Books

‘The Year of the Dog’ is a busy one

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Although it’s been nearly a year since Rick Springfield has been on tour, he’s been keeping busy in other ways. Like, lots of other ways. For instance, this week alone, there have been interviews about his new book “World on Fire,” the 40th anniversary of “Working Class Dog,” this weekend’s premiere of the “Orchestrating My Life” documentary, the filming of Jay Leno’s car show, a DJ gig, a special delivery of roses to a fan and an interview with an Australian station (which also featured his Australian accent…)

Through these interviews, we’ve learned about a new album by The Red Locusts, more stories about RS’s childhood and his desire to move back to Australia. He also talks about the importance of music in schools and how music saved him (and he often disses math, which my teenager 100% appreciates).

It’s so funny that so many interviewers will say things like “If my 10-year-old self would have known that I would be interviewing Rick Springfield….” Yep, he has lots of longtime fans! Here’s a recap of this week (at least what I know about)…

This weekend is the big premiere of the “Orchestrating My Life” documentary (A pay-per-view Valentine’s Day concert) that he performs with his band and students from the Santa Monica High School Orchestra. Here’s a great interview with Jodi Swenson, the director of the orchestra, and one of the students who performed in the show.

  • RS also made a special delivery for a lucky fan, delivering “Rick’s Roses” before the Valentine’s Day pay-per-view concert.
https://twitter.com/rickspringfield/status/1360038059228692481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1360038059228692481%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2Frickspringfield2Fstatus2F1360038059228692481widget%3DTweet

Although RS fans are eager to return to concerts, all of this definitely helps get through this challenging time!

Inhabiting a ‘World on Fire’

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I feel like I experienced the end of the world this week. Any opportunity I had – whether it be in the car (after I dropped off the kids at school), washing dishes, folding laundry – I listened to Rick Springfield’s newest novel, “World on Fire.”

I admit that I started the book only because it was written by my favorite rock star and I enjoy his writing style – it’s not the genre that I would typically choose. In the first hour of the 10-hour book, I was still adjusting to the storyline and dark nature of the book, which is different than books I’ve been reading lately. By the second hour or so, I was hooked. He’s a great storyteller and within the dark, depressing, graphic details of the pandemic, there are laugh-out-loud moments (as odd as that may sound).

The mix of history, religion, humor, human nature and pop culture swirl around together throughout the book and through the main character’s ADD, you kind of get a sense of the sort of things that go through RS’s mind. RS fans may recall snippets from various interviews and social media posts as different topics pop up throughout the storyline – dogs, the Titanic, sci-fi books and films and happy childhood memories.

I don’t want to give any spoilers away, as it just came out Jan. 28 so fans may not have had a chance to listen to it yet, but it dominated my week so I just wanted to recommend it here. Here’s the publisher’s summary of the book on Audible:

“World on Fire” picks up where Magnificent Vibration left off: with the hapless Bobby Cotton and his beloved bride (and former nun), Alice, having unleashed a global pandemic that’s fast wiping out half the world’s population – and at God’s request.  

Bobby guides a very pregnant Alice and a motley crew of survivors to the Holy Land, darting through the hazards of a world that has fallen to pieces in a way more thorough than any we have seen.  

But Bobby’s newborn daughter is born with astonishing abilities, and she’s not alone. A miraculous Convergence is headed for Galilee, where the stakes include survival of the Earth as we know it and the human race.  

By turns hilarious and deadly serious, “World on Fire” explores the fate of the Earth in an utterly original way. 

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about the audiobook format because there’s nothing like finding a comfortable spot and getting lost in a great, physical book, but for “World on Fire,” I really enjoyed the audio version – not just because RS was reading it, but because he brought the dialogue to life with different voice and sound effects. For now it’s available exclusively on Audible (they’re having a free trial if you don’t have it yet) but perhaps it will be available in hard copy in the future as well. I couldn’t wait.

One of the benefits of an audiobook is that you can listen to it while you’re doing other things so you don’t have to feel guilty because you’re not feeding the kids or getting things done around the house because you’re devoting so much time to reading a book. You can listen to it while you cook, while you clean and while you’re driving. (My life really isn’t that boring, although it probably sounds like it from that sentence. Although of course we are mainly at home these days due to the real-life pandemic so there’s more cooking and cleaning than usual.)

The book has been in progress for about six years (“Magnificent Vibration” came out in 2014 and this is the sequel to that), so it’s pretty bizarre that he recorded it and released it during a real pandemic. If 2020 had gone as originally planned, RS would have been busy touring around the country so who knows how that would have affected the book’s timeline. Would it still have come out on audio only or would a book tour have also been scheduled? No way of knowing of course since we’ve already shifted realities and we don’t know what other possibilities would have existed.

The “Jesus Boat” in the Yigal Allon Centre, from a 2013 visit to Israel

One thing about the book that was mind-blowing to me personally was the wide ground it covered and the connection it had with different parts of my life. The RS compartment of my life is typically connected to my younger self and my music-loving/songwriting self but not really with my faith, except for his spiritual-seeking side in a general way. However, because much of the storyline takes place in Israel – a place I’ve visited and where I have family – it felt much more personal. It was surreal to discover that the “Wailing Wall” is mentioned in one of the chapter titles, that one of the main settings in the book is a museum in Israel (The Yigal Allon Centre) that I’ve visited and that he throws in some Hebrew and Yiddish words and expressions. It was a reminder that we actually do inhabit the same planet.

So many of the pop culture references mentioned also made me feel this way – that we’re all here on this planet and the idea that so many of the things we take for granted could disappear hit home more than I think it would have had we not been experiencing a real pandemic. Restaurant buffets, shopping without a face mask, attending a concert, enjoying a multigenerational holiday meal – all things that before 2020 were a given. Hopefully with the vaccine here, some of these things will return soon, but the state I live in is currently one of the COVID-19 hotspots so it still feels like a long way off.

The book may not be for everyone – very few things are – but I really enjoyed inhabiting it for a few days (although I’m grateful that it’s fiction). It was dark and exposed some really negative attributes of our world, but it was also infused with humor and a hope for goodness.

What did you think of the book?

Week recap: World on Fire and lots of interviews

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This has been quite a busy week and there’s lots to share so I thought I’d include them all in one post.

On the top of the list is the release of “World on Fire,” Rick Springfield’s sequel to “Magnificent Vibration.” He wrote his first published work of fiction over a four-month period (according to an article in my local paper back in 2014) and at that time already started the sequel. Now here we are six years later and the sequel is now here! In an alternate non-pandemic reality, we’d probably be waiting for the in-person book signings, but for now, we’ll have to make do with the Audible version. RS reading his book to us isn’t too bad though, right? (Although hopefully at some point there will be a print version and book signing meet and greets at local bookstores.)

Since it’s been awhile since I read “Magnificent Vibration,” I pulled it off the shelf for the purpose of this post and it’s pretty bizarre that the sequel is released during a pandemic because of the way the first book ends.

SPOILER ALERT RE: ‘MAGNIFICENT VIBRATION’

At the end of the book, one of the main characters announces that she received a message from an Earth spirit saying that in order to save the planet, she has been given a virus that “will kill half the world in six months.” I won’t go into too many details here, so I don’t create any spoilers for the new book, which I plan to listen to soon, but basically she is a carrier and the virus “will flow from me with every breath I exhale, and it will grow exponentially through airborne contagion.”

Weird huh?

RS has said in recent interviews that you don’t need to read the first book in order to understand the second one. In fact you don’t even have to read at all, he said in a recent interview, since it’s an audiobook and he reads it to you.

Get “World on Fire” here.

‘Orchestrating My Life’ documentary

This week there was a wonderful interview by SiriusXM’s Lori Majewski who spoke to Rick Springfield and director PJ Wolff about the making of the concert film “Orchestrating My Life,” which is being released as a pay-per-view screening on Feb. 14. It’s always so cool to see a fan interview RS because the questions are so good and you get to skip any obvious ones (like ‘Is there a real Jessie’s Girl’?). She’s been a RS fan for 40 years, she recently said on Twitter so she GETS it and asks questions that others wouldn’t know to ask. We so appreciate it, Lori!

Watch the interview here:

To learn more about the pay-per view packages, which include a dozen “Rick Roses” that you can smash against a guitar in your very own living room during the screening, visit rickspringfield.com. There are also some “Orchestrating My Life” DVD and CD packages at rickspringfield.org.

40th anniversary of ‘Working Class Dog’

RS also visited “Good Morning America” this week (and by “visited,” I mean virtually of course) to speak about the 40th anniversary of “Working Class Dog” and sang an acoustic version of “Jessie’s Girl.”

Another Sirius interview about a variety of things

There was also an awesome interview on SiriusXM Volume “Debateable” with Mark Goodman and Alan Light. Unfortunately I can’t share it here since it’s subscription access only (but they do have free trials…) They talked about the “Orchestrating My Life” film, “World on Fire,” Beach Bar Rum (a pineapple flavor is coming soon, as well as a “Jessie’s Girl” drink) and Bindi and joke about the amount of work he’s been doing in the midst of a lockdown. They also covered his commitment to music in school (The “Orchestrating My Life” film features the Santa Monica High School orchestra) and took questions from the audience that covered his album “Tao,” his dad’s influence on his life, his love of writing and reading, guitars, how great his band is and how much he misses performing live.

He also discussed his childhood dream of being a DJ (now realized on SiriusXM’s Working Class DJ show), a couple of anonymous projects that he couldn’t really talk about, but one is coming in November that is darker than “The Snake King” and he also advised a caller to keep his eyes and ears open for a “great new band called the Red Locusts” coming out on red vinyl and cassettes…

They are both great interviewers familiar with RS’s career so that was fun. (As you may know, Mark Goodman is one of the original MTV VJs and has been on RS fan trips so they go back a long way.)

Anyhow, I think that’s about it – at least for right now. Have a great weekend!

‘World on Fire’ now available for preorder

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As if we don’t already have a jillion reasons to be ready for 2021 to get here, there’s now another one: Rick Springfield’s sequel to the best-selling novel “Magnificent Vibration” will be available on Jan. 28. “World on Fire” can now be pre-ordered at adbl.co/worldonfire. For now, it’s only available on Audible, but with no possibilities for meet-and-greet booksignings, that’ll do for now. (Plus listening to him read it for hours sounds fine to me. Although I do hope a print version will be available at some point. Along with meet-and-greet booksignings.)

Here’s the publisher’s summary of the book:

World on Fire picks up where Magnificent Vibration left off: with the hapless Bobby Cotton and his beloved bride (and former nun), Alice, having unleashed a global pandemic that’s fast wiping out half the world’s population – and at God’s request.  

Bobby guides a very pregnant Alice and a motley crew of survivors to the Holy Land, darting through the hazards of a world that has fallen to pieces in a way more thorough than any we have seen.  

But Bobby’s newborn daughter is born with astonishing abilities, and she’s not alone. A miraculous Convergence is headed for Galilee, where the stakes include survival of the Earth as we know it and the human race.  

By turns hilarious and deadly serious, World on Fire explores the fate of the Earth in an utterly original way. 

Here’s RS’s version of the announcement, in a Facebook post:

Holy crap! Okay, maybe not word appropriate considering the general subject matter but my new novel ‘World on Fire’ is being released in January! It’s an audiobook so you don’t even have to know how to read! Just sit back and let the mellifluous tones of “yours truly” take you to hell and back.

It’s dark humor and a re-imagining of our future with some magic in it that you didn’t see coming. Okay, I’ve given away too much already. It’s the sequel to by last best-selling fiction novel ‘Magnificent Vibration’ but it’s a stand alone story that doesn’t require going back and reading or rereading ‘Magnificent Vibration’.

I hope you enjoy my second novel and my first as an Audible exclusive. Pre-order now @audible at adbl.co/worldonfire Xoxo Rick

In today’s article on The Hollywood Reporter website, “Rick Springfield to Release Follow-up to Best-selling Novel, ‘Magnificent Vibration,’ RS says, “Houston, we have a problem! Pandemic. Fires. Hurricanes. Isolation. TV re-runs. The end seems near. I love our planet, as we all do, and the destruction we’re bringing to her door is frightening. I really want to change the ending. Then, I realized that I could, IN FICTION, because…well…its fiction. So I wrote a novel about it and gave our planet a happier resolution. Of sorts.”

Note: Any similarities between the global pandemic in “World on Fire” and the current global pandemic in real life are purely coincidental, as “World on Fire” was written before COVID-19 arrived on the scene (evidence here, in this post from May 2019).

Devastation in Australia

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The recent news in Australia is so horrifying, it’s incomprehensible that a country is experiencing so much devastation.

According to recent reports, since September 2019, this season’s fire season have burned 24 million acres, killed at least 28 people, destroyed about 2,000 homes and may have killed half a billion animals. An estimated 8,000 koala bears have died from the fires, which is almost one-third of all koalas in New South Wales alone, which is their main habitat.

This is so heartbreaking.

As Rick Springfield is both a huge advocate for animals and from Australia, he is the perfect spokesperson to spread awareness of the fires. Today, he shared the following video with this message:

The images in this video may be disturbing to some, but this is our reality. It is our responsibility to heal the planet and help all its inhabitants, big and small. The damage these fires have caused will be felt long after the flames are gone. Native animals that are found nowhere else on the planet are now in great danger of disappearing forever. The Veterinarians and services treating all the burned animals need money to operate. Please help and give what you can. Love & Healing, Rick Donate: https://www.wires.org.au/donate/emerg…

Additionally, the Rick Springfield Merch site has announced a T-Shirt Fundraising Drive for Australia. The vintage jersey shirt is adorable, with a picture of a koala bear in Ron’s “Working Class Dog” attire. The text says “Souls to Save: Heal Australia.” The cost is $50. Here’s the text on the site:

Devastating wildfires in Rick’s native homeland of Australia have shaken the world, and what seems like an impossible number to conceive, over half a billion of the country’s animals are dead. While we try to wrap our heads around this incredible tragedy, Australia needs our help for the survivors. 100% of the proceeds of this shirt sale will be donated to WIRES Emergency Fund.

As I was writing this, I remembered the announced title of RS’s next novel, which now sounds so ironic: “World on Fire.” I wish what is happening in Australia was just a plot in a fictional novel rather than reality.

Not in Punta Cana

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As you may remember (especially if you were planning on going), the Rick Springfield fan trip was scheduled in Punta Cana this week. Because of all the tourist deaths in the Dominican Republic being reported in the news a few months ago, it ended up being moved to Cancun, Mexico and postponed until May 14-18, 2020 (so there’s still time to play and win the lottery!).

So instead of a plethora of videos and posts from the fan trip flooding my RS social media feed this week, it’s a little quieter due to there no being no fan trip this week and no shows scheduled to take its place. However, as indicated in the previous post, RS still keeps himself busy so there’s some activity to catch up on since that previous post. (Although hopefully he’s getting some resting and relaxing in with his family during this time off.)

Honoring a former band mate

The same week he officiated at the Malibu wedding of his guitarist AND was a keynote speaker at a conference in St. Louis, he also performed at an event, the Rock Godz Hall of Fame, honoring his former keyboardist Brett Tuggle, a member of his Fabulous Eels band back in the 1980s.

Forbes covered the evening here: “Rock Godz Hall of Fame Celebrates the Musicians and Industry Behind the Superstars.”

Here’s a slideshow, courtesy of Getty Images:

Embed from Getty Images

Lucky kids

For Halloween, he performed at an elementary school for Great Pumpkin Day. Although I don’t think the kids truly appreciated how lucky they were to be sitting there with him, some of the teachers sang along.

Why at an elementary school, you may wonder?

Rick Springfield helped students celebrate Halloween with a special performance, including singing Witches’ Brew with his son, alum Josh Springthorpe ‘07
– Facebook page of Viewpoint School Alumni Association

Unfortunately I haven’t seen any video of RS singing “Witches Brew” with his son Josh, which was probably pretty adorable.

‘World on Fire’ coming soon?

This weekend, there was also an interview with RS shown on a Philadelphia TV station.

How much would you like to see the unedited version to see what they couldn’t use on camera?!

In the interview he mentions that he’s getting ready to release “World on Fire,” his second novel. Whoo-hoo!

A happy occasion

Despite the inconvenience it may have caused for some, it’s probably good that the fan trip got postponed because apparently his youngest son is getting married this next week so it’s good that everyone will be in the country in the days leading up to the big day. Best wishes and congratulations to the whole family!

World on Fire & imagined Easter eggs

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A recent article disclosed the name of Rick Springfield’s new novel: “World on Fire.” Apparently it’s the sequel to “Magnificent Vibration.” Since his first novel had so many references to his real life (such as character names), I wonder if last year’s fires had any impact on this one and whether real-life references will be embedded into the storyline.

The article also says he’s working on a third book and working on songs for a new album. Amazing.

In addition to my favorite rock star, there’s one other musician that I find myself intrigued with lately. Not enough to start another blog, but I just think she’s super talented and find her career so fascinating – Taylor Swift. I won’t go into details here, but before her “Reputation” album was released, she got everyone’s attention online and publicized her album solely to her fans on social media.

Her “Reputation” tour was record-breaking (she puts on a great show – I didn’t see it live, but watched it on Netflix on New Year’s Day and really enjoyed it). She recently debuted a new song, “ME!” dropping hints on social media and apparently the video was filled with Easter eggs (hidden messages) that contain things like clues to the album title or song titles or references to past videos. I’m not familiar enough with her work to catch many of them nor do I have time to explore much further, but I just think it’s really interesting.

Why am I writing about this here? Because I just saw pictures from tonight’s RS concert and noticed that “The Snake King” logo is no longer on Jorge’s drum set. Instead it’s Ron, RS’s dog from the 1980’s, wearing the shirt with the RS picture in the pocket, aka the cover of “Working Class Dog.” After I noticed this, I looked back at pictures and videos from recent concerts. May 11: The Snake King. May 17: Ron. Did this come up at the concert? Is this is a sign of something to come? Does it have any particular meaning? Am I reading too much into it? Why do I care?

In case you missed ‘The Talk’

In case you missed Rick Springfield’s appearance on “The Talk” yesterday, CBS now has the episode online (around the 26.42 mark although it includes commercials).  He said he has the flu, poor thing. The normal person is home in bed under the covers when they have the flu and he appears live on national television in Studio City, California, and then heads to his next concert in Detroit. And still looks and sounds good doing both. I think he has some kind of rock star superpower.

RS The Talk

UPDATE on May 24

OK, it looks like he’s human after all, as he needed to cancel the next two shows in Ontario, Canada due to illness. Sorry for the fans, but very necessary for his health to get rest when he needs it and to get better. Hope you feel better soon, RS!

Here’s a review from last night’s show: “Rick Springfield rocks Sound Board into the Wayback Machine.”

Maybe it was the cough syrup. Maybe it was the Aqua Net fumes wafting from the crowd. Either way, it’s clear Detroit still has an affair of the heart with Springfield.

UPDATE on June 13

File this under things I find amusing: Three weeks after I wrote this post, Taylor Swift announced that her new album “Lover” will be released on Aug. 23 (aka Rick Springfield’s birthday.)

Notes of nostalgia

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Between adjusting to the back-to-school routine and some major changes at work, I totally missed the two-year anniversary of this blog.

Normally I would do recaps and reflections and yadda, yadda, yadda, but I’ve already done a few of those already (yes a few, even though it’s only been two years, since there’s the year-end recap and the anniversary recap).

So I’ll just type out a few notes of nostalgia and be done with it.

I remember so clearly that day at work two summers ago when I was checking the TV listings of our local PBS station to clarify information for our newspaper’s calendar. And then there at the bottom of the screen was a video promoting a recent interview with Rick Springfield. I knew I’d have to check that out, and did so a couple of evenings later. I was shocked to find out he had just released a novel and before that, an autobiography. Although I was a huge fan when I was younger and still cranked up “Jessie’s Girl” when it came on the radio, I hadn’t followed his career in years and had no idea what ever became of him.

I immediately put both books on hold at the local library and did some Googling to find out what he’d been up to. Watching YouTube interviews brought back so many memories that had long been buried, such as song lyrics and the way RS used to lick his lips during interviews.

After reading his documentary, “Late, Late at Night,” I recreated my reading experience by putting together a little blog with links to the videos illustrating some of the stories he told: Late, Late at Night Musical Journey. Next I started this blog, My Rick Springfield Crush, because I was so excited about rediscovering my favorite rock star, but nobody else in my real life was all that interested. I never imagined that two years later – and 212 posts later (this one is #213) I’d still be writing it. I had no idea there’d be so many new things to write about: two CDs (The “Stripped Down CD/DVD” and “Rocket Science”), two movies (“Ricki and the Flash” and “Traces”), TV shows (“True Detective” and “Supernatural”), as well as numerous interviews and concerts.  And even when I formally ended the blog about 20 posts ago, I still found myself coming back to write more.

The same week I saw that initial interview in July 2014, I learned that he would be in town for a concert a few days later, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to afford the tickets (and I also found out he’d been in town earlier in the year to promote “Magnificent Vibration” at a local bookstore. Obviously I was oblivious.) Nearly two years later, I was in the second row at the same venue and got a picture with him after the show. In between those two shows, I had seen him in concert five other times – briefly meeting him twice. I guess you might say I got a little hooked (Or you might say something else. Whatever).

Well, this post became a little more recap-y than I intended and I haven’t even written anything about RS has inspired me in other aspects of my life. Fortunately if anybody is interested, it’s already been covered in previous posts. You can even start back down in the August 2014 archives and read all the way back up to today if you want to. There are lots of good RS pictures and videos embedded along the way.

For anyone who is still reading (the current number of all-time views is 15,613, which means there are LOTS of people searching for information about Rick Springfield), thank you. 

‘Magnificent Vibration’: the video

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As if it’s not enough to be premiering a new film next week, touring and finishing a new CD (word is that it’s now expected to be released in January), RS’s best-selling novel “Magnificent Vibration” just came out in paperback today (which was announced via a posting of an animated version of one of the scenes from the book). Maybe this means book-signing tours are next? Or a full-feature animated film? Who knows what surprises may lie ahead?

With all this going on, I wonder if this feels reminiscent of the blur the “Working Class Dog”/ “General Hospital” days must have been like back in early 1980s. I wonder if there will be any new posters of him in next month’s Tiger Beat or Bop.

New songs for the new year

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Yesterday on Rick Springfield’s Facebook fan page, there was a photograph of RS and his band in the studio with the caption “Rehearsing for the next record.” Needless to say, the post received a number of likes – more than 4,700 so far – and more than 200 shares and comments. The announcement gave RS fans another dose of anticipation for the upcoming year – so far we’re looking forward to the release of his next movie, “Ricki and the Flash”; the sequel to his best-selling novel, “Magnificent Vibration”; his episodes on “True Detective” (for those with HBO); and upcoming concerts for both full-band tours and “Stripped Down” tours. And now more new songs!

So in the spirit of new songs for the new year, I’m going to share my first song of the year – not anticipated by anybody but I’m going to share nonetheless.

It’s called “Holes in the Wall.”
 
There are holes in the wall
Hidden underneath the pictures
I can’t answer when you call
There’s a shortage in the fixture
The lawn is overgrown
And the floor’s in need of sweeping
But I can’t get out of bed
I only feel like sleeping
 
The sun is shining brightly
But it’s icy cold outside
There’s a nail in the tire
That prevents me from a ride
The volume’s all turned up
But the mute button is blinking
It appears that we are floating
But it feels like we are sinking
 
There are holes in the wall
Hidden underneath the pictures
I can’t read the tiny scrawl
Scribbled among all the splinters
The pantry is empty
And the wall’s in need of painting
But I can’t get out of bed
So I’ll just lie here waiting
 
That may be light inside the tunnel
But it’s just too dark to see
Can’t tell if it’s salvation
Or a train headed toward me
It’s dark although it’s morning
Because the sun has yet to rise
So you don’t notice the new day
When you open up your eyes
 
There are holes in the wall
Hidden underneath the pictures
I can’t answer when you call
There’s a shortage in the fixture
The lawn is overgrown
And the floor’s in need of sweeping
I’ll try getting out of bed
Though I only feel like sleeping.
 
© 2015

NOTE: Hello from six months after this post was written – June 18. I finally recorded this song (a very rough version) – here it is: