The Modern Age—A Rock Collection
(a form of Rock Opera)
An “opera” technically is where conversation is sung, along with songs maybe, and there is a story or a plot, and a denouement and all that, and so this is not an opera in that sense. But as a collection of songs, they express a snapshot, or a moment of observation and impression, in this very busy and fascinating era of the human condition, The Modern Age.
Certainly the universe has never seen such a “rock collection”. In “rock”, the genre, chords are mostly major and minor and progressions are simple and predictable. The band for this should include an electric guitar whose role it is to mock and mimic the singer, who’s clearly caught up in some sort of emotional issue, and begging to make a point. Perhaps the lead guitarist spends time on the stage, delivering his musical impression and rebuttal. (The bass player should be homeless and star-crossed at love and show a weakness for Bourbon, the drummer oblivious but steady, and yes, all the great rock bands had the keys back there somewhere, piano I mean.)
I thought these songs could fit together as a collection like this, and it took a long time to yank them from the ether, but here we go. In my wildest dreams I’d like to see somebody make a stage production of it. There are 5 songs from the ’90s album “This Elite Band”, 8 from 2002’s “Songs for the Modern Age”, and 9 from an unfinished album to be called “Images”. Though the last 9 need finishing, I’m turning loose the versions we have for the sake of this project. Actually finishing an album can take forever, and that’s a separate endeavor. And in the meantime I have written two more songs that could be added or used as alternates.
There are two acts of 11 songs, 50 or so minutes per “side”. There is me, telling the story of the collection, commenting on the songs, and introducing the next one. I’ve wondered if the narrator himself has a role to play, and perhaps that could be made operatic.
Intro
Briefly, the cast. There is “the kid”, in his 20s, kind, likable, intelligent, and coming of age with the realization that this “modern” age he is living in has complex and potentially overwhelming challenges. There is the co-star, “the muse”, older perhaps by half-a-generation or more. Wiser, informative. Evaluating, enlightening. Then there is the rest of the cast, “the cohorts”, the kid’s age and sharing the circumstance, albeit with different impressions and interpretations. One could decide who sings what, and many of the songs lend themselves to more than one singer.
In the recording I offered some suggestions of how such an “opera” could be presented, and pointed out that this is not in my job description as the songwriter. But I thought I’d help out. So I recommended a cityscape as the setting for the first set of eleven songs. Neon lights. Signs. The street. A street lamp. Can you see all the symbolism? For Act 2, the cast turns archetypal, with simple stage props and impressionistic style, or even a slide show.
I didn’t attempt an overture, where the songs are sampled musically. But all of these songs have “identifiers”, beats or feels that capture the musical identity, and surely a musical director could assemble this.
So, in Act 1, the first song, the kid is awed, and mildly shaken perhaps, by a taste of struggle, be it his or that of others. He knows he needs to watch out. He wonders how he might get to where he’s going, or headed. And with the cityscape as the backdrop, and The Modern Age as the backdrop, the kid:
Act 1
Song 1: “Far As You Can See”
Wasn’t just a simple walking in the park
Next thing I knew it I was lost and in the dark
Don’t know how I got so blind
Guess I was looking for another way
Some other kind of game to play, and I had it in my mind
That life was so unkind.
Then a voice whispered in my ear
I had no business being there, and I didn’t need to see no more
Funny how it has to work some time
Like a poem where the words don’t rhyme
And you can’t be sure, what you went there for
(Bridge) Sometimes with your eyes wide open, it’s just too much to take
Hope that I don’t make some kind of big mistake
On a road that passes by this way
They come and go as if to say, “It’s not up to me.”
No surprises who’ll be on your side
For the hardest thing you ever tried to do or be
Or go as far as you can see.
The next song, the title track, “The Modern Age”, is a march, so it needs to be a very up song., perhaps with a lengthy intro. In fact, it probably should be a tad more upbeat and uptempo than the recording we did of it. This age we live in, with its demands and pressures, people are coping, and maybe a little exasperated. See the cohorts and their wild hearts, and the muse with his points to make?
Song 2: “The Modern Age”
The early morning sun, looks like it’s havin’ fun
Got all the sky to play, don’t need me anyway
The time to fly is near, nothing hap’nin’ here
You listen what I say, won’t matter anyway
(Muse) To understand the best you can, there is no plan, only arrows in the sand
Bad old days were here to stay, it’s just the way
Of arriving in The Modern Age
Arriving in The Modern Age
I need gasoline, but my pocket’s clean
Don’t have no place to stay, hope I get by OK
The road ahead goes straight, don’t have no time to wait
Just hope that I don’t stray, won’t matter any way
(Muse) Who’s to save us from the pantomime
When we don’t even want to know the lines
Just a pill to chase the blues away, will set the stage
For surviving in The Modern Age
For surviving in The Modern Age
There’s a sign ahead, remember what you said
About the time you lost, that came at such a cost
Now you look at one, who’s out there having fun
The time to play is now, won’t you see some how
(Muse) Will you make it to the promised land
If all the while crossing arrows in the sand
They’ll tell you when they turn the page, the price you paid
For living in The Modern Age
For living in The Modern Age
With the busy and enticing backdrop of The Modern Age, this next song raises this question: Is this some kind of real thing or not? There is a cynicism in this song brought by disappointment. The first verse, a wisened child. The second verse, a romance that turned up empty. The third, a questioning of all we think we know. Until that instant, all that’s needed, comes “to shed some light on this insanity”. The Modern Age is full of these moments, as we stumble over ourselves “on our way coming back to the sea”. (This a line from a concept out there that eventually humanity destroys itself and life returns to where it all started, in the sea. All of our learning and “progress”. Where is it taking us?). Real thing, or not?
Song 3: “Is This the Real Thing”
What it seems in the beginning to be on the side that’s winning
Turns up a loser every time
So if you’re waiting for that moment when
Everything goes good again, you better learn to look between the lines
When suddenly there’s nothing there
But an emptiness that fills the air
With one more to compare
(Refrain) Is this the real thing?
Can I believe what I’m seeing, when it’s here today, then gone away?
If this is the real thing
Then I’ll believe it ‘till the future brings
Us all around to the other way
(2) Got a feeling as the hours passed
What’s the reason all I asked, for this lonely promenade
From in your face I thought I’d seen
The kind of light I would’ve never dreamed
Would offer this charade
Just a cross between a star of mine
And whatever was on your mind
When I caught you on a line
(Instr. Refrain)
(3) An instant all that’s needed
For advice that goes unheeded
To shed some light on this insanity
Even walked for a while on down
A road we had simply found
On our way coming back to the sea
It isn’t always what you do
That sets you back just a step or two
When it all comes clear to you
(Refrain, only this time, “Believe it” ‘till the future brings…)
Say we lighten things up a smidge. This next song is a “modern age nursery rhyme”. Picture a dude running to somewhere, momentarily through this cityscape, similar to what we see running through our own lives, at malls or over town or whatever. Where to? And to what? For us in life, it all generally spins “another time around”, and years rip by. (On this recording it was just me and the bass player one time through). The muse sings this one:
Song 4: “Another Time Around”
With the night still runnin’ from the brake of day
And a street light shimmering the same old way
It’s the odd man out in the cold all night
With a line in doubt and a time too tight
There’s a hand in a pocket ‘round a roll of green
And a flippin’ old top says it can’t be seen
From the crow’s nest beacon it was hidin’ and seekin’
And a sail don’t know when a wind might blow
Kept on thinking it was out of time
Like a wrong new poem and a tired old rhyme
But your ears keep ringing from a fat chick singing
When the lights go out, on the twist and shout
Nighttime echoes from the break of day
Where an all new piper found a note to play
And they’re linin’ ‘em up for the trip up town
Where the wheel go spin another time around
The cohorts and the kid have seen enough idiot behavior to be able to recognize it and hopefully begin to distance themselves from it. In life we all know people, sooner and later, who have lost a grip on our version of sanity and give us the impression they are “so far gone”. Hopefully it raises the question, “Hey, maybe I’m the one that’s so far gone”…as to not even know it. Like my brother Buzz, the drummer, used to say, ‘It’s not knowing that’s worse’. (I continually accused him of being “so far gone”, jokingly of course, and that was his reply.)
Song 5: “So Far Gone”
A poor man knows he gets to have his way
He don’t really have a lot to say
And it ain’t like he knows what he’s been missin’
He didn’t even hear he wasn’t listenin’
‘Cause he’s so far gone by now
Need to ask you what you meant by that
Did you really think it went like that
And wasn’t it you who never asked why
Were you afraid that you would just cry
Because you’re so far gone by now
Never really mattered where the road had led
Nobody remembered what was really said
How they gonna hurt you with the fights you lose
When there’s always one more trick for you to use
Just another day come callin’
And once again the sky hasn’t fallen
You looked up and couldn’t believe your eyes
The only thing the night had told you was lies
‘Cause you’re so far gone by now
When you lost your way and you hadn’t a clue
The end of something came and then you knew
Every other game you get to pick and choose
But now there’s just a little too much for you to lose
Looking back it never seemed so bad
In the end it never seemed so sad
But did you ever get to where you were going
Did you ever figure out what you were doing
And you’re so far gone….by now
Next, we go into an establishment, a bar. There is a scene of a kid striking out, and complaining that “pretty girls must have trouble identifying the cool guys out there”, like him. He tries pleading and bleeding, and eventually concludes that he “should’ve stayed at home”, the original name of the song. A modern age theme? Why not. Unrequited attraction is a timeless thing. But “Hey Baby”, which opens our first album, is a completely cute and electric rock ballad, and I had to find a place for it. A cohort who should’ve stayed at home:
Song 6: “Hey Baby”
You know I don’t even know why I came here tonight
Guess I was hopin’ maybe something would turn out alright
I never needed to run into someone like you
And now I know that I shouldn’t do
What I’m about to do
(I said) Why oh why are you picking on little old me
You know the fool is the one that you don’t see
Why oh why, did you have to look so fine
If that was all the farther it went, the pleasure’s surely mine
(Refrain) Hey Baby, I’d do ya the best I can
But I know that pretty girls, can have a hard time pickin’ out a man
And I know all the losers, will keep from going home alone
It makes me feel like I should’ve stayed at home
Another drink or two is all I need to get me by
I’m gonna laugh but baby you may cry
But you won’t like it, it doesn’t matter what I say
You’re the, only, one who wants to be lonely
(Refrain)
Quickly we turn our attention to another cohort with ants in his pants. He’s quitting the place and headed out to the street literally and figuratively. And guess what, he finds things aren’t so easy, and maybe he needs to consider moving “home” somehow. You know, with mom. Not a good sign.
Song 7: “No Direction Home”
Looks like I stayed around here too long
Nobody I’ll be missing when I’m gone
The sun was setting on a hill last night
Knew the time was getting’ close to right
But when I jumped back on the road, the feeling wasn’t quite the same
Just another pair of feet put back on the street
By the flash of a picture frame
(Ref) Well, even though it’s just a mile away
It didn’t mean you’d make it there today
Turning back minutes passing time away
Looking for some new words to say
Ain’t no direction home, a long road that you walk alone
Like everyone that you’ve ever known
You know I might’ve missed a highway sign
But nobody wants to hear that same old line
But in a minute it was time to go
Already knew everything there was to know
When I came to I was sitting at the foot of another day
When a door flew open I was sitting there hopin’
That somebody could show me the way
(Refrain)
Open doors present a major challenge for some people. They have a big toolbox for the closed doors of their life, but opportunity and responsibility can be too much, especially for the society’s simpletons.
Now back to the establishment, either in the “back line” of it, or outside having a smoke, this song is sung by a girl. She’s among the “losers” of the modern age, and you may not realize how many people eke out an existence on the margins of society, living with fools and idiots and abusers and drug addicts. But she’s trying. She’s working the menial job. And unfortunately all that’s shining on her is…the light of the night (the original name of the song).
Song 8: “Lost Causes”
For so long I’ve waited in the back of this town
For a handful of happiness to turn me around
Through too many years of working too hard
Believing in luck, building bridges too far
(Ref 1) Seen my share of lost causes I know
Went to work in the dark with nothing to show
Puttin’ up a good fight, when all that’s shining is the light of the night
(2) The clock and the calendar are playing their game
Been around so many times, nobody they blame
Breaking backs and dreams when they can
And reminding the winners just where they stand
(Ref 2) Seen their share of lost causes I know
All dressed up and no place they go
To carry on their plight, when all that’s shining is the light of the night
(3) The lasting impression of all that I’ve seen
The tracks in the path, couldn’t see what they mean
Surrounded by fools I thought surely would be
A help of some kind, oh but alas, they were just like me
(Ref 3) Just sharing lost causes I know
Throwing seeds where nothing would grow
And knowing something ain’t right
When all that’s shined on me, was the light of the night
Yeah babe, whatever. This next guy is here to say hey, that’s life. Got to keep it real and light, and he’s hanging for as long as it’s fun. Keep optimistic, and if something ain’t happening, then move on. I mean, who slips down the right path anyway?
Song 9: “Movin’ On”
Lookin’ up to see the world all passin’ by
Maybe been missin’ out but baby don’t you cry
It’s complicated I know but don’t ask me why
Gotta get where you belong
Just hope it doesn’t take too long
But how can everybody else be wrong
‘Bout another little trip to try?
Light of day shinin’ through the blind again
Same old thing going through your mind again
Time to look for something to find again
It’s a great big world out there
And you can find it if you dare
If it’s just me then I don’t care
But it looks like it’s time again
(Refrain) Who slips down the right path anyway
Let the chips just fall out where they may
It’s come and gone and it’s time for me to be movin’ on
(2) You know the best things in life you get for free
Close your eyes just hard enough to see
The game is on you gotta play to win you see
Hey, don’t you know I was only here a while
You know hangin’ ’round not my style
But you could maybe go an extra mile
To get where you wanna be
A lucky penny never lost its shine
Another train always coming down the line
Get it right, there might not be a next time
Don’t wait on a twist of fate
What happens when it comes too late
Take it all in for heaven’s sake
‘Cause it ain’t like the sun won’t shine
(Refrain)
Then, at a critical juncture in the opera, the muse sings this tenth song, “Vanity and Heartache”. The modern age is a terribly vain era, and people do what they feel they need to do, to feel wanted and to be a part of it. Perhaps in their frustration they lose self-awareness, and promote or protect the self too much, losing touch with the rest, embarking on a solo act that leads nowhere, or more specifically, to nowhere. The muse, firmly:
Song 10: Vanity and Heartache
In the cold and the darkness of night
Sure that everything is gonna be alright
Searching moments through and through
Holding out as once before
In another try at asking why go through an open door
Then a valley gives way to a rise
As hidden hallows take their turns at throwing out the lies
Secret messages again to speak their piece
To no avail the stranger fights emotion to release
(Refrain) Vanity and heartache all I see
Taking on the shades of hard reality
Looking for the truth to finally set you free
(2) Again before us now at a familiar place in time
A paradise we gain a bit from rays of lost sunshine
Asking for not much more than we really need
A fertile place to plant the gift of sow and seed
Some happy some sad do the best they may
For them tomorrow waits for yet another day
Never knowin’ for sure what it all could really mean
To trip and fall so far back in the machine
(Refrain)
(Instrumental Stanza)
(3) Some they weep before the rights and wrongs of now
Explaining to themselves it all makes sense somehow
And so it goes like no one know how paupers could be king
If only they could find a way to let their soul to sing, but… (Refrain)
The first set closes out with the kid singing the song “Broken Promises”. In this song, the point is that there is nobody there but you, to make your dreams come true. Your dreams must be more than “shadows of the night”, where your plan relied on someone else, who “broke a promise” of what you thought you had coming. Be careful with what you think is promised you. And hey, you can always “be an angel, just by being there for the day” for someone else. In life some people are more helpful than others, but that’s not their problem, it’s yours.
Song 11: Broken Promises
Broken promises are only dreams someone’s taken away
But shadows of the night are often known to end up this way
When you believe in angels and never hear a single word they say
(Refrain) There’s nobody there but you
To make your dreams come true
And who’ll care whether life’s been fair or not to you?
You can climb a mountain even if it’s higher the harder you try
And make it to the top never knowin’ the reason why
But don’t lie awake and wonder
Just close your eyes and leave this world aside
(Refrain)
(Bridge) It can seem like nobody understands
When you’re there with your face in your hands
Broken promises. Don’t let nobody take them away
Your visions of the night are what you need to show you the way
And you could be an angel just by being there for the day
(Refrain)
Broken promises. Broken promises
ACT 2
Act 1 can be considered more of a group of songs about personal issues of what to do or be or where to want to get to. In the second half the focus is more on all of us as a society and a people. Again, how to present these is not (necessarily) in my job description, but I have a suggestion. How about something simple and effective on the stage, and imagery of appropriate modern age happenings as a backdrop. Perhaps at times like a slide show. And who sings what? Think archetypes for the second half. Same cast in new roles.
At a last minute, we recorded this next song, called “A Good Ship Aweigh”, a tune I had written but not felt like it would go with the collection. But it does. When I’d written the song it seemed so out of the blue and weird to me. It is entirely metaphorical, but while speaking so clearly as a simple sea-faring song from a different era. And then the Arab Spring goes bad and the refugee crisis hits, and the song has a lot more relevance.
When I played it for the band, which took a long time, they seemed to see promise and variety with it, and of course it is a Modern Age theme, metaphorically or literally. Without the “we’re loaded up, are you coming with us or not” gene, nothing gets done. But are you sure about this? The boat won’t sink, right? You have taken proper precautions, right? Anyway, I was certain our gal Sadie and her accordion would capture the feel and it did.
It seemed appropriate to open the second half of this project with it. It’s the first song I have ever written in 3-4 time, and those songs are always so soothing and easy on you. And the concept of a journey, and the optimism of starting over in a new world, whether you travel an ocean or to a new job or career, a “good ship” is the one you want to be weighing anchor, and everything else you need, on.
Song 12: “A Good Ship Aweigh”
Off in the land of far-away places
Where the sun and the skies gets lost on the way
With the hope tomorrow the look of our faces
We know in our hearts we can get there some way
So here we stand looking out at the water
As we wait for the boat that comes in with the tide
Then it’s off to wherever, for little that matters
As much as the others, who never have tried, oh
(Refrain) The lines of the past disappearin’
With the clang of the bell that we’re hearin’
No time to borrow today from tomorrow,
Alright and Okay
For The Good Ship Aweigh
(2) Gone from the sands of a land long forgotten
To the new and the wonder of never before,
Oh, they’ll welcome us there, as if once begotten
Coming home once again from the waves to the shore
Now it’s the sun that’s slowly been risin’
The sails, they catch at whatever goes by
To the rare and uncertain on past the horizon
Adventures aplenty that never run dry, Oh
(Refrain 2) the lines of the past disappearin’
With the clang of the bell that we’re hearin’
No time ya borrow today from tomorrow,
Alright and Okay
For The Good Ship Aweigh
And we’ll see what it is that we’ll see
On a Good Ship Aweigh
For you and for me.
It then dovetails nicely into a song about America, and it’s immigrant history. On many occasions, a ship, weighed down with the possessions and hopes of real people. The next song on this side is called “The Wild Western Fantasy”. I point out that we are talking about the modern age in America. A country of immigrants, of utopian values, and of rule by the people, for the people. A wild, Western, fantasy.
I wrote a third verse that is played at the end of this group of songs as reprise, and when you see the lyrics you’ll know why. I had wanted to replace the second verse of the recorded song, keeping it classic, instead of this stuff about “little girl, where’s your daddy gone”. But alas, this verse fits, when you look at the recent wars of The Modern Age, and the dads who never came home. (Originally the lyric was intended to be metaphorical.)
Song 13: The Wild Western Fantasy
Can anyone hear the whisper of the springtime through the winter
The night will bring the sunshine and the wind and rain of the cloudy times
They brave the ocean’s hungry tide for a better world they know inside
To hear the symphony play their song
And hope that somehow they can sing along
(Refrain) Say a prayer for America, the Old Utopians’ legacy
And we’ll take care of America
So we can dream in our Wild Western Fantasy
Little girl where’s your daddy gone?
You haven’t seen him in so long
You mommy’s tryin’, she’s really tryin’
But late at night I can hear her crying’
You brothers need him to come home too
To save him from those things he do
Tell him you need him home today
In a world where tomorrow was yesterday
(Refrain)
My grandfather was an immigrant who came over on a boat as a teenager from Italy with no relatives. He braved the ocean’s hungry tide. Would I have? A nation of immigrants with a major immigration problem.
The next song is also about a very old character in human history, the man. The man of the house or the hut or the teepee, he is a threatened entity in the modern age. He wants to know, do you hear what he has to say? He knows he “won’t go away, long as they make us this way.” I call this the caveman song.
Song 14: Hear What I Say
I came around when the world was a real small place
Seasons bring a new wind in my face
But I know I got my work to do
It’s never done between me and you
Lookin’ after my own
I see how the world has grown
(Refrain) Do they hear what I say?
I won’t go away, long as they make us this way.
A century’s scene, the loss of too much everyman
What’s any different about a year two grand?
Knights and armor are all gone
A castle looms in a hill beyond
Fools in stupid screens, modern age machines, do they… (Refrain)
I’ll be back again when the world is a real small place
All that matters you never can replace
You’ll see it my way again
And feel like you’ve found your only friend
Standin’ big and strong, you could see me all along
But could you…(Refrain)
The man of the house theme continues with the next song, with him and his mate, and a song called “My Woman.” Again archetypal. Guy and a gal. And a screaming guitar. Again, I make a mention in the recording of the lead electric guitar’s role in “Rock”, from a Rock song to a Rock Opera to the Rock Genre. It is the countermeasure to the singer and his simple power-type chords and its inherent take-home message nature. The guitar augments these impressions.
Song 15: My Woman
I can see her standing there
For the moment a twinge of hair hangs in her face
The air of charm and grace
Every where I go I know
She’s there with all the loving so
I keep on what I’m doin’
And she’s my woman
But words can be so hard
You’ve got to make them up where you are
(Refrain) My woman just smiles and it’s alright
My woman just likes it when I hold her tight
The days are hard and the nights are longer
Timeout still just for a song or two
I play to you
Love is cruel I hear ’em say
For anyone who doesn’t know the way you make me feel
Like I’m for real
How could I ever make you cry?
We can make it baby if we try
(Refrain)
Come on baby take a walk with me
There’s so much out there for us to be
(Refrain)
In the modern age, the man/woman unit remains most critical not just for their kids but for almost every level of society. Stable, loving people and their households represent the hope for humanity. There’s so much out there for them to be.
We shift gears now. The diversity of behaviors presented to us in the modern age reinforces what we know about proverbials: they don’t go away. This next song, called “Proverbs” is a good song for a muse-type character:
Song 16: “Proverbs”
They put the message in your head
And you found it all easy to believe
It was fun until the start you said
When the fool sees what he sees
In the dark cloud hiding what’s up ahead
In a forest without trees
(Refrain) Only half of what you saw was there
But keep looking anyway
There’s nothing in the street you’ll hear
That means just what they say
It had only been a year or two
But it seemed so much further down the line
And while there was so much to do
Never seemed to find the time
To catch up to what’s behind you
Some trick that would save you nine
(Refrain)
(Bridge) You need to hold it all in your hand
To know for sure where it stands
When everything was said and done
It had taken too long to learn to play
But rules were there for anyone
Who showed up here one day
Was it over before it had begun
By taking the easy way?
(Refrain)
So now we’re making suggestions on how to act, which is the nature of anything proverbial, to be instructive. We keep this theme to a degree into the next song, the one I call “the gospel song”. Gospel, of course, aims to be similarly instructive, helpful. Be true to thyne own self. Don’t play games, and let simple dreams slip away. Because eventually people will shake their heads and move on without you.
Song 17: “The Games We Play”
Whenever I have to hear your misfortune
And the troubles that have found you on your way
When the hard part of livin’ is all you’ve been given
I just have to turn myself away
These tears you cry I guess you don’t know why
They keep finding their way to your face
(Refrain) Oh, the games we play
The simple things we don’t say
Oh the games we play
The simple dreams we let slip away
It’s so hard to be holy, I sure know
It’s hard to get up Sunday morning and go
It’s hard to see how it could really be
That some life in this party will show
Just hangin’ out? Well, isn’t it about
Time you learned what you know
(Refrain)
So there’s only one thing left to say
Only one thing I might ask you to do
Is to know that you are your own shining star
And to that light you will be true
Shine on! Your light is strong
If you will just shine it for you
(Refrain)
Again I point out that it is not in my job description as the songwriter to design presentation, but for these past two songs these are obviously characters of wisdom and guidance—with an edge, maybe, strongly suggesting such simple things as, don’t lie to your self, work hard at life to make it right, and don’t blame anyone for anything. In the modern age, we’re getting dumber, right?
So for the next song, the response. Hey, I was just trying to have a little fun, and, well, I didn’t mean for anybody to get hurt. Etc. A song of disclaimers by the mildly guilty:
Song 18: “Can’t Possibly Be”
Well I never even meant to speak my mind
Tell me what’d I say that was so out of line
I always wanted just to get along
I don’t need to do nobody wrong
Yesterday I was the man of steel
Right now I couldn’t tell you what I feel
Somewhere deep inside I cry for you
But who could ever tell you what to do
Life goes on and on it seems
And no one knows what it really means
When some things just are meant to be
And they’re happening so mysteriously
Wasn’t my idea living hard like this
I don’t see a thing except the things I miss
Wake up now and see it gone away
No time for any old songs to play
Where was I when it was going down
What happened when I didn’t come around
I knew all along you see
It’s a world you can’t be taking so seriously
Just you watch me make it through another time
I just shake my head and see I’m right on time
For a while I was the last to know
But now I see it everywhere I go
Last in line is just another way
To see ourselves and the games we play
It’s time to listen carefully
To those things, you see, that can’t possibly be
And while on the subject of misbehavior, especially by stars and celebrities, seeing big people take the big fall finds a comfort zone in the pitiful minds of a society of gawkers. Athletes with PEDs. Stars and their addictions. Fast living and its consequences. The modern age propagates these through its grand affluence and extravagance, and people find themselves having to rebound, and “make it through another time”, etc.
This leads to another song about the stars of society who are entrusted with, and indeed rewarded by, “making the moment mean so much”. Oh, to be the one, bowing when the show is done. And hey, we know it took a lot of work to get to where you are, as “the man in the tune”, but keep it real, and stay in your moment. We’re counting on you, to be great right now. This is especially true with the modern explosion of live music. Performers can be kept on the straight and narrow by remembering that “it’s only for the sake of someone else”.
Song 19: “The Face of Someone Else”
I look up and what’s this I see
Up in the lights for all the world to see
Them looking at you now it’s your chance to be
The man in the tune again
And on your face I see that silly grin
It’s just a game and you know you’ll win
These stories that you tell
People you say you know so well
You make the moment mean so much
You make the moment mean so much, whoa
(Oh, Whoa)
((Refrain) Just to be the one
Bowing when the show is done
To be the man who re-invents himself
And hides behind the face of someone else
So what’s it gonna be this time
You laughed about it but now you’re cryin’
We can always tell how hard you’re tryin’
Just what is it you believe
Just who is it you deceive
Just make the moment mean so much
Just make the moment mean so much, whoa
(Oh, whoa, then Refrain)
(Last time through:) You are the man who re-invents himself
But it’s only for the sake of someone else
Real quick, some “man in the tune violations”: breaking the 4th wall (direct interaction with the audience), get the audience to sing the big lines of songs, or any sort of echo-job, collecting signs, preaching, dancing with the hair or the outfit, getting the crowd to clap (“put your hands in the air now”, etc.), crotch-grabbing, braggadocio. You get the picture. Do much of this, and I leave your show, a terrible terrible development for you.
Still, we look up to our heroes, forgive them best we can, and in some cases thank The Good Lord they have existed for our benefit. And from more public figures to the heroes in our homes and extended families, it has always taken a village to raise people. And yet this grand expanse still fails to rescue all troubled souls, and some dismay us by their actions, where they are looking out as if something to see, in the darkness itself, a something to be. A troubled youngster sings this:
Song 20: “Rescue Me”
When hours have faded to moments again
The lonely will find it so hard to pretend
That some same old story is reaching the end
Slidin’ on down to wherever it goes
To the answers that lie in the lowest of lows
In battles lost that nobody knows
Closing your eyes to shades of gray
When they wake up again to another today
(Refrain) I need somebody to rescue me
There’s something that I don’t see
And even if I can keep on tryin’
Will they make it in time?
The merry-go-‘round that keeps wondering by
A face in the mirror keeps wondering why
It goes around again in the back of your mind
Looking out as if something to see
In the darkness itself a something to be
Something that’s so far away from me
Waited forever and ever it seemed
To wake up from all that I dreamed
(Refrain)
With just two and a half songs left, the theme again attempts to “encourage” members of society to be the best they can be. In this song, we point out that, in the modern age, people are just not as refined and that’s all there is to it. Work harder at your self! Practice practice!. We need you to be more major as dudes of society. Men especially. And women mean to pick up the “slack”, but at what cost? We know this much: people got it in their mind, there’s that something they need and it’s so hard to find. (I have always thought this song should have been more up beat than we recorded it.)
Song 21: “Hard To Find”
There’s such a thing as one in a million we all know
‘Cause they tell us so
A cool cat comes and takes the show but then before too long
You know he’d come and gone
With better things to do he wonders on
Up against the big odds all along
Just making on his way up the street know what he would do
And he say, “Wouldn’t you?”
(Refrain): Dark skies and a flash of light
For a minute, doin’ it right
And the people got it in their mind
There’s that something they need and it’s so hard to find
A glass jaw and a shallow drink makes a man of you
You gonna make that do
No help from the old man now he don’t come around
And he was so profound
Maybe he won’t know no more
Don’t you see he’s heard it all before
Couldn’t help but take the money and run and don’t see at all
It’s such a long way to fall (Refrain)
A lady friend now to carry the load and it’s just fine with him
Is she gonna sink or swim?
She’s seen and heard lots of crazy things and had to wonder why
She wouldn’t give it a try
She’s got a heart of gold we know for sure
But don’t ask her what she’s crying for
It’s not hard to expect a lot from what it might mean
When she makes the scene
(Refrain)
Now as the opera winds down, this sort of last song is an important message: say goodbye to yesterday. For so many, the past haunts them, and the harder they try to escape it the more they slip, and some never get over what they need to. And yet the only thing that ever matters is the hope of tomorrow.
Song 22: “Say Goodbye to Yesterday”
Up and down and all around simple dreams so much abound
On their way to the lost and found, and maybe lost again
For so fast they run and so far they come in the shadow of the morning sun
Get an answer when it’s said and done on the other side of now and then
But there are times when it’s all a big lie
And the world brings a tear to your eye
But then Monday turns to Tuesday
Just like any day that goes on by
(Refrain) Say goodbye to yesterday
Comes a time when there’s nothing left to say
Just the lines of some old song
Could ya see it, or believe it
Had to be this way?
All the time the words that rhymed had a meaning you had hoped to find
And the moment didn’t seem to mind if it was true alright
You’d let me know if lettin’ go made it easier to say it ain’t so
When everything you didn’t need to know would get you through the night
No looking back, no hanging on
No more being where you don’t belong
No more waking in the middle of the night
No more being wrong instead of right
Say goodbye to yesterday
Comes a time when there’s nothing left to say
Just the lines of some old song
Couldn’t see it, or believe it
Had to be this way
I have felt strongly that American culture is the heart of the modern age and all its issues. We set the tone, and freedom is the reason we can. So it ends with this reprise of The Wild Western Fantasy. Remember, I had attempted to replace the second verse with this one, which of course is nonsense. So with this reprise, as American as possible. Pick them out:
Song last: “Wild Western Fantasy Reprise”
From giant leaps for all mankind
To the little steps from the chains that bind
We’ll climb the hills before us now
To find happiness the fates allow
We’re there for all the world to see
All it is that life can be
When people live to find their way
In Freedom’s hand
At work and play
(Refrain)
And that’s that. So, whether someone ever can put a work like this into stage production does not change its identity: a rock opera, er, rock collection, called “The Modern Age”. Thanks so much for your time.
Big Red
From “This Elite Band” (1996):
Hey Baby, The Face of Someone Else, My Woman, Wild Western Fantasy, Broken Promises,
From “Songs for The Modern Age (Y2K):
The Modern Age, Is This The Real Thing, Proverbs, Hard To Find, The Games We Play, Can’t Possibly Be, Hear What I Say, Rescue Me
From “Images”(under construction):
Another Time Around, So Far Gone, No Direction Home, Movin’ On, Say Goodbye To Yesterday, Far As You Can See, Lost Causes, Vanity and Heartache, A Good Ship Aweigh
Wild Western Fantasy Reprise (Opera only)
Some questions
**Overall, was it a fun project? Did you like the songs, and did any stick out?
**Can you see the cast, and can you see the project as a stage production?
**What about a “rock collection” as a form or rock opera?
**The narration was meant to describe the project, as if to sell it as an opera, or as a potential stage production. Does the narrator have a potential role, and could it be sung? Or just delivered convincingly? Someone else mentioned this to me and I never thought about it. To do it, that means the intro/out-tro parts would have to be more direct, like some of them are. Any comments?
Thanks so much for your time.
My e-mail is: farmdudes@earthlink.net.