Waiting

Usually, it takes me just this side of forever to write the lyric for a song. "Waiting" is an exception. It's one of those rare songs, in my case, that wrote itself in about 15 minutes and inspires me to believe in the actual existence of muses. Before you write to inform me, "Yes, I know. Waiting for Godot is written by an Irishman." And I suppose the line could have gone, "And the Irish always wait, maybe waiting for Godot." But for some reason an image of Parisians sitting about in cafes, sipping expresso, and being fashionably existential popped into mind. And when a muse cooperates that easily, I ain't one to second guess. Besides, "Waiting for Camus" just doesn't have the same something to it.

The intro to the song is done on my Maybell in D turning, I think, with Ernie Martinez rubbing out some chords on his steel. The clock you hear belonged to my grandfather. On this track I use Everett's "Everett" guitar, stereo mic. Things start to get interesting when Sean and Julia come in on the string interlude that Sean wrote. Julia, Scott Bigelow, Jennifer Comeau, and I do a four-part harmony behind the two final verses. Also, John Magnie plays his accordion. Steve is shaking a string-full of brass keys for the "jingle bells". I play a high-strung guitar (a guitar with only E and B strings) on the final verses.

That's about it, except for the fact that "Waiting" was originally to be part of a trilogy. Prior to "Waiting" (which is set at 3 o'clock in the morning) was supposed to be another song, "Stumbling After Midnight" (which is set in a Waffle House at 2 o'clock in the morning). "Bull Gator Blues" (which makes reference to 4 o'clock in the morning) was to complete the trilogy. But I was never satisfied with the tracks we set down for "Stumbling", especially my own parts. If I'm lucky enough to do a second CD, you can expect "Stumbling" to be on it. I just need to fish out the right old jazz players and grow a voice capable of doing justice to the lyric.