Songs show up for me in different ways - sometimes it’s words and I set them to a tune later, sometimes it’s a melody that needs lyrics.  In the case of this tune, the idea for the song hit me at work and marinated for a day before I sat down with the guitar after work one night and pulled it all out at the same time. It’s a bit of a departure for me, in that the lyrics are much less literal than my usual style. In reading them back, I kept stopping to rethink them because they didn’t actually make literal sense….but I found, in the end, that the right words were there already.

A song like this, I find super tricky to call “done,” just because I have such feelings of uncertainty about it.  When the lyrics seem so surreal to me, so decoupled from my usual direct, literal approach to lyrics…I’m never sure that they quite make sense or convey what I convey. In this case, I had to listen to it over and over for a few times…and eventually, I felt like the mood, the feeling, was there, even if the words weren’t as straightforward as I generally like my lyrics.  In addition, I revamped the melody about six times, trying to keep musical phrases I enjoyed, while also axing bits that were too repetitive.  So here we are.

The lyrics are below, and feedback is welcome as always at TariRocks at gmail dot com.

Lost my way in an alley in Chicago
Chasing moonlight spilling off the lake
Siren song of city streets
Crowded trains of empty seats
And sleep buildings keeping me awake.

Can’t remember just why I was looking
Or what it was that I was looking for
What secrets was I seeking
Or were my bones just creaking
Tired of all the roads I’d walked before

Where the street signs don’t go
Places tour guides never know
The dark is just as bright
As the sparkling city lights
That will someday lead me home.
That will someday lead me home.

Fell off the map right on the sidewalk
Trying to get my feet on solid ground
Truth is I don’t mind
I’d rather fall behind
Than spend my whole life flailing all around

I’m not sure I ever wanted safety
There’s times that safety surely does appeal
The sharp edge of my reasons
Blinks through all the seasons
And I’m standing on the brink of something real

Where the street signs don’t go
Places tour guides never know
The dark is just as bright
As the sparkling city lights
That will someday lead me home.
That will someday lead me home.
That will someday lead me home.