next year

from time to time i return to a project – making commercial sounding demos for some of my songs. my sense is that the michael bublé’s of the world (or their handlers) understand more easily if it is not quirky. i’m good with quirky but i would also like to try my luck with the commercial people. then i heard an older woman with a stunning voice, like unreal, heavy, powerful – and i asked her if she would sing on one of the songs and she asked to hear it. it was a song called dead inside, about after break up and feeling like you are ruined with heartache. but one verse was a dealbreaker for her, it suggested that in the singer’s misery they wanted to make deal with the devil.
 
i’m filling my pen
 
with my own blood
 
lucifer give me a contract
 
she’s dead inside, she ain’t coming back
 
she told me she could not sing on it because she is a christian. i found that so confusing. firstly because it is one of many allegories of the singer declaring their pain in over the top surreal examples before in the last verse they realize leaving their ex alone is what’s really needed of them. i’m pretty sure what she meant was that to position herself as saying she would do something with the devil was anathema to her. even though it is only a song and she isn’t the one who wrote it and it is even sort of a joke that the singer is grasping at straws like the idea that a devil exists and could make them a deal.
 
but i have two brothers that are religious, you can’t convince people who talk that way about their relationship to religion that they can go outside the box. they need the box to stay a box. maybe it is like asking a former alcoholic to just try a little swig of your fine scotch. I found another singer but i’m still blown away by the older woman, she’s almost 70, not very common for someone to be that old and have such powerful vibrato. she also brings a lot of meaning to how she sings her words. a lot of people don’t tune into singing the meaning and just sing words like an instruction manual. she’s a pro. this isn’t a bad problem to have. maybe next year.

1 Comment


  1. I’m Catholic and that is a brilliant line! I speak from experience when I say you call it as it is there. I’m currently co-writing a similarly themed song with a colleague called “the Devil has your number.” This woman obviously has a limited understanding of her faith. Merry Christmas!

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