What a Night

Well, I haven't posted much in the ol' online journal, but that's because I've been spending my time doing what I did tonight: writing and recording songs. And I'll take as many songs as come to me. I've gone through a poetry streak, a writing streak, and now apparently a song writing streak. And each new evening after I sit down with the Parkwood and work the song out I grab the guitar, hop downstairs, and record it. And the new computer and guitar let me do that quickly, casually, and good-soundingly. Major yay for that. Something I've wanted for ages and finally have.

So, tonight I was actually driving to Shop 'n' Save to cash my tax refund check when the first line of a chorus came to mind. It was a wonderful night tonight--warm, dark, and I didn't have to get up early the next morning. So after using the ATM I drove up behind Wal-mart and climbed up the ridge overlooking the slag pile. That point is the highest land for a five mile radius at least, and as you crest the ridge the entire Pleasant Hills / Century III / Route 51 shopping area opens up before you like a dramatic movie shot. I sat up there, clutching car maintenance receipts in the ceaseless wind and writing down lines as they came to me with the pen I use to write down gas mileages on receipts. The result is the song below.

To listen, go HERE.

What a Night

(Chorus)
What a night to just sit here and let the warm wind blow and not make me cold
And what a night to hide high in this darkness where no one could see or could know...
I'm alone

(Verse 1)
And what a night to stay inside and watch the TV screen and waste my time
And what a night to take a drive down well-kept roads in a smooth blue car that's mine
And what a night to think about my life and what I'm doin' with it now
And what a night to wish that I had some good way to lay it down (chorus)

(Verse 2)
And how discouraging it is to honestly take stock of who and what I am
And how unsettling to think of how my life and love look to the Son of Man
And how do I do what I know I should
When I don't take God's helping when I could? (chorus)

(Verse 3)
And now the rain begins to fall as I sit here and look at all the shopping malls
And honestly the wind has made me more than just a little chilly, yes I'm cold
But something doesn't want to go away
As I stand high above this land and say

Oh what a night to just sit here and let the warm wind blow and not make me cold
And oh what a night to hide high in this darkness where no one could see or could know...
I'm alone

And oh what a night to be dreaming of all the great things that I wish I could be
And oh what a night to walk down to my car and drive home to the way that things are

*****************

Those last two lines came to me as I stood up, ready to clamber down the loose dirt slope back to the Mazda, parked by the big blank back wall of Wal-mart. In a way I consider them some of the best lines I've ever written. Finally I've captured that night feeling, that wishing-I-could-do-something-extraordinary feeling.

Hope it is somewhat as meaningful to you as it is to me...

--Clear Ambassador