5090 by FAWM: "A Beakful of Nothing"

A Beakful of Nothing

Liner Notes

#acousticonetake #singersongwriter
Every little song I've done this month (save for the Fire in the Rain attempts) has been circling the same chords, the same themes, and some of the same words. I just snatch a beakful of nothing and try to transubstantiate it. At some point I'll need to let go, but the effort still feels fruitful.

What the hell does "singer songwriter" mean? This is the first time I've used the tag. I'm singing and it might be a song

Lyrics

I was once there too
Where no accidents happen
Watching my dowsing rods cross
For the truth is not for the living
Reaching for rabbits in hats
For the truth is not for the living
Singing of this and of that without seeing words as signs

I mostly eat what I don’t kill
With a beak full of nothing
I take my fill
If I nip this in time I might somehow cross a line
I might just trip on my lies and say something I’d call right
I might just trip by design and say something of my life

If you find this in my typewriter
You should know I’m a terrible liar
If there be something of me here
That something might just be desire
If there be dowsing rods met here
That X could not but mean desire
If there be marks on the beast
Then maybe someday I’ll make mine

Comments

@edward9thstreet 5w

Wow. Every line brings some surprise in this. I hear a little Nick Lowe in your voice, it's very tuneful.

@daveyboy103 6w

I love this, you have avery unique vocal tone.

@loveonamixtape 7w

I love the idea of circling around some of the same ideas and even phrases -- I've definitely found myself doing that, especially during these songwriting challenges. I think it speaks to the interests/obsessions etc of the artist in a really interesting way, and also to just, you know, the ineffable nature of *things* -- can we ever really *get* at them perfectly or completely? Anyway! This song is awfully pretty -- love the playing on this especially. And you are always so great with a clever and poignant turn of phrase, but there are some especially good couplets here: "I might just trip on my lies and say something I’d call right/I might just trip by design and say something of my life" and "If there be marks on the beast/Then maybe someday I’ll make mine" are favorites.

@kosch 7w

I found this an intriguing listen - where the lyrics/vocals are the prominent part of the song, yet they seem just out of reach.
I do occasionally enjoy that feeling.

@jerrypettit 7w

Yeah, I've seen your "dowsing rods cross" before, I think--and remember that phrase standing out. My own personal "worries" about repetition are with melodies--and I DO occasionally find myself "kind of" reusing the melody of an old song of mine if the chord progressions are the same. Sigh... Great job on this! ❤️

@ttg105 7w

I recognize some of the phrases from the other songs! More great lines in this reflective lament, like eating what you don't kill and the dowsing rods. Maybe you can link all the songs in a concept album. Love the title.

@coolparadisoMod 7w

could depend on the sizeb of the beak! a pelican well.......
we get there how and when we can!

@sbs 7w

I don’t really think too much about lyrics or their meaning. Maybe why my songs are somewhat mysterious. I do see some similar ideas in this song as your last one. “Typewriter” cracked me up. But a song is more about the overall theme as told through the music and vocals with a few key words that allow the listener to insert themselves and apply meaning to it. You do that so well!

@billwhite51 7w

i find the singer songwriter label demeaning and degrading, and prefer performing songwriter, although i hate that almost as much. this is my favorite song of yours this year. besides being gorgeously composed and played and sung, it deals with themes universal to writers. how much of ourselves dare we expose? where does the truth end and the lies begin? as for using the same chords, i made an album after fawm was over this year in which i used the same three chords on over half the songs, what i did to conceal this was to but the capo on a different fret for each song, so they were the same basic chords but in different keys. i was always playing a D -G-A progression. in your songs, they dont sound like the same chords because your melodies and phrasing are so different in each one.

@mahtowin 7w

I don't think I "know" what you're singing about. Maybe about truth and lies? Maybe via dowsing rods or both?
I always listen to you spellbound and it is this mysteriousness that fascinates me about your texts! That I don't understand every word - but I have a feeling for them.

On this one I particularly love the lines
„I might just trip on my lies and say something I’d call right
I might just trip by design and say something of my life“