A new song: Cold Pizza and Coffee.
Last week was a bad one, in fact, maybe the worst for headaches in a long while and a painful reminder to me that my brain injury is not healed, not even close. But last night, after sleeping most of the day and downing two Imitrex, I finally started to feel better. I celebrated with a small glass of wine -- my first in darn near a week -- and went to work on a new song.
The idea for the song had entered my head a few days prior, I want to say Wednesday, but I'm not sure as my memory of the week is a soggy thing. Regardless, I remember pulling some cold pizza from the refrigerator and as I slapped it on the counter, I remembered a friend of mine telling me how much she liked cold pizza for breakfast. Then the line "cold pizza and coffee" percolated into my thoughts and seeing as how I felt very hung over (migraines have that effect) I started fancying myself a rocks tar who had partied too hard the night before and that somehow led to me thinking of the line "it was one of those mornings" which, of course isn't a line at all, but then I thought to myself, wait, maybe there's a song forming here and what if... sure... yup.... and I humbled (a combination of hum and mumble) to myself, "it was one of those mornings 'cause it was one of those nights."
Rock! Sadly, there was another migraine to get through, maybe two, I can't fully remember but, as I wrote at the start of this post, by Friday night I was feeling better. And it was then that I grabbed the new guitar I had just received in the mail and started plucking out chords and as I made progress I realized I was actually onto something. Hmmm, better grab The Maton (sing it brothers an sisters!) I thought, and not wanting to overdo the wine, I poured myself a cool glass of ice water and flopped on the couch and set to work. Stopping for dinner and possibly a brief snooze, I finally finished around 10:00 PM (see photo).
Today, I re-read my lyrics from the night before and polished them a bit more, fleshed out a middle 8 and fired up Pro Tools. A few hours later, I was done. To hear the demo, please use the player below be but forewarned: I'm singing and playing everything and I, um, suck!
(Lyrics are below.)
Cold Pizza and Coffee - DEMO2 by jeffshattuck
COLD PIZZA AND COFFEE
I’m standing in the kitchen feeling sorry for me
Sunlight screaming from the window
Closed my eyes then I heard her say, “Steve?”
And it was one of those mornings
‘Cause it was one of those nights
I had seen the warnings
But now I’ve seen the light
I dropped my pizza in my coffee
Mouth still open as I turned to see
Just who called my name out
She was a brunette about five foot 3
And it was one of those mornings
‘Cause it was one of those nights
I had seen the warnings
But now I’ve seen the light
And we said, “Hello”
In perfect unison
She said, “You know, you could pour me a cup
and by the way I had fun”
And then she said, “You know,
for me this is all new.”
I said, “I know, here’s your cup,
this is new for me, too.”
We got married in the sunshine
Flowers were blooming in lemon and lime
And cold pizza and coffee
Still takes us back to that moment in time
When it was one of those mornings
‘Cause it was one of those nights
I had seen the warnings
But now I’ve seen the light