"Heart for a Ride"

Full lyrics and listening links below (scroll down for story behind song). Buy cd and note cards of lyrics from "Store".

He had lines across his fingers
—eyes that kind of linger—
this man ain’t got no 9 to 5 job
Dressed in black and denim
with just a touch of venom
What kind of man wears bright blue shoes?
When he set his hook in
started reeling me in
he had me sittin’ with him knee to knee (ooh!)
He took my head for a spin
and my heart for a ride

He prowled across the stage,
set the hall a hummin’,
cast a gaze around at his prey
Voice like smoke and whiskey
—sweet and kind of frisky—
one taste went right to my head
He painted ballads like Woody,
gave Johnny his due
Think Mary Chapin just might trill out a purr (llll)
He took my head for a spin
and my heart for a ride

Now I know that I am kind of naïve
I could have sworn he was singin’ for me
As he turned for the door,
I started yellin’ for more
He oughta tattoo “caveat emptor”
He took my head for a spin
and my heart for a ride

Music—live performances—reach thoughts/emotions didn’t even know you had

Wonderful and awful at the same time: like falling in love

Write song about that experience—references to some of my music crushes

Music--especially live performance--can reach thoughts and emotions you didn't even know you were having. Someone sings on a song onstage and you feel like they are singing the song directly to you and about you. It can be wonderful and awful at the same time (like falling in love). I've experienced this phenomenon from the stage and the audience. It's a performer's job to seduce the audience, but sometimes audience members confuse the performance with reality. Of course this can go badly awry, but this song is a raucous send-up of the experience. (see blog post "Keep on Talking" for how giving piano player for this song, Chad Lawson, the direction to play like Bob Malone led to Bob coming to Charlotte to record a song with me).

The song was written using a workshop exercise developed by Ellis Paul and mined his performance of "Kick out the Lights (Johnny Cash)" for inspiration. Thanks, Ellis.