I’ve always loved that line from Brian Hall‘s It must be cold outside. You’ve heard of Brian Hall right? No? Well that’s a damned shame! Imagine if Bob Dylan was never discovered by the mainstream and he was just some ordinary guy living in a small southern town somewhere, giving away his recordings to friends. Well that’s Brian Hall. Amazing songwriter. Amazing guy. Check out my fan page and prepare to be blown away.
I often wonder what Brian is up to these days. I hear he’s got a day job of some sort, and it’s been a long while since I’ve heard a new recording, and much longer still since I’ve had the great privilege to see him perform. I’m impressed with how productive the guy has been over the years though, keeping the creative juices flowing despite the grind of daily life. Myself, I’m struggling at the moment to keep the mojo flowing. I’m more or less settled in now after the big move to New Mexico, but most of my time is spent doing fruitless job searches, studying algebra in preparation for the GRE, and doing one chore or another. While I still have plenty of time to write and delve into music, I’m just not making it happen. My inner flame is dim and flickering, but I’ve been in this place many, many times, and I know what to do.
In that spirit, I finished setting up my new studio today and played through It must be cold outside as a sound check. I’ll share it below, but first, here’s a little gem about the song from Brian’s website:
I’m surprised I didn’t write this song earlier. Bruce Springsteen is really a neat and captivating story song writer and I was thinking of him a bit as I wrote this. I remember really looking at the sky and skyline of Altavista my last day at Klopman Mills. My mother and father worked at Klopman before me. I was crossing the bridge going home. It was almost a violet morning sky just minutes after 7 am. The most vivid colors coming with the Lane Company in the foreground, where my grandfather had put in around 45 years. It was a heavy and moving experience but I wanted it to be. I wanted to get all I could out of it because the reason I was leaving the factory was for music, my favorite thing then and my favorite thing now. This song happened very quickly and I took out a few detailed lines that meant a lot to me but I felt the song flowed better without them. I almost called this song Nightshift.
Oh, Bob. That was just wonderful. I listened to three songs on the fan page before trying yours and I’ve had a lump in my throat now for most of that time. Thank you, really thank you.
My inner flame is dim and flickering, but I’ve been in this place many, many times, and I know what to do.
I have been thinking some variation of this sentence for about the past two months. I hope you get out of this place soon, and I’ll be cheering for you in the process.
Many thanks Kim. Flame on!