Make

Reverb 10 Prompt (from Gretchen Rubin): What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

The last thing I made was a song/video called Weary Hearts. It was back in September, and I used several of my toys to bring it to life. My toys are all on or around my green desk, the desk my wife made for me (as in built, with tools and stuff!) about ten years ago. We weren’t married at the time, but after she surprised me with the desk I started hearing wedding bells off in the distance. I mean, come on, she built me a desk! Anyway, my toys are my acoustic guitar, my eight-track recorder, my Mac, and an assortment of other instruments and doodads (tambourine, bass guitar, electric guitar, effects pedals, drum machine). For this project, I started by digging up a recording I made with a hand-held voice recorder while I was living in Mexico a few years ago. It was just a sketch of a song idea. All I had was a chord progression and a melody, so I quickly came up with some lyrics and then knocked out the guitar and vocal tracks in one or two takes. It sounded a bit empty, so I added some tambourine. I mixed the tracks, then dumped them onto my Mac for some quick editing. But the tune still sounded a little listless, so I threw in some drum loops from the GarageBand program. This gave the song a little more snap, but it didn’t feel quite there yet. I remembered a recording I had of Henry Miller reading from his book Black Spring (one of my all-time faves). At the end of the chapter “Third or Fourth Day of Spring”, Miller mentions Mexico during one of his poetic flurries. I liked the way Miller’s raspy Brooklynese meshed with the tune, so I pasted it into the mix. Finally, since I had Mexico on my mind, I put together a little slideshow of photos from my wife’s and my time there, used the song as a soundtrack, and uploaded the result to YouTube.

I have damn near a hundred song idea cassette tapes full of hours upon hours of material, and I’d love to make many, many more finished songs in the coming years. In fact, I intended to make another recording this past weekend, but got wrapped up in other engagements (like Reverb 10!). It takes me only about three or four hours to knock out a recording, but I typically only clear the time to do it once every couple of months. I also want to make a book, write several journal articles, blog regularly, and create a new business, so clearing the time for everything will be a challenge.

Go Beth, go catch your breath
Just slow things down a little bit
One day you’re gonna be okay
Just watch your worries float away
Like whispers on a breeze
Messages on stormy seas
Like memories of a dream
Nothing’s ever what it seems
Rest your weary heart

Wake up, my little sleepy head
You don’t wanna spend all day in bed
Get dressed, take a walk with me
We’ll watch the leaves fall from the trees
Like young hearts into love
A shooting star from high above
A tree onto the ground
And we’ll be there to hear the sound
And rest our weary hearts