The Lake-Wife (original song)

The Lake-Wife:

This song is intended to be a contemplation of the cost of success. Hopefully the crude animation is he imagery is not too distracting from the song... Or maybe I should reverse that: hopefully the crude song is not too distracting from the animation.


LYRICS
_______________________________

He has a pretty good life--
Three kids...
He's been married twice.

And he is a product of the 50s
And he hates the 60s
With sickening hippies.

He did better than his father
Who was a welder, musician,
And also a democrat.

He climbed the corporate ladder.
He left his family
Determined to make it...

And he made it to a golf course by a lake,
With his girlfriend turned wife, and his children grew up, and
One's a 'crackhead,' one's a 'hippy,' one's a 'faggot': they're his children.

We weren't part of his life.
He pretty much left us
When he married his new wife.

And she was not into children.
She made it clear that
She was his new life.

...And a golf course by a lake...
...And... his wife was his new life...
...We're the children, all grown and
One's a crackhead, one's a hippy, one's a faggot.

We're the children...
Were the children


___________________________________
ABOUT ME:

Influences:
David Bowie, Roger Waters, Frank Black, Black Francis, Polly-Jean PJ Harvey, Stephen Merritt

Country:
United States

Interests:
1) Blood: that is, I have a lust for life, though if you lived with me you might not know it. To all observant parties, I spend a lot of my time stuck in my house (like some bird that's flown in through an open window and can't find a way out), but I really do appreciate the people who have enough influence to make me want to leave the cage.
2) Trucks: yes, I actually drive a truck and I love her in the way that man loves a mistress. She's expensive, has far too many needs, and complains too often, but my feelings don't change. Trucks represents my desire to travel, though. I know I'm acting like the caged bird right now, but I dream of far off places and friendly people who might welcome me. Is there such a place? It's hard to know, but I think there may be.
3) Beer: beer represents enjoying the time I have left. It's the music I am all too often forgetting to hear. Of course, I have the usual interests as well: writing songs, listening to song-writers, going for a hike, making an ass of myself whenever it's most inappropriate. All of these remind me of the "beer" metaphor, too.

Movies:
Yoko Ono's Fly; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf; Leaving Las Vegas; Paper Moon; The Shining; Midnight Cowboy; Twin Peaks; Evil Dead; Harold and Maude, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Heavenly Creatures; Midnight Cowboy; The Bridge; Saturday Night Fever; Sick; and etc..
Midnight
Music:
Pixies, The National, Kate Bush, Yoko Ono, Magnetic Fields, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Mountain Goats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Pink Floyd, Violent Femmes, Joanna Newsome, Okkervil River, Dolly Parton, and entire collections of 70s-80s country and metal; 90s alt grunge and pop noise; 00s indie low-fi stuff...

Books:
The Road, Hawthorne's short stories and The Scarlet Letter, Middlesex, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, (holding hands with Catcher in the Rye, the Dictionary, Brontes' Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, Midnight's Children, The Goat, (or Who is Sylvia) and many more...

Category:

Music

Tags:

• lo-fi
• homespun
• indie
• DIY
• acoustic
• folk
• original song
• animation
• cartoon
• Anime Studio
• director
• singer
• guitar
• songwriter
• artist
• urdu music
• cycling
• unsigned
• idea
• musician
• composition
• vocalist
• singing
• country
• songs
• lake
• alegory
• vocals
• guitarist

[bedsitsongbird33]

now thats what a call a song fantastic the way this has been put togetheir

[BloodTrucksandBeer]

@bedsitsongbird33

Thanks for your comment. This song took a while to write because I knew what I wanted to say, but I didn't know how to go about writing it (or creating footage that would work well with my ideas while not being distracting). I've had some folks who were offended by the song, though I'm not sure why. It's not autobiographical per se, but there's an element of karma that I wanted to explore. Thanks for encouraging me to continue.

[MrStaticrocker]

Great! your lyrics are like a reading a book. Very unique!

How do you think of this stuff? It's great!

[BloodTrucksandBeer]

@MrStaticrocker

For some of the songs I write, i use the stories that friends share with me. The stories must settle into my subconscious and then appear as a song. I appreciate the "reading a book" comment because I work hard to find a narrative that is accessible but also open to interpretation. Thanks again for the thoughtful comment.

[MrECLECTICIAN]

A hidden gem that I missed. Again glad I looked back in the archives. You must never leave us tubers again...

[BloodTrucksandBeer]

@MrECLECTICIAN

My incredible disappearing act is a trait I took from my father. Originally--I may have mentioned this before--Blood Trucks and Beer was going to be my metal moniker. I wasn't going to put up any songs other than overly distorted dirges; however, this didn't turn out to be the case. Of all the songs I've posted, this one is probably the most disturbing to me, though I can claim I'm using a narrator... still, there's something about this song that unsettles me.

[sumerias1]

I agree with the "reading a book" comment. I think that you're amazing at telling stories, and you leave plenty of hazy areas to let the listener fill in their own version of the gaps. There's something very "realistic" about your stuff - I think part of it is the way you sometimes pepper your lyrics with somewhat crude vocabulary choices (crackhead, faggot), but in a very (I don't think honest is the word I'm looking for, but it's close) way that makes sense in context. I really enjoyed this!

[tinitussi21]

hey....you are great...put yourself into the television....must say....i have no plan again was there were at first.....you bring my feeling for time in trubble.....hahahaha....but this is great! Ha!

Cheers.....and best wishes for you....hope you feel better, soon....

[BloodTrucksandBeer]

@stomachlining

I just checked out "well respected man." Thanks for pointing me in that direction.

[BloodTrucksandBeer]

@Derekmanster

Thanks Baby Cow! This one has a lot of emotion in it. The irony isn't fulfilling, but just adds to the sense of overall sadness. I appreciate the encouragement with such a nice comment.

[BloodTrucksandBeer]

@JKTN102

With this song, I received ugly responses (which I deleted), and I hadn't checked recently to see if anyone had commented. Imagine my surprise when I saw what you wrote! It sounds like we've had some similar experiences, and I'm glad I'm not the only one out there. Not that I'm crying about any of it (men don't cry, dammit!!), but in the wake of my father's death, it's given me food for thought. I've come to feel my father lost a lot in the exchange, as did I. Thanks for commenting.