“Feet Are Tired” - a song about slowing down
For fast-acting relief try slowing down.
- Lily Tomlin
The other song we recorded among the sweet Nebraska pies
Backstory
I hike every now and then. Getting out on a trail is the best way I have found for me to “slow down”. I have a tendency to get anxious when just laying around doing nothing, it makes me feel non-productive and then I start to get into my head about how much more I can do to add value to my life and the lives of others…. it’s not a good look. So hiking it is. It let’s me “unplug” while also adding a constructive task to my day (these sexy legs tell that story well).
I was coming home from the Gorge in the Summit Metro Parks, and specifically was on the Highbridge Trail and I started humming this tune along with the worlds “let me go the way I go” over and over. It became a sort of silly mantra to get my mind off of my tired feet (I was wearing my old boots, and they had let water in and just were wearing out, so not comfy). I kept repeating the line and was clapping/slapping the sides of my legs to get a sort of gospelly bluegrass rhythm going. I ended up taking the long way home because I didn’t want to go on the sidewalk and look like a crazy person in front of houses, slapping my legs and hum singing… I leave that for the woods, trees don’t judge.
The song was finished by the time I got home.
One interesting note is that I originally wrote the chorus as “My Feet is Tired”. The recording from the trail I say “is” on the verses and liked the way that felt so used it across the board…but I was playing a show in Cleveland and Ray Flanagan told me afterwards he thought I was saying “My Fetus Died”, so I changed “is” back to “are” as to not ruffle anyones feathers. It’s important to have good friends folks.
Writing Process
Since I did most of the melody and lyric work on my walk, the writing happened at the same time as the inspiration, so I can share the very complex hidden meaning tucked deep deep within the lyrics that many would miss….
A drunken man loses his girl and cleans up his act.
I know, it’s a revolutionary concept and I penned it here, grammy here I come.
This one had a notebook page, but I wrote this song in June of 2021 and about that time I got a dog named Peaches… well she tore into my notebook and tore a good chunk of pages to tiny bits… we didn’t talk for at least a week.
The last thing I will say is that this song was written, yes, and I was playing it, yes, but it didn’t become a song that I really enjoyed playing until we did it as a trio. Dan had the idea for the cascading hums during the chorus, and they are sexy! We worked on those in the car on our way to Montrose, CO. Thanks Dan
Notebook Page.
June, 2021
My dog ate my homework
Lyrics
My feet are tired, gonna slow down
Feet are tired, gonna slow down
My feet are tired, gonna slow down
Let me go the way I go, go slow
My baby's gone, gonna slow down
My baby gone, gonna slow down
My baby's gone, gonna slow down
Let me go the way I go, go slow
My feet are tired, slow down
Feet are tired, slow down
My feet are tired, mmmm
Let me go the way I go, go slow
Cause I know I gotta go
Make my bed and slow down
Make my bed and slow down
Make my bed and slow down
Let me go the way I go, go slow
My feet are tired, slow down
Feet are tired, slow down
My feet are tired, mmmm
Let me go the way I go, go slow
Cause I know I gotta go
Bottles near, gonna slow down
Bottles near, gonna slow down
Bottles near, gonna slow down
Let me go the way I go, go slow
My feet are tired, slow down
Feet are tired, slow down
My feet are tired, mmmm
Let me go the way I go, go slow
Cause I know I gotta go
Golden shore, gonna slow down
Golden shore, gonna slow down
Golden shore, gonna slow down
Let me go the way I go, go slow
My feet are tired, slow down
Feet are tired, slow down
My feet are tired, mmmm
Let me go the way I go, go slow
Let me go the way I go, go slow
Let me go the way I go, gonna go