Do you remember us together
Growing up on Ohio plains?
Those days are over, and now we're older
But things don't really have to change
'96, no neighbor kids to reenact those summer games
So we made good with brotherhood and a two-man relay race
Not twins but close with hand-me-down clothes and the bowl cuts Mother gave
Like blackberries that stained our jeans, those memories never fade
Public pools and nighttime lulls mixed with the smell right after rain
And that lightning bug emotion that I still can never name
Backyard camping, telling ghost stories to keep ourselves awake
We begged on grass-stained knees, "please Summer, stay another day."
Do you remember us together, growing up on Ohio plains?
Those days are over, now we're older, but things don't ever have to change
That lightning bug emotion can still come another way
Memories give more meaning to who we are today
Those are the lyrics to one of the newer Crazy Old Maurice* songs, called Brotherhood. It was interesting to write it, because... well, okay, so, it was interesting for a couple of reasons. For one thing, it was interesting because we wrote it together. Writing lyrics with multiple people can be tricky, because you won't always agree with another person's idea of where the song is going. I've always felt a little strongly about this, because when I've been in bands I've always been the singer, and I feel weird about the idea of singing something that isn't the idea I wanted to convey. So it's a bit tricksy to take the ideas flowing around in three heads and try to mix them together into one cohesive idea. So, it was an interesting experience to write this from a technical perspective.
It was also interesting, however, because the songs that I've been writing lately have been more story-driven, and, at least at their surface level (which is, at this point, the only level I've really read them at), fictional. We've got a song about a Death Row inmate, we've got a song about a ship-wrecked sailor, we've got a song about a man who lost his wife and daughter, etc. None of these things have I personally experienced (again, maybe if you dig deeper into them there's something autobiographical there, but I haven't [actually, you could argue that there are strong autobiographical elements in Devil on the Road, but that's not really relevant to our present purpose]).
This song, however, as you can more-or-less plainly see, is about my brother. Well, strictly speaking it's about our brothers (the implied " we" being Crazy Old Maurice), but when I sing it I think about my brother, obviously. I haven't written a song about my life in a while.
I used to do that all the time, actually. Back in the day, that's all I wrote about. In high-school, I wrote really, really craptastic songs about girls and whatnot. After high-school, I expanded that somewhat to the point that I wrote about other things, such as family (but still mostly about girls). After my mission I expanded it further to the point that I wrote about God and faith and sin and redemption as well as family and life and girls. The connection, though, was always that I was writing about what I was thinking about.
Lately I've gotten away from that, and started writing stories in songs. I don't really know why I've been doing that. And, I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a bad thing that I'm writing fictional songs; not at all. I like them, and they allow me to explore ideas, feelings, experiences that I don't otherwise get exposed to.
At the same time, though, one of the reasons that I fell in love with music was that it allowed me to share what I was thinking and feeling in a way that makes it resonate within me and those that hear it. I don't think I need to go into a discussion on why music is powerful; you probably already understand that. Suffice it to say, I wrote songs because it was a way to talk to a friend when there wasn't a friend at hand.
So, maybe, we can surmise that if I'm not using music that way anymore, that must mean that I don't need it like that right now. Something else must be filling that niche in my life. So, either the things going on in my life don't require venting to a friend, or I've got enough friends around to talk to that I don't need to vent to music.
I think I'll go with the second one. I mean, a lot's going on in life right now, it seems like, so I don't think it can be the first one. I like the second one better.
Now, this doesn't necessarily mean that I'll never need music to vent to again. I might need it again one day, perhaps when I don't have quite as many friends who are easily accessible. But if this is a reflection of the fact that things are actually pretty good right now, well, that's just fine too.
*Did you know I was in a band? It's true! We're called Crazy Old Maurice, and you can check us out on Facebook to hear our music and whatnot. The last show that we did was the BYU Battle of the Bands (which we won on the full-set stage, thank you very much), and we have another show lined up for the end of January. Cool times!
