Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Something Different: Invocation

About a year ago, I released my CD, Hats and Rabbits, which I announced here, and the links to buy it have been up on the right, ever since.  Some of you have bought the CD or downloaded it, and I greatly appreciate it.

In the midst of my responsibilities and duties, progress is slow in the area of actually promoting my work. Finally, I have gotten around to putting my songs in a format through which I can share them. I thought I would do two things, today: 1) Share a song from the CD with you, along with a short explication and, 2) offer it for free, if you should like it, as a humble thank-you for always coming back to this dive bar of a blog.

You know, I’m caught in this…place. I hate show-biz and wannabe stars. (I even spend breaks on band gigs in my car or with a friend or my wife instead of schmoozing, like a proper rock star.) Music is just another way for me to express myself. Expressing myself is what drives me, daily. I know I’m not going to be a star and I am not looking for anyone to tell me what a musical wonder I am -- I just want to share this as another blog post, if a musical one. If you decide to get the CD, that’s great, but I can tell you there is no hope of it making me rich. My payment is that people listen. That’s enough.

Anyway, here is the opening track, “Invocation.”  I actually wrote it last, with the intent of coming up with an “opening song” with a bit of a punch; I tend to write more on the laid-back side. Of course, I drew from my literary background and thought: “Cool -- I’ll do, like, an ‘invocation to the muse’ a la the old epic poets; sort of ask the muses for help. “ So, I wrote “Invocation.”

The song became a call for help in writing my music, but it is also a bit of a self-analysis and self-questioning. It asks if the “great ones” knew just what they were doing or if they just felt around in the dark like I tend to do, until they found their niche.  It questions the nature of manhood, too; I know it is easy to “puff it up and swagger around” but the real test if what we men (or any of us) do when a defining challenge really presents itself. (Man, I have seen so many guys fall apart at those points.)

In the end, though, I think the song opens with the most honest line on the album: “Between you and me, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.” I’ve always been more of an explorer than a traditional learner (ask my poor teachers from kindergarten through the end…).

Just hit the orange play button to listen. If you like it, please feel free to download it by clicking the button on the right…

I do hope you like it. I'll share a few more from time to time; they're all quite different...


3 comments:

  1. Amusing timing: this song popped up on my iPod as I was driving around tonight...

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  2. Cool! Well...at least, for me... I'm flattered you have it on there, Jeff. Thanks!

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  3. The iPod was set to shuffle, but it was the right song at the right time. I was angrily driving back to Target to return a printer that refused to work, thus wasting three hours of my day. Your song mellowed me out!

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