This is going to sound pretentious--but then again, we're talking about a record titled "Pop Art Manifesto," so what's the difference?
Being a songwriter, I am essentially a collector of stories. My stories, your stories, made-up stories... Doesn't really matter as long as it keeps your interest for about 3-5 minutes and rhymes in the right places. And of course, there are artistic liberties taken here and there. "Artistic liberty" is a phrase that liars use to make their lies sound classier. They're lies told to make a story more interesting, because real life isn't interesting enough to turn into a song.
I think I've got a few stories worth telling on this record, with some VERY interesting artistic liberties. In working on a record, I tend to get bogged down in the specifics, and I can tell you what every line of every lyric means, in great detail. But in the days of Twitter, people want the short version...so here's the short version, for each track. These are short summaries of what the songs are about, and there's more going on than I'm revealing here, but this is just an exercise to make sure I can concisely summarize the songs. Concise. A word I barely understand. (Note: This is not necessarily the final order in which that the songs will appear on the finished product.)
Starting Over
More or less me addressing the vibe of the previous record. For the record, when I say "previous record," I'm referring to "Out from the Light." Whereas I'm very proud of and stand by both "New Year's Eve" and "Wayne County," those were both freebies, and they were just for fun. The last serious record was "Out from the Light." There's a different world on "Pop Art Manifesto" and I had to escape the previous one first. That's a pretty literal description, both in musical style and lyrical subject-matter.
One-Sided Argument
Title's pretty self-explanatory. It's about dealing with the person or persons in your life who always push you into an argument you don't want to have, just to hear the sound of their own yelling. And this song is only about 55 seconds long. Because that's about as long as you should let those people get to you.
Everything Good
This is kind of a hold-over from "Out from the Light," but it wouldn't have fit on that record. Lyrically, it's slightly out of place on this record, but musically, it's right on track. It's a break-up song. And an angry/regretful one.
Don't Say
Chiefly, it's about falling in love with an older woman, and one who's out of your league at that. And it's about being let down by that. Structured similarly to "Pale Blue Eyes" by the Velvet Underground, and a departure in subject matter for me.
Church Girls
Well...you know what they say about church girls, right? This explores that through more or less a bad summary of someone I knew in high school, who turned out to be a pretty awesome person. It's told through my eyes...and I just played the guitar in the church band.
Lonely
This song was literally ten years in the making. Which puts way too much pressure on it, I'm sure. It's a song about looking back and missing people. It's about being lonely. Sort of Pink Floyd meets David Bowie meets maybe Dorian Grey. (That last one's a book. Because knowledge is power.)
Give It Up
Sort of the polar opposite of "Lonely." Looking back and choosing to celebrate what you've got, even though it's not what you want. And also a tribute to St. Louis--because dammit, I still love this town.
The Best
This song is about a specific person in my life and the relationship we've had over about 20 years. And for the parts I had to fill in so it's not just a sloppy retelling of my own life, I lifted a little bit from "Blankets" by Craig Thompson (a BEAUTIFUL graphic novel that you should really, really read).
Coffee in My Cup
The title kind of says it all, except there's an intentionally sloppy guitar solo that's going in this one for no good reason. It's just about my addiction to the bean.
I Don't Know
I don't think this one's really about anything at all really. But it does boast the most words I've ever crammed into a 4/4 time signature. I have a habit of pushing how many syllables can be fit into a measure...and I stretch it until it BREAKS on this one. I'm very happy about that. If I had to say it's about anything, it's probably about being a little bit bummed out, but not too much, and not really wanting to do anything, but people keep trying to MAKE you do something because they think you're way more bummed out than you actually are.
Velvet Elvis
Closest I really get to a Christian song on the record, I think. It is NOT based on the book of the same name by Rob Bell. It's based on the velvet Elvis paintings you see so often in the South. And it's about Jesus. I don't know either.
You and Your Perfect Life
Title was lovingly lifted from the book "Juliet, Naked" by Nick Hornby. He's one of our great living authors. Start with "High Fidelity" or "A Long Way Down," but definitely read "Juliet, Naked" someday too. The song itself is about reflecting on your relationship with someone, figuring out that they're happy, and trying to work out why that bothers you.
If I had to sum up the whole record in a word, it would be "reflection." I'm writing a lot about who I've been vs. who I AM...and figuring out how I got here, and what to do with myself moving forward. That's what THE RECORD is about...it's not necessarily where I am as a person...or...is it?
The fact that I'm even asking the question means that there will be at least one more solo record after this one, I guess. I told a friend recently that even if no one listens to it, I'm just writing my autobiography one song at a time.
There are twelve going on this record.
