I see all these lyrics pop up in this data base, and almost every time it reminds me of one thing: I know a guy who will never be famous who writes better lyrics than almost anything I hear on the radio or read in this forum. He's written hundreds of songs, and none of them have ever been made popular by him or anyone else. He writes some of them on the piano and some on the guitar. He plays both pretty well. The songs are marvelous little pieces of detailed work, and he's tried several times to either get recording contracts himself or sell them to folks who already have established contracts. Neither venture has worked out. He even moved to Nashville, TN, for a year and tried writing country music. His country songs were way too sophisticated for anyone there to "understand." One was called "I'm the King of the Country Music Cliches." I guess you see the problem.

So, he has a regular job in Memphis, TN, and does a radio show on the local "college radio" station. The show centers around Nawlins music, and he is a genuine expert in this field. Which is funny in a way, because the songs he writes bear no resemblance to Nawlins music. His songs sound more like a mixture of Mose Allison and James Taylor, or Steely Dan and Joni Mitchell.

I tried my best to get him interested in this web site. He could have told you more than you ever wanted to know about so many things, including the history of the music of New Orleans. Unfortunately, he logged on a couple of times during the Fools' Rush Hour around here, and got turned off by the banal banter going on in the catbox and a few idiotic pieces of work being posted at the time. I hate it when that happens. The loss is immeasurable.

So, I'd like to post one of my favorite songs of his on here. He told me he didn't mind. This is a ballad that begins in Cmaj7 on the guitar with the C note tagged on in intervals on the B string during the intro. It's an old chord form which goes into Dm7 and then resolves in G. The bridge is somewhat more complicated, but that'll give you an idea of how it goes.




He was a gentleman gambler
On the lam in Del Rey
She played the passionate Pilgrim
She couldn't give it away

They met one night at Backgammon
Both were hoping to score
He knew she knew she was losing
And yet she just bet more

They made love like politicians
They came as strangers to bed
They went through all the positions
But in the end
There was nothing said

He prayed for her discretion
She busted him instead

The romance is dead
Somewhere in LA

They talked of going to Rio
For the Season this year
They both spoke vaguely of sorrow
(She even summoned a tear)

Both were such excellent actors
That their lives intertwined
First he considered the factors
And then he walked in blind

They made love like politicians
They came as strangers to bed
They went through all the positions
But in the end
There was nothing said

She prayed for his confession
He took the fifth instead

The romance is dead
Somewhere in LA



CST approved

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