I’ve mentioned the band, The Get-Up, of which I am a 4th. It is time to take up our annual, weekend-long residency for the 9th time (2nd at it’s current location – The Spring House at Fox Haven Learning Center). We will hone our originals – which include some of our individually composed efforts like Get-Up (David Husted),Down Too (Bill O’Driscoll), Ben Franklin’s Grave (Alan Schwartz), Set You Straight ([Yours Truly]) and also more collaborative efforts like We’re Getting Older, Trusting Soul, Color You In & Same Old Lines. (I provided links – green text – as available.) We throw in some covers: Please Please Me (The Beatles), Begin the Begin (R.E.M.) & (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding (Nick Lowe’s composition, but we mimic, somewhat, the Elvis Costello version). We plan to work on a few new ones this year: Life During Wartime (Talking Heads), I Want You to Want Me (Cheap Trick) & Heroes (David Bowie). The birds and squirrels to whom we have played have made no formal complaints.

As for my solo work, I have 3 tracks in varying degrees of sketchiness running around in my brain & vying to be the next one on which I work. Working titles are: Saving Our Lives (which I posted the lyrical idea for in my Reasoned Writing post) & which I’m thinking of as a bit of a sweeping, almost-progressive track a la Genesis’ “Your Own Special Way” or Caravan’s “The Show of Our Lives”, All My Flaws (blues feel), and the newest idea, Working the System (thinking funk – ooh, that would be a good title for a song or an album).

I am planning to have 13 “personal” demos before I start work on the “final” versions. Currently I have 8 complete – available for listening at https://soundcloud.com/getupbass/sets/ed-bejzak-demos.

I think I’ll work on Saving Our Lives next. Here’s an approximation of what I’m hearing in my head (vocal only) with the initial lyrics below:

Saving Our Lives

I can’t save your soul
I can only save your place
And that just may be
My saving grace

Who will come to the rescue
be our hero
Saving our lives

When we worry about
saving face
When we worry about
Saving time

If we’re saving the living for later
What’s the quality of life

Okay, it’s more than take two, but I’m a sucker for a play on words/phrases. It is time to put “What Say You” away for a while.

This morning, using the bass & drum from the previous attempt, I set out to redo the vocals with additional lyrics and a bit less staccato (which my daughter noted that I seem to like – perhaps a hint).

There is a bit of silliness at tune’s end, but I feel it is a solid demo.

Celebrated a birthday, mine – in fact, this week which brought my first ukulele and a yodeling pickle – at least one of which will be featured in an upcoming song.

Here’s the What Say You demo:

-Eddie Wan