I have Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief and solo recording brilliance to thank for this week’s song. Last summer, I watched a video where she explained some of the alternative guitar tunings she uses in her compositions. One of them is a variation on Open D (DADF#AD) tuning, but with the high A tuned to a G (so, DAD#FGD). Once I’d tuned my guitar into this tuning, it unlocked a whole series of new and interesting chord progressions and finger-picking patterns, and I immediately wrote four or five songs. This is one of them.
Lyrics:
When I first met you
I asked:
‘When’s my film
gonna start?’
You said: ‘It’s already begun
but are you an extra
or the leading man?’
I said, ‘Well, surely
I’m the star.’
And you replied
‘Everyone thinks
they are.’
But I liked how
you looked at me
like you saw me
the way I want to be.
And every day
since then
I’ve been trying
to meet expectations.
Well, I tried so hard
to always stay
in character.
To seem poised
and calm,
the way I wish
I was.
But I lost the plot
like I knew
I would.
And I forgot
how to act
around you
and your friends
Either chew
the scenery
or just sit there
silently.
coz I forgot my lines,
and my mind’s on fire.
But you still believe
more than I believe
that I’m the leading man
that I’m not sure I am.
—-
Until next time…
JCV
