Dynamite

This isn’t the song I intended to release today.

I was playing through the song I had intended to record and release this morning and the chorus just kept snagging me. Something wasn’t quite right.

So I flipped the page in my journal and started playing this song, except playing it through with the chords and melody I wrote for it last week. After noticing it sounded suspiciously like Cait in Spain (a great BP original, now streaming everywhere, BTW), I decided to mix it up and try another angle.

My first thought was, “how about try a chord progression and melody that Bekki would like.” That’s not to say Bekki doesn’t like my music, but it is to say that once or twice she’s accused me (lovingly) of writing lots of mid-tempo songs that she can’t dance to very well. Noted.

So, with a six month baby ignoring me while he chewed on some of his older brother’s toys, I shamelessly plugged in an upbeat 1-4-5 progression for the verses and kept the original shape of the chorus. Immediately the 6-month old on the floor perked up and began listening. We recorded a first version of the song together so that I wouldn’t forget the new tune.

After a trip to the grocery store and some mulling things over, I put the boy down for nap time and re-recorded this version today. The “do-da-do’s” between verses are less a vocal arrangement than what I imagine some instrumentation might be doing over the top.

So here it is, hot off the press, written this morning: Dynamite. Enjoy.

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Dynamite
See the girl with the neon cosplay on
She's got a suspicion of cops and dogs
A healthy ambition for speaking faux pas
Loves to collide with movie stars

She says what's the point 
of dynamite
if you're gonna lock it up?
This old town's got me 
so uptight
Hey buddy, have you got a light?

See the one with the black mascara:
Loves Rivers Cuomo and Yogi Berra
Hides an apple, feels scared-a
Those kids in trucks jacked up to there-a

They say what's the point 
of dynamite
if you're gonna lock it up?
This old town's got me 
so uptight
Hey buddy, have you got a light?

I keep thinking I'm dying
but nothing in my body aches
It just hit me that I'm hiding
And I don't care what I gotta break

See the kid with the gilligan schtick
A small town catholic with a protestant ethic
Recites Plato under coffee breath
Tells his mama that he gives two craps

He says why -- what's the point 
of dynamite
if you're gonna lock it up?
This old town's got me 
so uptight
Hey buddy, have you got a light?
Hey buddy what's the point 
of dynamite
if you're gonna lock it up?
This old town's got me 
so uptight
Hey buddy, have you got a light?