The Heights of North Lincoln Ave.

Another fine Sunday morning from the heights of North Lincoln Avenue... Coffee, the paper, Meet the Press... good times. More things happening with the record... album design finalized and in production... final corrections to mixes and mastering this week... I'm ready. Ready to have it in hand and get it out to people.

So... Today's song is Crystal. Crystal was written last year in an attempt to break out of writing songs about winter in Chicago... It's simple and straightforward, both lyrically and musically. The recording of it was also fairly straightforward, although there are two drum kits on it and a really nice layered vocal section, as well as a few little guitar tricks...

I especially enjoy the louder lead parts which Jay and I created on the fly at Gravity, saturated with effects, and then doubled at I.V... Manny further manipulated them in mixing and they sound like what Smashing Pumpkins was before compression and ego made them sound like a band of mosquitoes amplified by a megaphone.

I had initially envisioned this one with quiet choruses and a dramatic build... but Jay and Darren pushed it towards the upbeat... the choruses became all about the power-disco with a wonderful wurlitzer hook... the verses pulse with what I think is some of Jay's best bass playing on an PA tune.

Lyrically... I didn't fret much over these words... they came pretty easily and I really just wanted to capture the feeling of the first time you stop crying. Maybe not the last time, maybe it's not Til I Couldn't Cry where you can't cry anymore... but the first time you feel strong enough to take a breath, look at a situation more clearly... assess other's actions and motives and capabilities... recognize what it outside of your control. I like the sense of acceptance that runs through the choruses and the quiet, unsteady hope that starts to creep into the verses... I like... this song.

CRYSTAL Emptiness abounds The growing summer light I'm sinking into sounds of The city's rush to life Crystal dreams tend to break Crystal hearts, they can't be shaped I walked alone along the lake Until my tears had dried Forgetting all our sins As the blood is washed away Beneath we find new skin That comes back day by day By day Crystal dreams tend to break Crystal hearts, they can't be shaped I walked alone along the lake Until my tears had dried Crystal dreams tend to break Crystal hearts, they can't be shaped I walked alone along the lake Beneath the crystal stars we made And crystal nights and crystal days Are all that's left of what we gave Are all that's left, are all we saved And now my tears have dried Now my tears have dried

jbg