“Pieces” - a song about stubbornness
Being stubborn and I go way back. We’ve been hanging out for years and are thick as thieves. They are always finishing my sentences.
Backstory
To me sharing too much of a “backstory” is a dangerous game. It has the ability to completely ruin the potential a song can have in hitting a person where they need it. That was a conversation I was recently having with a couple friends, and it reminded me that I am riding a fine line with sharing the songwriting processes that I have. For folks reading this, I want to remind you that I am sharing these “musings” for two main reasons.
The first is because as odd as it sounds, I can’t wait to be an old geezer looking back at all of these moments and to remind myself how my younger mind worked.
The second is that by sharing the way I make a thing, it may show someone else how easy it is to make their own. Having a place to shove all your thoughts, stories, feelings, and daydreams is amazing and a song is a very good housing for all of those.
That all said, I don’t really have a backstory for this one. The day I wrote it I played disc golf at the Portage Lakes St. Park with my sister and her boyfriend. It was a gorgeous day, perfect weather, and I played better than I think I ever had before (which was great, because I wanted to beat said boyfriend… it’s the older brother in me).
Writing Process
The part I was struggling with this tune was the chorus/bridgish part. In the voice memos you can see it developed slowly, and still it feels like the part that will maybe be changed down the line as I play this one a bit more.
I wanted to have a second part to break up the song, but not a true chorus, it’s really more like a bridge that happens twice in my mind. I didn’t like how the standard D shape chord sounded, so I used the C shape on slid up to D. That movement also broke up the flow of the tune in a way I was digging so I incorporated it into the verses too.
This was one of the unique times where I wrote half of the song and then came back and finished it a couple weeks after. I don’t normally do that, and typically view those songs as the weaker ones in my catalog. I don’t have a true opinion of this one in that way yet, but we will see if it hangs around.
Notebook Page.
May. 2022
Lyrics
You keep picking up pieces and I keep knocking em down
Could of had a castle by now or at least a sizeable town
Cant have nothing as long as I’m around
You keep picking up pieces and I keep and I keep knocking em down
You keep picking up pieces and I keep and I keep sailing away
Out to scratch my gambling itch at the end of another short day
You keep on losing so I can get my pay
You keep picking up pieces and I keep and I keep sailing away
You’ll be gone eventually
That's the way it seems to be
First time I go reaching for the pieces held to me
That's when they always leave
You keep picking up pieces thinking that maybe Ill change
Slight tweak, adjust the plans, when I see you’re crying in pain
You keep on hurting and I’ll just stay the same
You keep picking up pieces and I keep thinking that maybe I'll change
You’ll be gone eventually
That's the way it seems to be
First time I go reaching for the pieces held to me
That's when they always leave