I finished today’s song last night. I started it a while back. I’m not sure when. I’ve got a pile of half finished, or half started songs and lines and choruses and verses all jumbled up. I was working on something else, but it wasn’t going where I wanted it to go.

It was going nowhere.

So I pulled out the stack and this one was on top.

Here’s what was there already:

(I ain’t trying to get down on you [x2]
I’m just trying Mama to understand
what you need from a loving man)

I’ll be leaving soon on the morning train
I’ll be heading out and I won’t be back around again

When you hear that whistle blowing loud
Means I’ve left and gone

The parentheses around that first verse means I threw it out when I first wrote this. So I didn’t even bother with that last night.

The music kinda fell into place. The other song I was working on was in D with the capo at 3, so I was already there. And it was in 3/4 time. So I stuck with that. Except, I started “The Morning Train” with a minor 6th and changed it into the key of D-sharp. Oh well.

When I first wrote this I bet it was in some sort of blues style. Probably had a real nice lick. I don’t remember, though.

It’s kind of a plodding song, but I think it gets the point across.

I also wrote a second song today that I finished tonight (before this one), but you’ll have to wait until Monday for that. It’s a doozy.

And, remember, I’m playing a the Elbo Room this Saturday, 11/6, as part of the Chicago Root Collective Fall Festival. My set goes from 9pm-9:15pm, or so. I’m playing in the upstairs lounge area. I’ll have plenty of CDs on hand, so come out and get one while I still have copies.

Also, don’t forget to vote for the Barehand Jugband in the Chicago Blues and Bluegrass Festival “Last Banjo Standing” contest.

Just click here to vote. We need some help…we’re currently in 10th place.

Here’s a song that I started writing yesterday afternoon after a long car-trip in the howling, building wind. Then I set it down. Slept through the big midwestern storm to end all storms (was it anything at all?). And early this morning I woke up and finished it off and recorded it. You can kinda hear the pre-dawn in my voice.

As it usually happens, when the weather starts turning my songs start turning. Start getting colder. More blue in the lips. Frigid.

I wrote a bunch of cold-weather songs at the beginning of last winter. “Out in the Cold Cold Wind,” “Unworried Mind,” “Mister Mayor Says (I’m guided by the love of gold),” to name a few. A couple of those made it on my “It’s Chicago!” album, that I’m sure everyone has, but, if not, you can get it at CDBaby or iTunes.

This song, today, is played in standard, 6-string guitar tuning. It’s finger-picked. It uses bar-chords. The music was a mistake really. No capos were used. I picked out the song and then started writing the words. I wasn’t even trying to write a song. It just popped out.

I have a pretty good idea what this is about. What do you think?