Lyrics               Listen

Written by: Jeff Oxenford (© 2006)

Performed by: Jeff Oxenford

Inspiration

I’ve been stuck in my song writing for a few weeks. I’ll been playing this simple tune for weeks and having fun experimenting with leads in between chords. I just love the sound of seventh chords.

The other night, I came up with the first line for one of my dogs, Maya, “If I said go, would you stay.” I was playing guitar and told her to go. All she did was move closer and sit at my feet (I get no respect). That was the genesis of the lyrics. I then started thinking of contradictions and came up with this song. There’s no real deep meaning here, just a bunch of catchy lines strung together.

Process

I came up with the music first. I used the one and four chords for the verses and the 5 and 4 chords for the chorus. I couldn’t find lyrics, so I played around with melody licks in between the chords. I had a lot of fun just playing around with these chords.   

After finding the first line, I just kept looking for other good lines. I kept thinking that this would evolve into some deep meaning, especially with the line, “If I gave up, would you choose to fight.” I was thinking about a friend who gave up due to illness. The other lines were more relationship based, and all those times of trying too hard and being called clingy, or not being interested and all of a sudden becoming attractive.

 The chorus came from thinking about all those wishes that never came true. When I was a kid, I always had terrible luck. Sometimes I would wish for the opposite, in hopes that I would get what I wanted. That didn’t work so well either. At least I got a song out of it.

I recorded this the other night. It’s still a pretty rough cut, but I know that I won’t have much time in the next few weeks. Changes I’d like to make include 1) record the vocals an octave lower (since I don’t sing low very often it’s going to take some work). 2) plan out the lead (this was done on the spur of the moment) and 3) add a longer or more distinctive bridge.  

Lyrics              Listen