Friday, January 25, 2013

Only One

It's winter in Chicago and winter makes me think of quiet songs.

Every Paper Arrows album has had at least one quiet song.

Look Alive (the quietest of our albums) has Again and Again as well as Fight and also When You Left.  And you can even throw December Static in there.

Things We Would Rather Lose has Almost Gone (and an ironically titled One More Quiet Song).

In the Morning the most polished has Near.

And Days of Getting By has Only One.

The thing about choosing to record a song sparely is that you are essentially telling the listener that the lyrics are the most important thing.  There's nothing to hide behind, nothing to distract so the lyrics are front and center.

And that's appropriate for Only One.

Every once in awhile as a writer you go some place so far under your skin that it makes you uncomfortable.  But in a good way.  Because of the honesty.

Every once in awhile you get right down to the bone, right to the heart of what you're feeling and trying to say.

Jesus, maybe I could use one more cliched image involving the human body.

Fuck it.

Only One is that song for me.

I recorded the guitar part on a capo-ed 12 string acoustic.

The vocals are hard for me to listen to but, again, in a good way.

I can hear myself believing everything I wrote, which isn't always the case.

So here's to songs that capture the truth.

I guess even the loudest ones should be quiet at their cores.

ONLY ONE

She's out on the water
Wondering where he went
And if he's coming back again
And why she never left

But I am not a drinker
And you are not the one
Who walked away from what was made
Who turned your back on love

I am the only one
I am the only one
For you

He's out on the wire
Wondered when he fell
How he wasted what she gave
If he knew he'll never tell

And I am just a dreamer
But you are not a dream
Flesh and blood and skin and sky
And everything in between

I am the only one
I am the only one
For you

jbg