As promised, we will be publishing the lyrics to “Over Wires and White Plains” along with some brief annotation in a series of blogs. To kick things off, here’s some thoughts on Spanish Songs, the first track the album.
This song is particularly special for me because it is about the only love(ish) song that we have ever written. Perhaps, more than a love song it is about recovering from a past and moving on to better things. We all enjoy looking for my fiancé, Jenessa, during the waltz. She usually blushes.
While this is not the oldest song on the album, it is one that we have played for quite some time now. By nature of having it for several years there have been three of four ill-fated recording attempts. In previous sessions, we were never quite able to capture the essence of this song. The dance like quality and the emotion have always seemed lost in fidelity.
As far as recording process is concerned, our producer, Danny Jones, spent quite a bit of time experimenting with how to best let the song degrade into chaos by the ending. Our dear friends, Brian Harvey, Chelsea Foss and Mark Cleaver joined us for a couple of hours of really fun group vocals on the last chorus. I laid down a couple of tracks with a grossly overdriven 1950s Guild archtop guitar to fill things out. We also added a distorted copy of the drum track, which takes over the mix by the last notes of the song.
Lyrics:
see I’ve got this old collection of scars
and I’ve got books full of numbers I forgot
I’ve got white envelopes and stamps for letters that I never sent you
but I keep them all very close to my heart
And all of these wasted years I remember like so many
happily drunken old friends, easily dismissed as forgotten
In a drawer in the kitchen I keep your photograph,
so that I don’t ever have to see you, when I’m too drunk
but just like plastic covered couches I know it you’re leaving
but when you do won’t you go without taking your things
’cause I’ve got
faded tattoos and ghost like scars
We sleep in a bed that’s too small for both our mistakes
but when the pillow gets cold I fear you’ll never come home
and theses books they just stare up at me from their coffee tables
and all these pictures of you hang like bars on my cell
’cause I’ve got
faded tattoos and ghost like scars
See I’m waltzing with a girl who doesn’t know how to move her feet
on a dance floor with it’s hardwood heartbeat
and I know if you were here you’d just drink you’re white wine and sing Spanish songs
and I hope that somewhere you are very very alone
’cause I’ve got
faded tattoos and ghost like scars
Jesse – Rhythm Guitar and Vocals
Melissa- Vocals and Piano
Chris – Lead Guitar
Aaron – Drums
Danny Jones – Bass
The last chorus features the voices Chelsea Foss and Brian Harvey of Pine Language and Mark Cleaver of The Vicious Kisses.
-Jesse
i love it