An album in quarters (II)

Today I'm gonna go on to introduce to you the second quarter of the album Arts & Crafts and Frankensteins. As you can imagine, I have a listen to the songs I'm preparing to talk about before I start writing. With some of the songs, the ones that for some reason have fallen out of my usual sets and I barely play anymore, listening to the recording is a real trip, almost a shock, haha! Stuff that happened a lifetime ago, is what it feels like. That's what not playing a song for a couple of years will do to you!

Well, let's face the music, literally. The first song of today's post, and fourth in the album, is called Six Steps. Six Steps is one of my few "flower power" songs, as I'm usually too engrossed in my own stories to pay much mind to what's happening out there, (which is something I'm not too proud of, but oh well... I try to be good when I'm aware of my surroundings). But the day I heard about the Six Degrees theory I was mind-blown by the appeal of some kind of theoretical proof that we are all connected, and I just had to make a song about it. And here it is:

Only six steps, six step are enough/to get you in touch with anybody in this world/It's there on my Facebook, the power to prove/we're part of something, Humanity is something/ as a whole/An imaginary dotted line/which springs from me an will find whoever of you, wherever you are/Such a revelation/Maybe if everyone knew/Maybe if everyone was explained/proved in the eyes of the cynical ones/who justify everything by saying/"we're mere animals, human is evil"Only six steps away from everybody else, so would that help you not get angry with your boss/and not speak that word/which is only meant to hurt/to forget about those episodes I can't seem to let go/ Only six steps, I keep wondering what does that really stands for/Will it make a difference to those/I presume only care about themselves/ who sit back on their big fat chairs/so far high above consequence/Will I get to touch them in six steps/Will I find it doesn't really matter in the end/Like "we've known it all along, but honestly, who cares?"/Will I find that it's the answer to all the silent prayers?/Will it set us to knocking on everybody else's shell?/It's comfortable here in my sofa/there's the sweet sound of the rain/and the buzz of love in this house, my dearest step/If I could scatter some of this on everybody's fate/I'm sure that might help, how far can we all go in only six steps

The second one today would be "No desire". As I'm writing these words it dawns on me that I've gone full circle with this song. It was written in China, the first time I came here, almost 15 years ago. When I returned to Spain, I carried with me a timid intention of coming back again in the future, in a more serious way. ¡And here I am again! And I have written a lot more songs in this nearly five-year long stay. The song is the story of a romance that didn't make it to love... it happens all the time, but it still doesn't feel great when it happens to you, right? There you go:

He said goodnight, lighting my face with his/“what’s your name” smile/I had been alone for too long/And willing to make a little room in my heart/Then came the beer, and then came the wine/And then came sincerity and the he grew sad/The adventurer’s joy suddenly drowned by his past/‘Cause love doesn’t usually work/and he’s old enough to know/But I guess that he does not/But I guess that he does not/Still, I kept X-raying his shirt with my eyes/Still, I kept pouring the wine/And I guess it showed/I guess I made him feel my object of desire/cause he blocked my way and/put that sweet “kiss me” face/asked for being held and swore he’d behave/“And why should him?”, I thought/just let’s not mess with our hearts/And I swear I had no desire/But to turn upwards the corners of your mouth/And shorten the distance in your eyes/And make you feel that moment was right/But I can’t have a piece without wanting it all/And you can’t want a piece without having it all/For four night’s his flawless skin I owned/For four days I chased down his words/But they were not meant for me/Or anyone he knows/There’s just this big one ideal that doesn’t suit us/That’s what happens when you pretty much know/You just need to be alone/Still you try to mess with someone’s heart/Regardless that you said that you would not/So we said goodbye at the door of the bus/With an unworthy kiss and a distracted hug/“ We are sure to meet again”, I recall in this train that so conveniently takes me away/so that you can try to be nursed/by some smaller hands and sweeter lips/to suck out the mess that made a nest in you heart the day that you realized/that love and future don’t always walk hand in hand

The last one for today is "Getting On," also co-written with the photographer Ismael Tato. By "getting on" I mean "growing old", and not quite hating it. I mean, yeah, it's not great to feel it in your bones, but it's fun to accumulate information, if sometimes by painful means. As my friend Vincent Searfoss (who happens to have just released an album of instrumental banjo compositions that you shouldn't miss, called "Silver & Marrow") puts it:"Perhaps a certain agility of the mind replaces the agility of the limbs." Have a listen. And have a nice day. More to come.

So, the world doesn't belong to me anymore and／no, I can't sit on my feet for long／the careless years have gone／And time is either cherished or lost／It's just the way it goes／I still don't like saying it but deep down I know／Hurry, hurry, this can only get worse/Let's go back and laugh at those two/fresh and dumb and sweet kings of the world/Let's propose a toast to us/stripped of our ignorance but still pretty bold/Still learning how to make the most/Can't pretend time doesn't/ work its way to my every cell/and each breath means one less/The stunts keep getting harder to nail/and losses cut they'll weight/like all the stuff that's out of my hands/There's both advantage and pain/to the fact that I didn't know/what I know now, then/Hurry, hurry, this can only get worse/Plastic lips and idle eyelids won't do/Well, it sucks but it's true/Time's out to get you/And you gotta learn to live with what you can't undo/Hurry, hurry, this can only get worse