"Doing alright"

A new song....

You might have noticed, some have pointed out, that I often start emails/texts etc with “I hope you’re doing alright?”…

Sometimes they come very quickly and sometimes they take a while. This one has been knocking around in the (largely empty) corridors of my mind for some time. Initially I had the music, or at least the riff that appears in the intro and chorus, for ages. I tried it in some of the songs that made it onto the new record but it never seemed to stick. I like it enough to keep looking for somewhere to put it and, maybe, I’ve found it…

Here’s the intro:

I didn’t have a subject or any lyrics until someone suggested I write a song about a mutual friend. Once I’ve decided what or who a song is about it gets a lot easier. This is about a pal of mine who has been working really hard while struggling with all the regular stuff; long hours, getting older, being away from family and then some other things, one of which is drinking. They recently managed to be sober for quite a while and although I don’t know how hard that really was, I can tell it was a lot.

It’s always a little delicate when I’m writing a song about an actual person but it’s nearly always someone I care about and if it isn’t then it’s not so delicate anyway (see the song Feel Good about the dodgy agent who still owes us loads of money). I’ve watched this person fairly close up and seen some highs and some lows but they never stop or come close to giving up which is the sort of fortitude I admire. When they’re great, they are great.

No doubt the song will change a lot before or if it ever gets close to a studio recording and it’s far from finished. The lyrics in the bridge are actually borrowed from another new song and I have to decide if I like them here more than the other one. There are a couple of ways I’ve been playing it. One is a slightly up beat version where I imagine the drums and guitars from Joni Mitchell’s ‘Big yellow taxi” but it started off as a more melancholy feeling Jason Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” type of thing and I can hear Henry doing loads of cool pedal steel or dobro over it (we had a go at it in soundcheck last Saturday and dobro sounded ace as did Maddy’s cello improv).

If you’re a paid subscriber you can take a listen to the first demo of this song over in the song player section (I’ll be putting more songs in there as we go). If you'd like a free trial hit the button below and you’ll get a weeks access so you can have a listen as well…

Here are the words so far, you have to imagine you’re at a gig and the person performing might have seen something in your expression, caught a certain look in your eye. They aren’t sure how to read the look but are hoping it’s good.

Oh and it’s way too long, this is often the case. I will shorten.

I don't want to stay

But I don't want to leave

Whatever my head says

My feet don't want to hear

The moon is on the rise

Candles are getting low

I'm wearing a thin disguise

And I think you know

Chorus

Sometimes I hit the bottle

Sometimes I hit my stride

Sometimes I take the easy way

Whatever way I find

I've got to hope that look

Thought I saw you took

Means I'm doing alright

doing alright doing alright right

doing alright doing alright right

doing alright doing alright

 verse 2

I don't want another drink

Don't want another smoke

Don't want anything

Think I'm loose enough

Leave me in the cold

I won't feel a thing

It's a modern feature

Costs a little more

Bridge

Somewhere long ago

We were far from here

We were making ends meet

We were living in the clear

in the clear

Someone got it wrong

Maybe it was me

It'll work for a while

it's bound to end in tears

End in tears

Some music

1 more chorus

Outro

Thanks for listening/reading,

Al