Day 2:
Trainwreck

I’ve always been an enormous cinephile, growing up in a household of three cinephile brothers. It’s also in my blood, my maternal grandmother was a huge film buff as well. Much of the fun of writing this song was creating a lyric that was visually stimulating, with a clear aesthetic. It has pieces of Spielberg, the opening of “The Last Crusade”, it’s the off-putting beauty of “the Polar Express”, it’s one of my favorite movies, Del Toro’s “Nightmare Alley”, it’s got some Eggers, etc. There are so many core memories around going to the movie theater.

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Moving from Corpus Christi, TX to Virginia when I was 8 and seeing the first huge AMC movie theater I’d ever been to at Tysons Corner Mall, feeling like I was in Hollywood itself. The current magic of walking through the cold with my love to the Prospect Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn. But I think my strongest theater associations were when I lived briefly in Nashville, going to the arthouse Belcourt Theater. It was a lonely time, but when it felt especially so, I’d impulsively walk to the movies, and see whatever was playing. And though I was always solo, I never felt lonely when I got out.

STUDIO BTs

Here’s today’s bit of a behind the scenes from the recording sessions at Plyrz Studios.

“Trainwreck”

This rusty old train’s gonna fly off the tracks

And send us all straight to Valhalla

Red sky in the morning says today won’t be boring

Serves me right for chasing nostalgia

I bought my ticket on a heartbroken whim

Blame it on the Gemini moon

My family and friends say I’m caving again

But I had to find my way back to you

They say I dance through my life like a marionette

If I ever had a mind then I’ve lost it

And a ventriloquist has control of my lips

You keep me with the skeletons in your closet

But I’m no fool, though I act this way

I gotta shake out my wild bones somewhere

If this is playing with fire, and I’m bound to get burnt

Why not let it be because I cared?

Would that really be the worst thing?

Mama, this train ain’t stopping

Call the preacher, I think I’ve got a confession

And it’s a doozy, whoa

Call the doctor, this train is speeding like a jet plane

And it’s making me woozy

Slow it down

Give me a chance to catch my breath

I’m spinning out

My heart is beating out my chest, whoa

Call the preacher, I think I’ve got a confession

And it’s a doozy, whoa

Call the doctor, this train is speeding like a jet plane

And it’s making me woozy

Slow it down

Give me a chance to catch my breath

I’m spinning out

My heart is beating out my chest, whoa

They say, “don’t fall in love if you don’t know the risk”

I guess I’ve always been a bit of a gambler

I’m hearing singing bluebirds flying ‘round my head

Like I got socked upside the skull with a sledgehammer

If I make it to you, and you see how I’ve folded

Baby, treat me with some mercy, mercy me

If the wheels keep rollin’, and the train’s still holdin’

Fate will deliver me

Fate will deliver me, ooh

Lyrics

“A ventriloquist has control of my lips, you keep me with the skeletons in your closet”

The Acoustic Version

Found nowhere else but here. An acoustic version, performed specially for you.