This is one of my personal favorites. I always start out writing tunes with just an acoustic guitar. During recording, things happen, and the songs can go in strange directions. I’ve always felt like I was channeling my inner Crazy Horse when I recorded this tune, though coming back to it now, I suspect my years of listening to Pavement ended up coming into play more. Can’t go wrong either way, I suppose.

There’s a pleasant sort of dreaminess to this tune, a laid-back groove with some nice scratchy guitar for texture. After the many layers in last week’s song, you’ll find a little more openness here, a few more empty spaces, particularly in the “bridge” after the second chorus–four ringing chords followed by the tiniest of solos a la Neil Young, who I idolize. But never fear–there’s still the big sound near the end, breaking loose in the final chorus, then capped with a quiet refrain. Ah!

Lyrically, my neuroticism is on full display. All the elements of life that seemed so simple when we were young turn out to be not so simple. Our psyches wear with age, and we grow more anxious the more we absorb time’s accumulation. It builds upon us like barnacles on a floating whale. The props hold us up, they keep us going. In all this, it’s hard to know what’s been lost and what’s been gained. And yet, we keep on trying.

LYRICS:

Barnacles and Props

What’s the price for being better? I don’t know.
Do you have to drop the treasure in the moat?
I was watching as you neared the edge;
I followed through the air the gold you threw.
And when you left, I saw it sink and thought that maybe
I could be a little more like you.

Do you feel lighter or more lonely now,
Free from all the old props that you used to know?
I still seem to carry two or three
Barnacles of vice that cling to me.
And if I could dissolve the glue then maybe
I could be a little more like you.

When will it be my time to rise? I don’t know.
Break out from the weeds that clutter up the moat,
Break out on the scene a whole new me,
A whole new me that no one’s ever seen.
And if I could dissolve the glue then maybe
I could be a little more like you.

Break out on the scene a whole new me,
A whole new me that no one’s ever seen.
And when we meet, you’ll call me prince, and then I’ll know
I’ve become a little more like you.

To download this tune, right-click here and select “Save Link As.” For best results, apply headphones. Thanks for listening!

(Written, performed, and recorded by David Stahler Jr. All rights reserved.)