“You know i could never be alone”
I love singing. I love singing as much as anything. I love that I’m able to sing regularly and how it forces me to really listen to music and think about what the next song to sing is. My music teacher, Mariano, is so cool. He just learns whatever songs I throw at him on the piano and lets me belt them out.
Last week, I think I was punching out of my weight class with Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle”. I just couldn’t get through it like I thought I would be able to (as I was singing to myself all day). Mariano kind of reeled me in and suggested I had the voice for Mick Jagger and Dylan songs. We started working on “Dead Flowers”, and I remembered how much I love that song and how I have the lyrics memorized.
Of course, I love singing for singings sake, but I’m always thinking about when it goes somewhere with an audience, like YouTube. I thought that I had already done a Stones song and two Dylan songs, so I wanted to have some diversity. But now, if another Stones song sounds good, I don’t care.
I got frustrated at my session last week, though, because I never got through any of the songs well enough to capture a good video. You know me, everything I do is performative, the attention-craving egomaniac that I am. I want to get back at “Dead Flowers” because I know it’s going to be good. Tonight I will not force any new songs and try to get better at the ones we are working on.
My mind consumes music at a rapid pace, and my attention span is very short. That being said, I do love a lot of The Band songs that Levon Helm would sing. The only time I’ve ever done karaoke, I did “The Weight” all drunk at a bar in my hometown. I had all of these moms and grandmoms rocking out and singing along, like some micro rock star. That’s a fond memory.
So, I’ve been listening to every version of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” I can find, by everyone from The Black Crowes, Richie Havens, and Joan Baez to the obvious Jerry Garcia. I feel pretty comfortable with it, and it’s such an amazing song.
So today, at 5:45… “Dead Flowers”, focus.”
