Monday, March 16, 2020

The Singer and You



Key of Zed, the duo of Mike Charko and Keith Shields, has just released a new original single. For fans of Blue Rodeo and a few other bands, you will recognize the references to a few other songs in the lyrics. See how many you can catch. (At a later date I will release an annotated version of the lyrics that will identify the references.) The story of this song is that the woman in the Blue Rodeo song "Try" is now older and more introspective and the lyrics are her answer to the man who said those words to her.

The Singer and You
(Lyrics and Music by Mike Charko and Keith Shields; copyright SOCAN)

Blue Rodeo on the stereo
(And) teardrops in my eyes
Reminding me of five days in May
And how I said I’d try

Was it just bad timing?
Or something I should have done?
That keeps me looking through the crack in the window
And wishing for the sun

And the singer and you and the devil too
They want to tell me what I should do
They want to tell me what I should do

Right is right and wrong is wrong
With every move I made
I couldn’t be what you wanted me to be
Every time you played

Old songs, rehearsed to a tee
Left no room to breathe
And the spirits of tunes - left unsung
Like the ghosts in me

And the singer and you and the devil too
They want to tell me what I should do
They want to tell me what I should do

Guitar solo:

Bridge:
Bop shoo bop bop bop she bop
Bop shoo bop bop bop she bop
Bop shoo bop bop bop bop she bop

My solo written by you
Was singing the blues
How could I get the rhythm from you?
There’s nothing left to do

Rising star or wounded heart?
Were you teaching me to fly?
Could the bad inside of me
Really be the lie?

And the singer and you and the devil too
They want to tell me what I should do
They want to tell me the things that I should do

Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop
Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop
Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop
Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop
Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop
Bop shoo bop; bop bop she bop

No comments: