#cary pierce

[valkiriforce]

Vinyard (W/Cary Pierce) - Vertical Horizon

[folkingitup]

Cary Pierce - Speed

[the-worship-project]

Unfailing Love - Chris Tomlin, Cary Pierce + Ed Cash (Sixsteps Songs) [ 2004 ]

From the album "Arriving" by Chris Tomlin

229 / 365

*Click here to view the complete “365 Worship Project!”

[carypierceblog]

THREE OF US IN A BOAT

Today I'm going to dissect one of my songs I wrote when I was 19. 

I grew up in Westport, CT and used to run into into this girl from the neighboring town of Weston. She was pretty and sweet and I liked her from afar. Once I went off to college at SMU in Dallas, I thought that would be it. 

But the first day of freshman orientaton - who walks in the door? This girl, Ray. It was fate! We were meant to be together! The only problem was this little detail of her having a boyfriend. Hence - the song: "Three of us in a boat... doesn't look like this boat's gonna float...." It was our first jackopierce original. www.jackopierce.com

Jackopierce is my band that I started with Jack O'Neill at SMU in Dallas in 1988. Next year will be 25 years of JP. Wo. "Three of Us in a Boat" can be found on our latest album, "Everywhere All The Time":

Everywhere All the Time - Jackopierce

I loved you and you know it

So I wrote this song just like Farley Mowat

(Farley Mowat is a Canadian author who wrote the book, "The Boat Who wouldn't Float.")

For a little while I was your dual lover

(there was another guy involved - Jerkface. Well I was really the Jerkface. Her boyfriend got sent home from school to go to rehab and I saw opportunity).

I knew this would happen one way or another 

Looks like I’m gettin ready to swim

The chances of his walkin the plank are lookin pretty slim

(this is maybe the fastest line that I've ever sung. It's a lot of fun live and I think you will enjoy it when you hear it. I just realized that in this verse I resolve to give up. I'm the one jumping! Why didn't I push him out? It's more fun this way. I had moved on anyway. He could have her).

Three of us in a boat

Doesn’t look like this boat’s gonna float

Three of us in a boat and it won’t float

(I have a fantasy of making a video of this song (the reggae version). It would be Jack and I wearing a cardboard boat costume with a very pouty, tall, disinterested super model type between us. Everywhere we go, we have to go together. We get in and out of cabs together, in elevators, try to walk up stairs, go into restrooms. Genius) 

Hope you have some agility

Hope you have some aquatic ability

(Jack and I were both in the ATO fraternity at SMU. It really was the foundation of our career. Pretty anywhere we would play, 20-40 of our brothers would come out. We had some tradition at the house for Big Brother night where we had to go swimming. Aquatic ability was essential. That's all I'm gonna say).

We all know this is your ship my dear

Don’t say a word it’s perfectly clear

I’ve got my suit on – I’m goin in

(I often say "Speedo" and get a good chuckle. I was a swimmer throughout my youth and wore many a Speedo. My fave was the star and stripes BiCentennial edition. My sister had the one piece to match. From grades 1-6, I lived in North Harbor/Sandy Springs/Atlanta and we had neighborhood swim teams. I remember all the other kids would eat powder Jello but our mom would make us Gazpacho (cold tomato soup). I also did 2 years at Staples HS in Westport, CT as a "diver" on the swim team. I was a rare bird that could do a back flip and walk on my hands. Since diving was considered one of the swimming events - and the swimmers were only able to compete in x amount of events... the team literally needed a guy to jump off the board. Woody called it "falling with style."

With a heart as fragile as mine why did we even begin

(yah - I 'm a sensitive guy. I was asking for it)

I’ve found new days of sunshine

(this line used to be "I miss my Ray (her name) of sunshine." Wow. That was pathetic.) 

Looks like we’re in for nasty weather (should have said you're in for nasty weather - she and boyfriend started fighting over phone).

But if you’re meant to be than you’ll stick together

Don’t come cryin to me when your horizons turn dark and grey baby

(remember that scene in Swingers when the old girlfriend FINALLY returns his call? But she's too late. He's got Heather Graham on the other line. He's moved on. Things started to get rocky with her beau so she calls me up and wants to "see what I'm doing." Uh uh girl. You chose him - good luck.. I'm out.

[carypierceblog]

WORST CASE SCENARIO

(This is an excerpt from a book I am working on about Being Creative for a Living. I will post a new chapter most Fridays - or as close as I can get… I genuinely hope this blog inspires you… thanks for following)

We don't have to be scared. 

But we are scared - a LOT. 

We are scared to start a new company or launch a new product. Scared to leave our current job for a better one. Scared to pick up the phone and call that girl. Scared that we'll show up to the party and not know anyone. 

Some fear - like running across the highway at rush hour - is healthy fear. 

But I would contend the number one fast and slow killer of dreams is fear.

Tony Robbins says "we'll do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure." 

We know going to the gym and getting in shape will bring us nothing but pleasure - but we're scared it will be painful working out. It's easier to have another couple donuts (less pain). 

We're so scared.

But what's the worst thing that could happen?

When I was going through my divorce, I was in serious pain, was in deep debt and thought I was in real trouble. I was paralyzed. 

A good friend asked me, "what's the worst thing that could happen to you." I thought long and hard about it. If everything fell away and I had nothing - no house, no car, no income - what would that look like?

It's important to define your worst case scenario. What does the WORST CASE SCENARIO look like for you? It may not be as bad as you think.

For me I thought long and hard about it. I would have to move into my parents house. It would be incredibly humiliating but they would not let me starve. I don't need any new clothes. I could take public transportation but I could probably borrow one of their cars a lot. It would not be great but things could be a WHOLE LOT WORSE than that. 

Once I realized my worst case scenario, I was able to stare it in the face - see it for what it was, and then move on. 

Regardless - if it's worse or better than you think - it's good TO KNOW WHAT IT IS. 

When embarking on a new endeavor and you're scared, anxious, unsure just get real clear on your worst case scenario. Define it, stare it in the eye, shrug your shoulders because you are now free to move on. Like the monster that doesn't exist under the bed - it can't scare you anymore. This might be one of the most freeing things you ever do as an Artrepreneur. 

[carypierceblog]

YOU CAN'T DO THAT

(This is an excerpt from a book I am working on about Being Creative for a Living. I will post a new chapter most Fridays… I genuinely hope this blog inspires you... thanks for following)

Get used to hearing that.

Better yet - get used to ignoring it - becuase you can do just about anything.

            My band, Jackopierce, was told for years: "we don't book acoustic duos;" "we don't do seated shows;" "we don't do non-smoking shows." "You can't do that." So we just quietly, slowly, kept growing our fanbase across the country to the point where we could dictate our terms instead of being dictated to.

            You can do just about whatever you are willing to put your mind to - period.

            You've heard the stories.. Sylvester Stalone took his script, "Rocky" to over 1,000 different people. He actually sold his dog to stay alive. Everyone told him he could not sell his script nor could he EVER dream of starring in the movie. "Rocky" was eventually made for $1.1 million but grossed $117 million. It was nominated for 10 Oscars and ended up winning 3 - including best picture. It also spawned 5 sequels.

            Roger Banister was told he could not run a four-minute mile. It was a physical impossibility. His legs would explode from the pressure and impact. In 1954 he broke the four-minute mile. Now high school kids do it. 

            Sell bottles of water? Sell expensive coffee? Make a record? Write a screenplay? Make a movie? "You can't do that!"

            Bah! Yes you can.

[carypierceblog]

FAIR HAS 4 LETTERS

(This is an excerpt from a book I am working on about Being Creative for a Living. I will post a new chapter every Friday - or as close as I can…Thanks to all my new Followers who found me through TuneCore. I genuinely hope this blog inspires you to grow whatever it is you wish to grow).

Take fair out of your vocabulary. It is possibly the most ridiculous word in the English language. Take it out.

FIGURE OUT WHAT “WORKS FOR YOU.” DECIDE if a decision is "amicable," "agreeable," "equitable." Figure out if something "makes sense" for you.

            When I hear people, "that's just not fair" it drives me crazy.

            Of course it's not fair. Nothing is fair because "fair" does not exist.

            My interpretation of what's "fair" will always be (even if only slightly) different than the guy next to me.

            Some people want to be taller. Some people want to be shorter, skinnier, bigger, lighter, darker. Some people want more "success." Most people want "mo money." A lot of people think that when they don't have the things they want that life is “unfair.”

            So many people who have “made it” in this world being Creative did not get stuck in the "fair" game. They knew from the get-go that things were not fair and they went about creating anyway.

            To sit around and worry about what's fair and what's not will not get you what you want.

            To shake your fists “why?!” at the gallery owner that puts the "inferior" art of the "cool guy/cute girl" instead of yours into his gallery - or to sit around and wonder why everyone hates your book are bad questions to ask yourself.

            Ask a bad question - get a bad a bad answer.

            Quit asking "why" and start asking "How" or "What."

            Instead of "why did I not get into that festival?" start asking "how can I get into that festival?" or "what do I have to do to get more shows on my calendar?"

            Instead of asking "why am I so fat?" start asking, "what do I need to do to lose weight?"

            I just saw the movie, "Flash of Genius." It's based on the true story of inventor, Bob Kearns - a Creative that invents the intermittent windshield wiper for cars. Ford steals the idea. At one point in the movie, he is offered $300,000 (this is 25+ years ago) to settle. The lawyer (brilliantly played by Alan Alda) and Kearn's wife urge him to take the deal. Alda implores him,  saying that Ford will bury him in paperwork for the next 10 years, He says fighting them will turn him grey and old. But since the Kearns wants Ford to do what's "fair" and admit that they stole from him, he declines. Eventually he is offered THIRTY MILLION dollars to settle but he refuses again.

            His battle started in 1969 and did not end it until 1995 (36 YEARS LATER) after spending over $10,000,000 in dollars in legal fees. When he invented the wiper, he was a happily married 42 year-old-man and a father of six kids. When he won his nearly $30,000,000, he was divorced. He would die 10 years later at 77, of brain cancer complicated by Alzheimers.

            A lot of people spend their lives trying to "even the score" - while the successful ones are out there doing what they can to make the world a better place. Some through invention, some through charity work, some through influence in industry or government. When things don't work, they reassess, make changes, and forge on. They took fair out of their vocabulary a long time ago.