When we got home from Hood River we sort of just threw everything down and left it. When we recorded these songs, there was no grand plan for it, we just had an opportunity and took it. We were a little burnt out with each other towards the end of the trip and we weren't dying to jump right back into these sessions. We had plenty to keep us busy at home, so they sat for a couple of months. When we finally heard this one again, we just felt it to our souls...we wanted people to hear this. We didn’t care how, we just knew we wanted this to be heard. It was sort of a miracle that it came together in the first place. Dexter, Freddie & Don had never really even practiced it before we recorded it in Hood River, so it was pretty raw... but raw can be so good if you can just feel it. This song was born the day before Brian left for LA to go do the Blind Auditions. It had to be at least 3am, there were a few people around -Austin was noodling on the guitar and Brian slowly passing out in the chair. We had to write a song before Brian was gone for a month. So Austin played that melody, and with Brian's eyes half closed and his brain half asleep, it started to come together.
I can’t seem to find/a very good reason to rhyme/leaving town in a short, short time/and I’d like to leave something behind/but I’m finding it hard, so hard/to keep open my eyes/and I’ve got no resolution/and it’s causing me great confusion/so let me sing a few more lines…
Then Brian was gone. Austin wrote the rest and we put it all together when he got back. Even onstage at the Battle Rounds, after the hammer fell and he was going home, the crowd was chanting “STEAL! STEAL!” and he looked to Christina Aguilera..asked her to “just let me sing a few more lines.”
lyrics
I can't seem to find
A very good reason to rhyme
Leaving town in a short, short time
I'd like to leave something behind
But I'm finding it hard
To keep open my eyes
And I've got no resolution
And it's causing me great confusion
So..
So let me sing a few more lines
Now it's nice to be needed
But someday you'll be succeeded
Ain't no time to stop and whine
Wait your turn, get back in line
And when the embers burn hotter
Put down that bucket of water
The fire's all you got, but it's a double knot
Hey just stop
And let me sing a few more lines
Whoa let me sing a few more lines
Oh let me sing a few more lines
We're gonna burn it down
This road will fall away
The fever's brewing now
It's a new day
We're gonna leave this town
Hammer to the steel
We're gonna answer why it's fire that I feel
Don't let the smoke burn black (Whoa)
Don't let the smoke burn black (Whoa)
When I feel fine
And there's a grin on my mind
And this old rockin' chair, it just don't care
What clothes it is that I choose to wear
And it's so easy to break through the mold
As the brown begins to fade to gold
But when I think about bloodshed
I've got to scratch my head
So let me sing a few more lines
If you'd let me
I'd like to sing a few more lines..
credits
from The Hood River EP,
released August 10, 2013
A. Roach, B. Scartocci
Former members of Phenomenal Handclap Band expand on their “everything but the kitchen sink” approach, adding rich vocals and finely-textured arrangements. Bandcamp Album of the Day Sep 30, 2016