Well, this is different.

I first wrote and recorded “Only Trying to Say What Comes to Me,” this week last year and knew I had a pretty good song when I wrote it. Was one of those that took about 25 minutes to completely finish, music and all. One of those you don’t have to work at really at all.

The version I put on my full-length album is pretty much the exact same as the original recording, which you can listen to here.

So, it was kind of difficult to try and rewrite this thing. What direction do I go? I tried blues and I tried a waltz and I tried starting with the repeating line.

None of that worked. So I just rewrote the song completely.

Now, I’m not sure you can rewrite a song if you use all the same words. I bet, though, that every folk musician from Woody Guthrie on down would probably disagree, but also wouldn’t want to let out their secret.

Anyway.

The music is completely different. Sounds like a a pop tune from a Romantic Comedy movie or something. And the words, while sort of retaining some similarity to the original, really end up changing the entire direction of what the song can be about. Or is about. Or should be about.

One of the great things about the original recording is that it has a bunch of different meanings. Anyone could think anything about it.

I knew what I wrote it about (sort of) when I wrote it. But, of course, after I sang it a few times and recorded it I realized it was about 4 or 5 completely different things.

This new version I’m not sure has that kind of depth. I guess I don’t really know, though, since I just redid it last night and really only listened to it a couple times. It’s more or less a love song now. Or that’s how I see it. It’s someone for someone else and that’s it. I think.

The original version wasn’t that.

Anyway. Have fun listening. Let me know what you think and come back tomorrow to hear the original recording.

Okay, here’s the new version of the song from this week last year. I cut out a lot of the excess that was getting in the way. I think that’s what was always wrong with this song to me. Too many words. So I chopped em right out. What’s left is a beginning to something else.

The original version (which you can listen to here) was really about 5 or 6 different songs anyway. Kinda a collection of starts and finishes to a bunch of different tunes. That’s probably why I couldn’t ever make it into one whole song.

So this is how it ended up. If anyone wants to take it and finish it off, go for it. I don’t think I’ve got any more to put into this one. The music and melody just kinda turned into what all my other songs are starting to sound like anyway.

And don’t forget to come out to Cafe Mustache tonight for the show I’m playing. Al Scorch‘ll be there shoutin’ and hollerin’. Music starts at 7:30pm and goes until 10:30pm. It’s absolutely free.

No better way to get warm on a cold cold night than a hot cup of coffee.

See ya there.