You people actually like my songs? The moment I realized songwriting is "IT"
5. Dad's Death and my descent into books
6. Five thousand dollars and my first studio/CD and the beginning of doing it myself
1. Saturday...eight years old.....I found my voice of rebellion....my big brother...........Alice Cooper
2. How to get the chicks in sixth grade with one quick drum solo
3. Bass guitar and my secret desire to sing- the night I became a singer
4.You people actually like my songs? The moment I realized songwriting is "IT"
5. Dad's Death and my descent into books
6. Five thousand dollars and my first studio/CD and the beginning of doing it myself
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sylvia Plath and 14 Plain Street
Well, here is a first draft of a lyric titled 14 Plain Street. At this time it feels more like poetry than lyrics. I have a chorus section but the title shows up only twice, and six line stanzas...not typical of me. I have been reading Sylvia Plath's poetry, and listening to lectures/biographies about her all this summer. Actually I was obsessed for while. So needless to say this song has a dark tone and a denseness that will be trimmed as music is introduced. I"m mostly a "word first" writer. So I don't know if this song sucks yet. But, I thought it might be interesting to post a first draft and share the growth of the song with y'all. Incidentally, as I was learning about Sylvia Plath I couldn't help but see the behavioral resemblance to my daughter Elizabeth - incredible creative, moody, curious, INTENSE!!.
I sometimes say to her "Slow Down Sylvia" (title for another song). Let's just keep her away from any gas ovens.
14 Plain street's gone up in smoke
Saw the abandoned house blazing on the six o'clock news
someone burned down where I grew up
So I took a drive to the old neighborhood
Saw the black holes and boarded up windows
And a patch of blue sky where the roof was
A part of me wanted revenge
A part of me wanted to cry
The rest of me finally said goodbye
You see the arsonist never knew
Mom and Dads labor of love
Now to be demolished in a dumpster of debris
Dad poured the concrete Mom planted the flowers
They put up fences working after hours
So that home shined with pride and dignity
But now the back yards overgrown
where I buried every pet I owned
Looking like some jungle in Vietnam
Trash and flies and blackened shingles
Litter my mind of when I was little
Birthdays and bee stings-riding ramps like Knievel can
A part of me wanted revenge
A part of me wanted to cry
The rest of me finally said goodbye
I bet even the fire men held back tears
saying, "can't believe football Freddy been gone fourteen years"
As they flooded the living room where he died
Washing away Christmas mornings and new years eves
And all the colors ..sixty's seventy's eighty's ninety's
blend to an ash black river drained by the roadside
I found a smoke stained chimney brick for a family souvenir
A little proof -some evidence that we once lived here
Maybe a coffee table conversation piece
And they will tear down rebuild and replace
But my mind is where I find my home base
where I safely keep the memory of Fourteen Plain Street
A part of me forgave
A part of me cried
The rest of me finally said goodbye
I sometimes say to her "Slow Down Sylvia" (title for another song). Let's just keep her away from any gas ovens.
14 Plain street's gone up in smoke
Saw the abandoned house blazing on the six o'clock news
someone burned down where I grew up
So I took a drive to the old neighborhood
Saw the black holes and boarded up windows
And a patch of blue sky where the roof was
A part of me wanted revenge
A part of me wanted to cry
The rest of me finally said goodbye
You see the arsonist never knew
Mom and Dads labor of love
Now to be demolished in a dumpster of debris
Dad poured the concrete Mom planted the flowers
They put up fences working after hours
So that home shined with pride and dignity
But now the back yards overgrown
where I buried every pet I owned
Looking like some jungle in Vietnam
Trash and flies and blackened shingles
Litter my mind of when I was little
Birthdays and bee stings-riding ramps like Knievel can
A part of me wanted revenge
A part of me wanted to cry
The rest of me finally said goodbye
I bet even the fire men held back tears
saying, "can't believe football Freddy been gone fourteen years"
As they flooded the living room where he died
Washing away Christmas mornings and new years eves
And all the colors ..sixty's seventy's eighty's ninety's
blend to an ash black river drained by the roadside
I found a smoke stained chimney brick for a family souvenir
A little proof -some evidence that we once lived here
Maybe a coffee table conversation piece
And they will tear down rebuild and replace
But my mind is where I find my home base
where I safely keep the memory of Fourteen Plain Street
A part of me forgave
A part of me cried
The rest of me finally said goodbye
Friday, September 11, 2009
Why Non Rock Star? Why Brave?
What is a non Rock Star?
Well....it's me and if by some random chance the world thinks of me as a rock star, well I wanna keep my current status. Because in my twenties I thought that was the ultimate goal for a musician. Hell..I went to Berklee I should be a rock star...right? I gauged my self value on whether I was getting closer to the goal of becoming like my idols... Pete Townsend, Jim Morrison, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper. In reality I was just drunk and idle (pun intended). So I've gotten rid of those dead dreams and I'm following my bliss which is what attracted me to music in the first place...sheer bliss.
So what am I? First and foremost I'm a husband to a wife who supports my music with all her heart and a daddy to two amazing daughters that give me so much love and that share in my love of music. I'm a singer/songwriter/musician/producer/recording engineer/musician/poet (maybe). For the past five years I have received so much love from being true to myself. I have an audience that "get" my songs and give back with words of heart felt appreciation. I have a studio business now filled with singer/songwriters and bands that need me to do for them what I love to do. AND I make a living at it! So do I want to go on tour and live a life a debauchery?weeellll...nahhh . Although I have faith in a higher power now that continues to surprise me and guide me into places where I belong. So if a tour comes along I'm sure it will be with like minded people for something good.
So..why brave?
Because I've surrendered-I've taken the road less travelled. I remember the last real job I had making drumsticks back in 92. All I did at that job was try to construct a plan that would get me OUT of there. So I decided I would teach drums, get more gigs, play weddings, whatever it took not to be at that dead end ground hog day job. In other words it was my first step in following my bliss into the great unknown. I'm still taking steps now and at times it's still really scary because when it's slow, I have to invent ways of making money. I have spent many days freaking out in the past. But it's still working after 18 years. I also consider myself brave because I decided to get married and raise a family and believe I can do it all...brave indeed...but you know what? It's working. It's all one gig to me. I write songs about my kids my wife my personal struggles..I include it all. To me that is the most potent kind of art there is.
Well....it's me and if by some random chance the world thinks of me as a rock star, well I wanna keep my current status. Because in my twenties I thought that was the ultimate goal for a musician. Hell..I went to Berklee I should be a rock star...right? I gauged my self value on whether I was getting closer to the goal of becoming like my idols... Pete Townsend, Jim Morrison, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper. In reality I was just drunk and idle (pun intended). So I've gotten rid of those dead dreams and I'm following my bliss which is what attracted me to music in the first place...sheer bliss.
So what am I? First and foremost I'm a husband to a wife who supports my music with all her heart and a daddy to two amazing daughters that give me so much love and that share in my love of music. I'm a singer/songwriter/musician/producer/recording engineer/musician/poet (maybe). For the past five years I have received so much love from being true to myself. I have an audience that "get" my songs and give back with words of heart felt appreciation. I have a studio business now filled with singer/songwriters and bands that need me to do for them what I love to do. AND I make a living at it! So do I want to go on tour and live a life a debauchery?weeellll...nahhh . Although I have faith in a higher power now that continues to surprise me and guide me into places where I belong. So if a tour comes along I'm sure it will be with like minded people for something good.
So..why brave?
Because I've surrendered-I've taken the road less travelled. I remember the last real job I had making drumsticks back in 92. All I did at that job was try to construct a plan that would get me OUT of there. So I decided I would teach drums, get more gigs, play weddings, whatever it took not to be at that dead end ground hog day job. In other words it was my first step in following my bliss into the great unknown. I'm still taking steps now and at times it's still really scary because when it's slow, I have to invent ways of making money. I have spent many days freaking out in the past. But it's still working after 18 years. I also consider myself brave because I decided to get married and raise a family and believe I can do it all...brave indeed...but you know what? It's working. It's all one gig to me. I write songs about my kids my wife my personal struggles..I include it all. To me that is the most potent kind of art there is.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
First Blog
So here's my first blog,
Fall is typically time for change. So I've changed my waking and sleeping hours all for the sake of creativity. My wife and I now get up at five AM..she runs ...I write. So far the first week has been very productive for me. I'm putting together ideas for a song about how my hometown(Randolph) house burned down. I went to see it this summer and a surge of emotions hit me. So I'm going to write them down. The house was abandoned and the state it was in was shocking. I'll post some of the lyrics later.
Fall is typically time for change. So I've changed my waking and sleeping hours all for the sake of creativity. My wife and I now get up at five AM..she runs ...I write. So far the first week has been very productive for me. I'm putting together ideas for a song about how my hometown(Randolph) house burned down. I went to see it this summer and a surge of emotions hit me. So I'm going to write them down. The house was abandoned and the state it was in was shocking. I'll post some of the lyrics later.
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