Well, this worked, sort of. I kept thinking, oh, I haven't posted for a while, but I can't until I work on that song some more, because I told the blog I would! So I sat down to attempt to finish it, and I think I might have. I repeated the first verse at the end, which I don't like to do (I think I've only ever done that once before) but it sort of works here. The song's called "Light Blue Love" and it's about a flighty summer romance, and it originated so totally during the time of Exile in Guyville, and now kind of picks up where Liz picked up again at "It's Sweet." Here's the first verse, and imagine it with what I've always called "My Chords." (A descending progression found in, for example, "Tears of a Clown" and Three Dog Night's "Shambala"; I should really make a list of songs with "My Chords." I described them in a long-ago journal as the sound of someone crawling towards, then away, then towards, then away from you.)

Hold my hand but don't overdo it
Take my heart but don't listen to it
Give me some of your light blue love
Love me like a cloud going by let me lie here
With my eyes shut

Wherever it may have come from, when I play it I feel that movement that a song needs to stay alive with me. It needs a little more polishing and then we'll see. I've polished and then tossed before. I've got ideas for the other four songs, but in my typical fashion I feel like I gotta finish this one before moving on, but I'm going to force myself to get over that.

I'm going to spend some time listening to this radio station!

So, last night I sat down to finish this very old song, "Light Blue Love." I dunno, it's kind of an 80s title, but the whole song hinges around it so I don't think it can be changed. The chords are kinda 90s, but they're fun and it's fun to play. Turns out all it needs is a bridge and an ending, so I'm trying to drag it into the present day musically and thematically with these parts, which may or may not end up being awkward. I think I've got the bridge, it just needs some more words, and I don't think the ending will be hard. What was giving me musical energy, oddly, was the Angels' home run towards the end of last night's game. They ended up losing, but maybe it was a combination of the nice LA night (it was a rainy NJ night); Cabrera's 2-run homer that pushed me over the edge into fandom; and Mike Scioscia having dated Belinda Carlisle, thus giving off Go-Go vibes. Plus of course the fact that I'd promised the blogworld that I'd do it!

Now I'm actually going to do what I meant to do when I started this thing, and publicly announce that I want to write 5 new songs, so that I have to do it.

It could be old ones that I already started but just need finishing, or starting some anew.

Er, I'll let you know how it's going. I'm going to give myself a rough deadline of...6 months from now? That would be March-ish.

Any advice you have to offer would be helpful.

Besides fuelling, aiding and abetting my love for country music, CMT.com is good way to hear new stuff. Their Listening Parties section streams whole albums; you can not only hear the new Toby Keith, if you are so inclined, but you can also hear less mainstream artists like Kathleen Edwards (country-rock) and Adrienne Young (country-bluegrass). They also have "artist programmed" radio stations which can be very interesting; I don't know how much input the artist actually has, but I do know that I discovered the Ziggy Marley song "Beautiful Day" on the Jessi Colter station! I listened to the new Gretchen Wilson there, but I only had to do so once, because some nice folks picked it up for me at Wal-Mart yesterday, and I was leaping about, because it included a special bonus CD ("5-Mo-Fo-Ya") with some live tracks and miscellany. Fave song on the new album so far is "One Bud Wiser": "I'm one Bud wiser/than I was a minute ago/I found an equalizer/that makes his memory a no-show." Oh, and there's a bonus track of the old standard "Good Morning Heartache," which she nails. Love ya, Gretch.