Listen to the Song:
This bluesy track was one of the more difficult to record, mainly because it employs four different rhythmic tempos. The original 2007 track featured a simple arrangement of only piano and bass by Ric Albano and drums by Ron Simasek. Later, a lead guitar by Erik Trabert was added along with some synthesized orchestration for the Imaginary Lines 33 version in 2009. In 2018, the song was overhauled with new vocals added by Albano as well as a second guitar By Bret Alexander, making this the only song on Nine Fine Lines to feature two guitarists. Finally, the song was turned over to mixing engineer Jake Albano who stripped out much of the excess orchestration and fined tuned the timing to make this final version the smoothest overall.
Lyrically, this storytelling song talks of a young romance gone awry due to differing priorities as well as unwise choices which ultimately lead to a tragic ending.
Musicians
Ric Albano – vocals, piano, bass
Erik Trabert – guitar
Bret Alexander – guitar
Ron Simasek – drums
Lyrics
Late on a Wednesday you made such a mistake
As you tipped-toed through the kitchen to find that I was awake
Then you spoke oh, so softly as you tried to explain where you had been
Where have you been?
“Off the side of the road beneath some solitary pine,
On this solitary hillside, logging solitary time”
You assured me that it was just a phase, for you were still young
And you sure were fun
We drifted together into this new grown-up world,
I’d played the cool, grown-up guy, you played the lewd, grown-up girl
But that play soon got redundant though not the worst thing that you would do,
The worst you’d do…
Was to devote your eminence to those derogatory “friends”,
With their derogatory means towards derogatory ends
And a consistent failure to ever grasp just where I was coming from
But you sure were fun
Soon you dried those postured tears
For the biggest bash that you may see all year
And you set aside all those things
Which may distract your focus from the feasting peers
But you can’t see how you confound this fool,
This faithful tool who is dedicated each day
So you proceed with the inane masquerade, and it all cascades
As the virtue washes away –
The virtue washes away
You’ve left no margin this day to keep the demons at bay
This day, the buffer’s in rapid decay, and soon descends a malaise
And you really need to get out, get out!
You launch some deaf appeals that you’ve got no wheels,
So you really feel the need to steal some
In drunk irritation, you lifted some keys,
Purged yourself of some fluid, grouped your way through the trees
And climbed in that pickup for one final, truncated joy ride –
Enjoy the ride!
As you flew off the road towards large, stationary rocks,
Impending your future is stationary in a box
Had you ever conceived of such atonement for the way your life was run?
But you sure were fun, you sure were fun
© 2005-2018 Ric Albano and Cygnus Wave Records
