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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Succulent - original song

suc·cu·lent  
adj.
1. Full of juice or sap; juicy.
2. Botany Having thick, fleshy, water-storing leaves or stems.
3. Highly interesting or enjoyable; delectable: a succulent bit of gossip.
n. Botany
A succulent plant, such as a sedum or cactus.





 Hey.


Thanks to Michael Irish for playing the jazz chord featured in this song.  I've been living with this song and no way to make it sound like a brooding dirge until I heard him play an E maj7 one day during rehearsal.  Just goofing around.  And it all clicked.  There was such a primal beauty and savage overtone there which made all the lyrics I've been storing around for years finally come to life.


The song started swimming around my skull in 2008, which was a strange year.  There was a least a dozen or so of my friends either cheating on or being cheated on by their spouses or boyfriend/girlfriends. 

And I didn't understand it.  I've never been tempted to cheat.  Hell, let's face it.  I'm not a pretty face.  Nothing to look at.  Any good, panty-dropping qualities I may possess are buried deep, deep down under a host of other flaws.  Hence, temptation has never found its way to me.

But I've always wondered what it's like to be that person.  To have temptation in front of you.  To be found desirable and to forsake what you currently have in order to chase that pleasure. 

So, this song's told from the point of view of someone making that choice.  In order to cope with a world they don't understand or enjoy.

Here are the lyrics:

Another morning, by your side
As long as you are still and sleeping
there's a chance for peace we're keeping
-shower, leave -
Another grim parade.
Cars pressed together, headed -
Quotidian rituals we've dreaded
But we muster on
We never try to dream

Don't I deserve just a little bit of fun
I'm nowhere close to living
the way I wanted to
This world is breathing its last breath
and pleasure's the only currency that's as good as gold
(truth be told)
But I love you madly
I'll make you feel so right
Someday
This succulent lie, yeah
This succulent lie, yeah
This succulent lie
This succulent lie

Another message
I've sent to voice mail
The only crime that you've committed
is the fact that you've admitted
that you know me too well
Another mouth to feed
Leaving work for my appointment
Futility masking disappointment
Smile til it hurts...
I'm gonna have a son.


Don't I deserve just a little bit of fun
I'm nowhere close to living
the way I wanted to
This world is breathing its last breath
and pleasure's the only currency that's as good as gold
(truth be told)
But I love you madly
I'll make you feel so right
Someday
This succulent lie, yeah
This succulent lie, yeah
This succulent lie
This succulent lie

Another lobby
Another hotel key
Another pseudonym, cuz I'm hiding
Oh, yes, another woman in the bed I'm riding -
- shower, leave -
Another promise, that I won't keep
Someday, we'll run away and we'll be married
(the truth is like a secret long ago I've buried
which I can't speak...
I really don't know how)

Don't I deserve just a little bit of fun
I'm nowhere close to living
the way I wanted to
This world is breathing its last breath
and pleasure's the only currency that's as good as gold
(truth be told)
But I love you madly
I'll make you feel so cheap
Someday
This succulent lie, yeah
This succulent lie, yeah
This succulent lie
This succulent lie

Greg's Story - original song

Today is Greg Cohen's birthday.  I owe a lot of my artistic spirit and cultivation to him.  Without him, my twenties would have collapsed into a self-pitying mess.

Greg and I met while working together at the Queen Mary in 2001.  He cast me in a production at the Long Beach Playhouse, and 10 plays and 10 years together, we've become fast friends.

Greg's still one of the few people I know whom I aspire to be when I grow up.  He's managed to pull off the impossible trick of being grounded as a adult while remaining eccentric, creative, and kind.