Butterfly
One of the earliest songs in the drawer. I can date this one exactly. August 1970. Written in a burst of enthusiasm at being back with Chad and his family between the London run of a hit play, “Conduct Unbecoming”, and transferring to Broadway. It was great to be back in the world of music again and I quickly and easily came up with Butterfly, and also, The Moment I Saw You, which appeared on BDS 6. Chad and I did a nice demo version of the The Moment later on in the mid seventies. A reminder that even if we had technically split up, we still couldn’t wait to get together and try out musical ideas.
According to the Book
One from the early 90s by the look of it. And the reference to the the ozone layer, which was a big worry at the time. As always with Big Dave, there are moments of real life in between the jokes. Apparently his ex wife, Bonnie, took up Scottish dancing after their divorce. I don’t know about her cooking skills, but I do know that they remained devoted to each other. Yet again, the mystery of other people’s marriages.
Dangerous Times
As I’ve noted before, my job description when writing songs with Dave, was not only to come up with the tune but also to edit out all kinds of extraneous stuff that had somehow crept in. In this case, I insisted on a huge cut. So, in the original version, just after the first bridge…breathing and thinking too…I’m here to tell you…
“While we are speaking of contemporary dangersFunny, spiky, angry, but surely from another place. By cutting this out, the killer lines at the end “Long time, no kiss. Dangerous times” have much more impact. From the general situation of the times we live in, to the specific cooling of a relationship. The great thing about Dave was that he always let me cut if I felt it was necessary. Many writers would not have been so generous.
My sweet, let us not forget those
Five feet plus two adorable inches
Of lethal weapon, pretending to be you.
You pose a permanent threat to my well being
You send my blood pressure
Reeling off the chart
And the damage you’ve done
To my bleeding heart
Has medically made me…
A curiosity.”
Coming On to Rain
If you are a writer of songs and you go through a divorce, without a doubt you will have a Divorce Song. This is one of mine. I have another one, which will appear at a later date. Dave’s was I Might Leave, an absolute killer, from BDS 4. In his case, all the details seem to be plucked directly from real life. “The incredible power of everyday things.” The contents of the attic. In my case, it was the knowledge that the marriage was inevitably heading for the rocks. A general overwhelming sadness. Written around 1977, at a guess.
Violins and Saxophones
The genius of D.M. Pierce continues to astonish. Who else would manage to get Aesop’s Fables into a lyric? Only right at the end does the listener realise that the horror of listening to the aforementioned instruments, despite all protestations to the contrary, is because it reminds Him of Her. As our old buddy Rick Jones, who wrote most successfully with Dave in the 70s, has remarked… “Pierce, on a good day…unbeatable!”
They Say
Forget Aesop, here comes Casanova. Yet more literary references from the Man. Life Is Brief, Time’s A Thief was one of his favourite sayings. There was another version, even more pithy. Namely…Life Is Brief, Dames Is Grief, which he had written on a banner, prominently displayed. It didn’t seem to put off his adoring female admirers. And you can’t miss some glorious funky guitar from Tim Maple. We just had to let him go at the end. Too good to stop.
Walk on the Water
My oldest friend, the poet Hugo Williams, has been married these many years to Hermine, a French lady, as you might guess. In earlier times she had many circus skills, including tightrope walking. She wrote a book on it, under her maiden name, Hermine Demoriane. So here is Hugo, watching her adoringly from down below, as the song has it. I had been over to see my old pal in the mid-seventies, hoping to find a spare lyric or two and grabbed this one.
It Must Be Nice
Another one from Dave’s Americana period. I thought long and hard about attempting it, wondering whether to drop the key and growl it in what I hoped would be a more authentic version. But common sense prevailed and I left in my own voice, so to speak. It contains one of my all time favourite lines from Pierce. “A girl alone, with a gramophone, somewhere, in an upstairs room.” Actually, the lyric has it as “somewheres,” a hint of dialect. Again, much cogitation. What to do? In the end, I just hit the S at the end very lightly, because that’s how he wrote it and because the wheres/stairs rhyme is just brilliant.
Tell You Something Else
For some reason, I always think of this scene taking place in the car, driving home after the party. Once again, a short story, entirely in dialogue. A bit dated, for sure…I mean, bra burning? We are definitely in former times. And the guy who is speaking, most certainly a guy, is clearly a bit dim. And drunk. But clearly the marriage will bump along after this evening. Another one from the early 80s. I’ve tried this song out a few times with live audiences and it always works. Particularly right at the end… “What do you think about Friday?”
It's Getting Cold
Another one for the Miserabilist Collection. In fact, it was so depressing that I nearly didn’t bother, until Jo Meacham talked me into it. As you might guess, it’s a Late Lyric of Dave’s. The original lines were not only It’s Getting Cold, but I’m Growing Old, which I decided to cut. Way too much, as if we hadn’t made the point already with “How did I get to be so old, so young?” The Sha Na Na background voices were a late addition. Just something I kept humming while listening to the track. And also, I couldn’t think of any other words to go there. And I really didn’t want to keep repeating It’s Getting Cold. Enough, already.
Lost, One Dream
I’ve mentioned before that dreams and dreaming were a favourite subject for Big Dave. When all else failed, to the Dream. As a result, I’ve had to make sure that there is lots of room between Dream Songs. As in, on different albums. But this is a cracking lyric, nonetheless. A late one from the Old Boy, written after his stroke, but still with the genius wordplay still intact.
It's What's In the Box
Written on a Word Processor, I note. Dave was thrilled when he got his. I rather missed the tap of the typewriter. So, one from the 90s. He was rather snooty about this lyric, as he often was if it was a throwaway fun number. He was wrong about this one, of course. But then, so sadly, he never got to hear it finished. And I would often say, “there’s a great harmony here”. He had to make do with one voice and some old guitar that he’d found on a dumpster in Paris. So, fair enough.
Guess I've Only Got Myself to Blame
And even more sadly, he never got to hear this one at all. I set it posthumously, from an email. Towards the end of his life he would send poems/lyrics most days to a group of his friends, the days of slim volumes of verse being no longer practical. And here it is again…Love is brief, Time’s a thief. The Wit and Wisdom of David M. Pierce.
Prison Without Bars
And to finish…one from the late 70s, written for Meal Ticket, I imagine. It was certainly one of the first songs I found in his bottom drawer. It would be great with a band, the old fiddle player, the guy on the drums and so on. Once again, it has the air of an old black and white movie about it. I don’t think prison bands, if they exist at all, are anything like this in our day and age.