Chapter 18: Descending on Los Angeles
February 2, 2010Henry Baum 1 Comment »Finally done with this song. Pleased with it – please listen. The story in the novel – World War III is over and the residence of the house in the L.A. hills finally decide to take a trip down south of Sunset Boulevard to see what remains. They’re mortified, of course, and feel guilty about surviving among so much devastation – while their corner of the world remains untouched.
We shopped down at the market
for all our needs
going out of our minds
We bought only the knowledge
that we were thieves
going out of our mindsWe saw the grass is greener
for those we grieve
going out of our minds…
This song is actually two songs and the second half gets more into where I was personally while I was writing the book. Soon, I’ll start working on TABOTD Volume II here. I’ve got to get my head together to do it, when the time’s right. It’ll be about my life in real time (fictionalized). And this song is more a reflection of that – A Year in a Day. While I was finishing up the book, I was out on my own after the dissolution of my marriage, raising my daughter as a single father, while taking lonely trips to the doctor where she informed me of the progress of my chronic illness. A rough year, every day felt like a year. In the book, the chapter is about the characters taking a day to look at the year-long destruction of the city. There are parallels with my own life falling apart and the end of the world in the novel.
I don’t know how I made it
But I’m here now for the ride
And I’ll start over with the weight of the world
Like a widower of my lifeSo I went to the doctor
And she told me that I might die
She told me my weakness is in my soul
But my body will survive
I said back, Yeah that’s all well and good
But my body doesn’t lie
She replied, It only tells you the truth
If you want it to be rightThat wasn’t the only thing going on
with me that year
There were women
And a girl who told me
I was far more than my fears
I was father to a world I could build
As my world burned away
If I started to believe in my dreams
And stopped believing in my fate.
Full lyrics here.
Where the Green Grows/A Year in a Day by theamericanbookofthedead
February 9th, 2010 at 1:15 am
Henry, a big waltzing sad song. I guess its a bit of therapy what with the words in the second half.
Again the guitars are monumental at the end and the intro acoustic is sweet and decieving.
Great job for the American book…. thanks for the download!!!
RW