#24: Recent Scars August 18th, 2007
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Derksen writes: “I ask the question that I am fairly certain most artists dread to hear: how much of this stuff is personal (ie has a direct bearing on your life in a tangentially autobiographical sort of way), and how much of it is just something that felt right, a fiction of the sentimental?”
For the record: all of this stuff is personal. That doesn’t mean that it’s word-for-word true, but fiction does a remarkably good job of telling the truth sometimes, you know?
I was a little astonished, today, going back and listening to how this sounded a year and a half ago. I used to actually sound like that? You people actually listened? Man.
Redeciding hourly if you’re self-aware:
All angles, eyelashes, worn-out shoes, torn-up hair,
but sometimes, with things you say,
by chance or design, but either way, I guess,
I try to catch the edge to every inside joke you makeExplicating riddles in the words you choose:
Hesitate a little, so I know you thought them through
as much as I will
And I’ve heard the others wonder what it is with me and you
Well, let them wonder more
I’ve been wrong before, but they have, tooGlitching live heartskips we both pretend to concentrate
These days, who cares?
What’s maturity, anyway,
but a string of recent scars
from each miscue that got us this far?
And I’m glad you know me well,
but I wish you couldn’t tell I try this hard
At 5:35 pm on August 18th, 2007, jes5199 wrote:
thank you for taking good care of one of my favorite songs.
At 10:22 am on August 19th, 2007, Lindsey wrote:
You don’t leave me much choice.
(I need to learn not to title songs this angstily, though. It makes it hard to talk about them.)
At 2:48 pm on August 21st, 2007, Eric wrote:
Hey Lindsey,
It’s been way too long since we’ve seen each other! I hope you’re having a wonderful summer. :)
I really like the new (old?) song. :) I love the way the chords drop down and then drop down again… I’m not sure if I’m explaining it right, but there’s something really Bruce Hornsby about it that I dig. And the way the verses add on those few extra syllables at the end, I think that gives a really nice feeling of trying to say everything, but being a little unsure about committing yourself precisely…
There is one thing (or two, actually) that feels a little unnatural to me, however. “Re-deciding” and “Explicating” both feel a little forced. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s 4 syllables shoved into too tight a space, or if a three syllable word would work better… The words themselves also feel a bit off: “Re-deciding” doesn’t read immediately to the ear (”wait… what was that word? oh, ‘re-deciding’? I think I caught that…”), and “explicating” sounds more “Look at my SAT score” than “flows lyrically in a song”….
But those are tiny little nit-picks in an otherwise really beautiful piece. :)
We’ll have to get together sometime, your piano and my guitar–I’d love to try to accompany in the background sometime. :)
At 9:09 pm on August 21st, 2007, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » Kuper’s at it again wrote:
[…] Kuper is at it again […]
At 5:58 pm on August 23rd, 2007, Lindsey wrote:
Eric, thanks! I really like the feedback you give me. Also, holy cow, I gotta tell my sister that someone compared me to Bruce Hornsby.
Aw, but I like “explicating”. The literal meaning is “unfolding”, and I love that. And I really don’t want to give up the “explicating riddles”/”hesitate a little” double rhyme.
We should, indeed, hang out. How ’bout board game night at my house?