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#8: Try Not to Stare March 26th, 2006

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Here’s another old song dug up from the bottom of the box. That’s Tanny playing guitar.

There’s pretty much just one idea here, and I’ve found that some people like it for just that reason, while others find that it’s too simplistic and repetitive for their taste. Maybe it depends on how recently, if ever, you felt this way.

I’d happily stand here alone all day
Just to watch you walk down the stairs
Trying to think of what I could say
That might make you smile if you happened to hear
I’d happily stand here alone all day
Just to watch you and try not to stare
Try not to stare

Posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006. Comments are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

12 Comments to “#8: Try Not to Stare”

  1. At 10:07 am on March 29th, 2006, jes5199 wrote:

    I have a weakness for repetitive lyrics: if it’s good to hear these lines four times in five minutes, then it must be better to hear them 48 times in an hour. And so I do.

  2. At 10:13 pm on March 30th, 2006, Lindsey wrote:

    You and me both. We’re intensely focused. That or autistic.

  3. At 10:15 am on April 5th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » two things wrote:

    […] I’m singing along to Lindsey Kuper’s Try Not To Stare right now (which, I’ll tell you, does not make typing out one set of words on ye old blog entry since I’m also trying to sing along correctly). I’m not singing because of anyone in particular (I wish, probably more on that and my method of loving if/when I write that big post about me and the world and 42), but more because I want to. Because I seem to be figuring me and my life out, because I’m gaining daily glimmers of how other people work and because I seem to putting some direction, purpose and meaning back in my life. Even if some of me is of the opinion that peak oil will screw all of us over in 30 years. While another part of me is trying to figure out how to single-handedly avert it. […]

  4. At 11:57 am on April 16th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » “and we’ll break up with our makeup streaming down” wrote:

    […] The title for this post is a Lindsey Kuper lyric, from her song Rock Star Girl, which hasn’t yet been re-released via Shoebox Full of Tapes. I’m assuming, hoping that it will be someday (I mean, Try Not to Stare was…). It could describe parts of a dream I had last night (kinda nice to remember a dream again, for the first time in maybe a month or two) but I used it because of my emotional, my sadness, my unshed tears for this place. […]

  5. At 12:13 am on April 17th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » sorry, screaming, searching: drowning in ambiguity wrote:

    […] - Lindsey Kuper, Try Not to Stare […]

  6. At 11:33 pm on April 24th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » Kuper, headache, website, boring titles wrote:

    […] When it is physically painful (headache) to sing along to Lindsey Kuper’s Try Not to Stare I know it’s time to eat something and then go to bed. Today has been a really full day—woke up in the room I spent my childhood in, went to be certified to return to work by my surgeon, drove back to Iowa City, off-loaded a bunch more of my dorm room (tear), had lunch, went to lit class (!), went to second lunch, took a shower, worked on my lit paper, painted my nails for the first time since (I think) last semester, went to dinner, tried to read for class (failed because I’m sleep-deprived *doesn’t look at clock, doesn’t see that it’s 01:15*), hung out briefly with three different friends or groups thereof, chatted online with friends, went to the public library for books1, went grocery shopping, chatted for a while longer online, checked out the No Shame blog, blogged about the No Shame blog and what I found there, commented on Lindsey Kuper’s “latest”, updated my website—officially—for the first time in months, posted my comment on the No Shame blog which sorta spurred the rest of this, and then blogged about all of it [this post]. And then, presumeably, I went to bed. […]

  7. At 11:36 am on May 4th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » fours hours of sleep means I don’t have to be witty title-wise wrote:

    […] The other day I was talking with my next door neighbor (the one who replaced “Mr. Next Door”—except he’s human, intelligence, likes sci fi…) and asked if my music ever bothered him. He said no, though “you do play that ‘walk down the stairs’ song too much”. Huh? What “walk down the stairs” song? Ohh, right, that “‘walk down the stairs‘ song”. Yeah. Maybe a tad. […]

  8. At 3:12 pm on May 7th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » grok bowl wrote:

    […] I wonder what everyone sees in this blog. And what they’d make of the fact that every time I’ve set about doing dishes today (i.e. just now) and sung along to Try Not To Stare a poem has popped out. And I wonder what they make of all of these little “I’m trying to tell you something without coming out and saying it because I thought you might have done the same with that one comment or two but I know you haven’t and I know we’ve discussed this before but you know what an idealistic bastard I can be and…” […]

  9. At 10:02 am on May 12th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » times change, people too (on something like that) wrote:

    […] I first started listening to Try Not to Stare last November, I think. I just got out of bed and put on my clothes and put it on the stereo—like blogging, this song has been one of the constants in my life. It has seem me through so much through so many people. […]

  10. At 9:51 pm on May 14th, 2006, Shoebox Full of Tapes » *pause for breath* wrote:

    […] Okay, so my drummer, Brian, and I only know a few songs so far, and yeah, so the show was sort of…at my house. (Line I forgot to use: “We’re so indie, we barely even exist.”) But still! First show! The Jigsaw Gentlemen, Chris Corbell, and Douglas Shepherd played as well, and in case four bands and a keg and a half didn’t put it completely over the top as house parties go, we even had a couple of belly dancers. All of the performers were great. I couldn’t have asked for a friendlier or more talented group of people to help us make the party a success. And our set was well-received, too. Thanks to all of you who made it out! I can’t wait for our next show! […]

  11. At 3:01 pm on May 28th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » blog it while it happens wrote:

    […] [I suppose that, in some ways, the song loses something in this version—the intimacy of having just Kuper and the piano, of having Kuper’s voice at the forefront of everything (instead of sorta the third instrument in the band). I ain’t complaining, just sayin’. Maybe it’d be better put as this version would be harder to sing along to since– *tries it*, well maybe not. In short, Kuper’s voice could be a little be louder, be a little bit more in the forefront of things—but I’m sure as time goes by and recording technology/new PowerBook/whatever comes along it will. Someday sound quality of Try Not To Stare (or other select members of the original RockStarFour) will be attained, but, in the meantime, I’m going to happily consume the podcasts. If Kuper had been released on vinyl, I’d be on, like, my fifth record by now. […]

  12. At 6:14 pm on December 31st, 2007, Shoebox Full of Tapes » #28: Try Not to Stare wrote:

    […] the original. Happy […]