Can’t believe this song came out a year ago. For the new people here it’s called “American Dream Trajectory” and it’s the title track of my first album
We only had the first 1 min and 30 seconds of this song when we huddled up in Red Bank at Retromedia studios to start the album. I loved the song so much up until that point, but it still felt like I was leaving something on the table. The first half is all about the not-so-uniform fabric of the place I’m from. Where on the same street you’ll find starving art freaks, NYC commuters, hard working immigrant families, your dad’s cousin, youth sport helicopter parents, rehab graduates, and the kind tortured souls of the night. All somehow bound together by this low hum of commotion. A low hum that’s like a sonic lighthouse of sorts, or a working class sound bath, or maybe it’s like echolocation or some shit. Whatever software dolphins are using now. It’s that. It’s knowing you’re home! It’s comfort. I knew I needed to touch on the pain of leaving that comfort. From the perspective of the one doing the leaving, and also from the eyes of the people who love you enough to push you out the door. I also needed to give Jack a guitar solo that was so long he’d stop fking asking me for another guitar solo for at least five minutes. And the outro was born!
Whatever You Are outro (Live From The Stone Pony)
the speakers a blare
there’s salt in the air
they’re calling the cops
I’m trying to care
I’m raising my voice up at you
What’s a little more noise
on south street?
if they’re selling the block
it’s all gonna change
you’re losing your hair
it brings out your face
you’re striking out firing off
everything you think’s worth
holding on to
your brother is fine
I won’t let em drink
your dad’s gonna cry
your mom’s gonna drink
every single night until Sunday
I’ll remind them you’re not dead yet
I’ll watch the dogs
they’ll sleep on your bed
you’ll leave when it’s light
and I’ll be a wreck
but you’ll get a chance to be someone
that you didn’t grow up hating
Have you been gone a week?
It’s felt like a month
time’s a stubborn disease
that won’t die with the drugs
as I sit in my jeans
and I light one for us
on the shingles
I been sleeping on the roof
8 feet above our bed
as the freeway hums
holes in my head
like the whites of my eyes
at night it’s all red
it all goes red
I’ll come down
when I know how to
