Scott Spearly
Four Songs From Rabbit Hole
Friend or Foe
Lyrics
Friend or Foe
Look on the far horizon
Something’s coming now
Might be a ship or an army
I can’t quite make it out
Could be our death or savior
The sun is setting low
Shadows shifting steady
Might be a friend or foe
Will it bring Hell or fury
Should we hide and wait
Is it the true messiah?
What wonder do we face?
Is it a new beginning?
Creation coming near
A black apocalypse
Or fundamental fear
Can’t see the shapes or colors
Or banner flying high
A marching force of thunder
Under darkened skies
Will it bring good or evil?
It’s too soon to know
This rolling Trojan horse
Might be a friend or foe
When they come to the gates
Try not to tremble
Wait for the revelation
Don’t let them bend your will
It could be seven churches
Sending seven seals
Or four deadly horsemen
Red, black, white, and pale
But if it’s radiance
A new golden age
Then we should ride the future
Beside the winds of change,
We’ll keep our focus clear
Because it’s too soon to know
If these distant footsteps
Might be friend or foe
About the Song
You’re looking off into the distance, something ominous and unknown is coming. Maybe this is finally the thing that ends your existence, or carries you off to some glorious infinity. Do you run from it, or embrace it?
I, You & We
Lyrics
I, You & We
I am the valley wide
An airy countryside
I can be the mountains and the tall trees
I am a far off land
The blowing desert sand
I can be the waves of all seven seas
Like a big fish swimming through the ocean,
Or a tiny feather floating in the summer breeze,
I’m in a state of chronic locomotion
Moving easy, flying high and carefree
It just feels so good now
Moving in my own way
Flying high & carefree
Moving in my own way
I’m moving in my own way
You’re the queen bee sitting on a honey throne
A patient spider spinning on the web alone
You can wait [x5]
Because you know how to kill ’em slow,
And you’re a butterfly
On a flower low
And then you flutter high
You’ve been here before
When you were something else,
And you’re so graceful
When you open up
Your pretty wings and fly
You feel so good now
Moving in your own way
Flying high and carefree
Moving in your own way
You’re moving in your own way
We are the bright sun
The night’s silver moon
And we can be the stars in the galaxy
We will know soon
When we do collide
It was worth the wait
To make the earth shake
We’re gonna break it
Down and shake it right
Down now, we’re gonna break it down
And shake it right down now
You and me
We are we
We are we
We are moving in our own way
Moving in our own way
It just feels so good now
Moving in our own way
Moving in our own way
Shake it right down now
Moving in our own way
About the Song
This piece was the first song recorded Rabbit Hole. All of the songs were written on the upright bass, an instrument I’m familiar with from decades of playing string band music, but I myself don’t really play the beast. Too damn big, it’s like trying to play a Volkswagen. With some instructional guidance from my son, a trained bassist, and taking ONE lesson from his former mentor and music teacher, a one-time colleague of mine before I left education, I set out to learn what I could on the bass, and use it as tool to get me out of my normal writing tendencies. The bass line for this song is a simple one, derived from some Latin influences I favor. Musically I wanted something a little sexy, ethereal, with some lyrics hinting at some of the natural poetry, chemistry, electricity (or whatever you want to call it) between two people who are feeling some natural pull or attraction. There are two solitary beings, “I” and “You,” then a merging of the two into the “We.” This is also the only song on the album where I used my grandfather Pete Gregas’ guitar, a butchered-up, hacked-up, pieced-back-together 70’s lawsuit-era copy of a Gibson Hummingbird. I hot-rodded it years ago with flat wound strings and a sound hole pickup recommended to me by the late blues great Ben Andrews. Acoustically, my son says the guitar has the worst intonation, but when it’s juiced up with a good tube amp, man, that thing has a true magnetic pull and attraction all its own.
Share Your Money
Lyrics
Share Your Money
The little neighbor girl sitting on the front step
Selling lemonade for a dollar and fifty cents
She said, “Mister, how’d you like an ice-cold drink?”
I’m just shaking off another late Friday night
I’m still waking up, my body ain’t feeling right
I just want a cigarette and a place to think
A pink polka dot piggy bank she wants to fill
But all I have is a crumpled-up dollar bill
I told her not today
She said, “Mister, let me tell you what
I can tell you’re in a rut
Let me sell you half a cup
I don’t have to top it up
And that should make it oh-so-easy
To share your money!”
I went back inside to roust the old lady
She was sleeping in and I-just-thought-maybe
She could open up her purse for a sweet lemonade
Well, now up-and-down she cursed me
Mad as Hell, it’s plain to see
She’s always out working late
Scraping all the dirty plates
While I screw around town
Spending every cent that I own
Then she started packin’ up
She had enough of me
She said, “I found a nice guy and he likes to please
And finally I’m gonna follow up on his advice
You’re never gonna have the cash
It’s time for me to leave your ass
He can bring the bacon home
You’ll be living all alone
And that should make it oh-so easy
To share your money!”
I tried to figure out what I keep doing wrong
So I took a drive, I wasn’t gone too long
But I mixed a little whiskey in my lemonade
Then the cop pulled me over quick
I said he was a dirty prick
I couldn’t walk a straight line
He hit me with a hefty fine
He said, “That should make it oh-so-easy
to share your money!”
About the Song
There are some folks who seemingly just can’t get their shit together. They might be friendly and likable. They might give you the proverbial shirt off their back in an instant. They’re not bad people, just poor decision makers. This song is an amalgamation of a few characters I know. Maybe it’s your friend or family member? Be nice.
Spring Walk
Lyrics
Spring Walk
Come with me and take a walk
We’ll find joy in every step
The sun is shining, the birds they talk
Hold my hand and see what’s next
Flowers dance in the gentle breeze
Honeysuckle is sweet in the air
Limbs sway on the willow trees
A splendid spring is everywhere
And with you, all my days are bright
And the dark of night will pass on through
When the stars give way to morning light
I’ll be glad to take another walk with you
Come with me and take a walk
You won’t forget this wonderful day
With all the beauty you’ll ever want
Even when it looks like rain
Every storm comes to an end
As colors bend across the sky
A stroll with you walking hand in hand
That’s a day made for you and me
Because with you, all my days are bright
And the dark of night will pass on through
When the stars give way to morning light
I’ll be glad to take another walk with you
About the Song
Winter hangs on too long sometimes. This last winter in Pennsylvania, and for folks up and down the East Coast, everyone was feeling the sub-zero temperatures and pinch of high utility bills. Personally, I love winter. My friends scold me for this, but for me winter means a slowing down of time, crisp clean air, no humidity, no bugs, no sweating, just the solace and quiet that comes with feeding the wood stove and staring at the fire: caveman TV. I meditate more in winter, but even for a cold-loving fool like me, the bitter of winter just went too long into spring. Even now that spring is here, temperatures have been markedly cooler in the east for April and May. This song was written in the throes of winter, thinking about a good friend of mine who is an avid walker. He walks his dog in the neighboring park twice a day and sometimes more. He walks other people’s dogs. He walks downtown to the local brewery. He walks to the coffee shop to meet a gang of codgers I like to call “The Resistance.” The man is always WALKING. He is also one of many I know who at times let the gray of winter weigh heavy on their minds and souls, so I put this sparse but airy song together for him as I was composing Rabbit Hole. I wanted to let him know, with love, that spring is on the way.
About Scott Spearly
Scott Spearly is a poet and musician living in Pennsylvania near the I-70 and I-81 hub bordering Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. His roots band, The Knuckle Dusters, has worked the D.C. and Baltimore areas for almost thirty years. With his band mates, he serves on the Maryland State Arts Council roster of touring musicians. Scott writes and records from his wooded log home property in a modest hand-built home studio nestled near a frog pond. His ten original albums spanning fifteen years are often recorded in the quiet winter months when music gigging and carpentry work slow to a stop.
His new album of original music, Rabbit Hole, was recorded between New Years Day and April of this year, just before the annual symphony of peeper frogs makes it impossible to record. Rabbit Hole will be available through all digital streaming outlets and platforms this summer.