Ain’t nuffin’ going on but the rent these days, nose to the grindstone in all areas of my stupid life. I was painting my ass off at the first of the week down at the beach while Grace and Nathan hung out at the pool. I ain’t begrudgin’m though, they’ve worked hard with hardly a break. Nathan is just getting out of 6th grade and Grace never getting much of a break at all because I’m always running around like my hair’s on fire.
But yesterday was a break for me and I surely did need it. Without a babysitter or a place for Nathan to hang nearby me I decided to take the day off. I looked at the weather forecast (high of 98) and say “uh…nah…ain’t doing it”. There was tons to do though having not been home for a few days. I had to water my 30 or so Japanese maples #1, then I had to spray them for early signs of Japanese beetles, go to the dump, wash towels from the beach, go get paid for aforementioned work, go look for a belt for my lawn mower, and do all of this while also saving energy for the evening’s festivities of recording a new song and then going to see my buddy Dan playing with Will Hoge down at the Pour House.
So I get to the studio (Jack’s house) and the song that won’t leave me alone for the past few days is heavy on my mind. I'm constantly switching lines and verses right up to the time that I sing them. (Engineer) Jonathan shows up from the back door and no sooner than he says “Hey man!” a little puppy scurries under his feet. “What the hell is that thing!?” I blurt.
“This is Jack’s new puppy”, a real sweetie, but a ball of fire named Semmi. So for the next couple of hours I’m trying to lay down a rhythm track with 2 dogs fighting underneath, Pilate, Jack's older dog and this thing, not to mention the fact that I’m a REALLY sucky guitar player. I mean, I can carry my own with about 30 tries* but I ain’t no one-take wonder with the thing like I am drums (proven again last night).
We get on with it and actually get something going. I get a track down with the loop, then go sing it and then go play drums. Jack comes in from work right on time and grabs his Les Paul bass he had me pick up in Nashville for him about a dozen years ago and starts to channel McCartney. It’s a song called “Feel right now”. The melody haunted me until I finally put pen to paper and made sense of it all.
It’s about what else?...sex. Mostly about how nothing else matters during that time no matter how stressed you are and about how you should appreciate every moment that you feel like that. Everybody really got into the groove of it and sometimes I need that for a little confidence boost, but by the end of the night that haunting melody in my head was satisfied and beginning to not only leave me alone for a while but thank me.
“Doh!” it’s 10:30! Don’t Will and Dan and ‘em start at 10:30? We run out the door and sure enough they’re rockin’ the house when we get there. Every time I see Will I think about how great his hooks are and beyond that even how great his voice is. It’s a wonder to me why he hasn’t made it famous’er’n shit. Oh wait! I know why! Because he
doesn’t suck! He keeps fighting the good fight though like we all do and keep loving the moments we have on stage.
“Nothing matters any more than the way we feel right now” - “Feel right now”
*I’m particularly proud of the 7 guitar solos I did on my second record.
