I write you from a cold, rainy afternoon in Nashville. I am off to hear some classical music tonight and to drink some kind of warming liquor to help me better match moods with this sad-faced evening.

I have been remiss in my latest correspondences, which is to say – there haven’t been any. After a month of various art installation projects, author interviews, film reviews, poetry submissions and recording sessions, my schedule is collapsing into something more humane, and I’m pleased to offer up some interesting news…

*The recording project at MTSU is coming along nicely. The great JP Lilliston has added his magic strings to both “Do or Die” and “You Got Your Troubles” and -while I haven’t heard the new mix on the latter- “Do or Die” is really evolving into the rawest, rockinest song I’ve ever recorded. Quite magic alakazam considering we’re assembling it like some kind of Frankenstein monster stitched together from stolen moments and unconnected inspirations. Then again, that pretty much sums up the whole idea of beauty for me…

*I have a number of poems making the rounds and my friend Maria Browning has been especially helpful and encouraging in prompting me to get more of my verses in print. As you may know, I’ve published my poems/stories in the past in various outsider/alternative publications, but I’m beginning to believe that there is also a place for my stuff in academic literary and art journals as well. More to come…

*I’ve been asked to do a number of writing assignments recently including reviewing the 40th Anniversary edition of Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water – hence the video at the top of the post.

Here is a sample:

While some contend that Simon and Garfunkel’s 1968 release Bookends was the duo’s creative highpoint, the pair were never more popular or commercially successful than they were with the release of Bridge Over Troubled Water in 1970. Bridge held the top of the charts for ten weeks, won six Grammys including Album of the Year, had four hit singles, and has sold more than 25 million copies world-wide.

The second film on the disc is a making-of documentary that combines a lot of borrowed footage from Songs of America along with contemporary interviews with Simon, Garfunkel and Halee. The Harmony Game tells the tale of the recording of Bridge Over Troubled Water and it also serves as a tribute of sorts to Halee. “We were, in truth, a threesome,” explains Garfunkel. “And Roy Halee was the driver in many of these things.” Offering intimate, in-studio peeks into the creation of the record’s signature tunes, Harmony reveals that “Cecilia” began as a tape-loop of the duo playing rhythm patterns on their pants legs and a piano bench. It also explains that “The Only Living Boy in New York” was inspired by Garfunkel’s exodus to Mexico to appear in Mike Nichols’ big-screen adaptation of Catch-22. The “Tom” who catches a plane in the song’s first lines is a reference to Garfunkel’s stage name in the duo’s original incarnation as Tom and Jerry. The film’s centerpiece is it’s telling of the production of “The Boxer,” but, ultimately, this film and the album both circle back to the record’s title track.

Read about the writing and recording of the record’s timeless title track at the American Songwriter website.

Untils next time…

Joe Nolan <3

Make that Sunday afternoon…

I was in Murfreesboro, TN last night recording 2 new songs in one of the big studios down at MTSU. This was our 3rd recording session and we had a lot of fun recording drummer Noah Hungate on two new songs.

I’m still working on my latest full-length CD – The Wicked – w J.P. Lilliston, but the project has experienced a variety of delays. In the meantime, I hope that this will be a fun little project that will yield some great new ear-treats in the near-future.

I previously previewed some of the lyrics to one new song, but here are are the wordings to both:

YOU GOT YOUR TROUBLES

I see your clouds
Have taken your sky
I know your sun
Was too young to die
Well, look at my brothers
These comrades and clowns
They only get high
On the way down

C’mon. C’mon. Girl don’t you see
There ain’t no difference between you and me
C’mon. C’mon. Baby don’t cry.
You got your troubles and
So do I
You got your troubles and
So do I

You knew the number
Of each passing sparrow
But you lost your way on
The straight and the narrow
I made my own way
I was covering ground
But I must say
My own way
Went ’round and ’round and ’round and ’round…

C’mon. C’mon. Girl don’t you see
There ain’t no difference between you and me
C’mon. C’mon. Baby don’t cry.
You got your troubles and
So do I
You got your troubles and
So do I

You never played
Those girl-go-round-games
But i heard your saints
Still changed their names
Well, none of my angels
Care too much for flying
And all of my loose ends
Are too torn for tying

C’mon. C’mon. Girl don’t you see
There ain’t no difference between you and me
C’mon. C’mon. Baby don’t cry.
You got your troubles and
So do I
You got your troubles and
So do I

DO OR DIE

Girl you’re like a flower
Named for a dragon
Girl you’re like a kite above a prison wall
Tonight’s the night
When the witch comes a beggin
Girl you better get yourself a crystal ball
This best guess yet
Might get you upset
You never know the answers but you better ask why?
There’s really nothing to it, baby this is how you do it
When you do it like we do it when we do or die

I heard about a mission
And I made a split decision
We took a trip to slip behind the enemy lines
You made a cool companion
In the plains and in the canyons
We made it to the city where the red shame shines
Soldiers at the swing gate
Steam from a steel grate
Shadows casting shadows in the clearest eye
But you move right through it, baby this is how you do it
when you do it like we do it when we do or die

Im shooting through the headlines
counting up the deadlines
a private instigator in the public eye
Every rabble rowser
Is a magic water dowser
The hip flip yellow when the water gets high
But you are like a steel star
Sharp and shiny so far
Shooting for the heart aiming for the eye
You break on through it, you do kung fu it
When you do it like we do it when we do or die

If you like this, add me on Facebook and write me a message telling me so. If you do, I’ll forward a version of the demos to you.

Joe Nolan <3