"Call Me Changed"

Written & sung by Rachel Dalton
Instruments & production by Garrett Williams
© 2023

~ ~ ~

"Call Me Changed"

I wore the crown, it wore me down, all the while scared of missin’ out. Is it shameful to want to be able to be with my man?

And I rabble-roused with all the crowds, every round gettin' a little more loud, just want a quiet night (that'd be just right) here with my man.

Cos lately I've had enough of your tone, so maybe I’m better off just goin’ home.

Cos lately I've had enough of your tone, so maybe I’m better off just goin’ home.

So you'll call me changed, or middle-aged, to live in his light, I don't need no stage. Don't have to raise my voice above the noise to be with my man.

Call Me Changed

"Beginning With You"

Written & sung by Rachel Dalton
Bass guitar by George MacDonald
All other instruments & production by Garrett Williams
© 2023

~ ~ ~

"Beginning With You"

Well I might‘ve been a few sheets to the wind, and you might’ve been high as the stars, but I must‘ve sighed, “it was a damn good night,” cos you said “this is only the start.” And the gig itself I don't remember well, but you must've been best on the times, cos the music soared, and I wanted more, but the music don't care what you like. And every day since I've been movin’ on, just findin’ a new fit that’s right. And now and again, we chat like we're friends but our music’s gone, and you weren't wrong when you said it was just the beginning, it just wasn't the beginning for us. Movin’ on with the lives that we're living, it’s just not quite the livin’ it was. And I’m grateful for what I remember, and I see you were close to the truth, cos you said it was just the beginning, it just wasn't the beginning with you. No, it wasn't the beginning with you.

Well I might‘ve been hard to take at the end, cos I did want to settle the score, ‘til I tried again with a better man and I saw what that ending was for. And I know you sighed over drinks one night, “I’m impressed at how quick you moved on,” but you'll never get all the love I had, and the new loves don’t zero the sum. Cos every day since I've been movin’ on, but damned if it’s tough to forget. We chat like we're friends but you don't understand, our connection’s gone, and you weren't wrong when you said it was just the beginning, it just wasn't the beginning for us. Movin’ on with the lives that we're living, it’s just not quite the livin’ it was. And I’m grateful for what I remember, and I see you were close to the truth, cos you said it was just the beginning, it just wasn't the beginning with you. No, it wasn't the beginning with you.

The other night, at your gig-on-the-side, I danced as you put on a show. You said off-hand somethin’ ‘bout your band, and I told you, “I don't wanna know.” You did the same, and you asked our name, and you asked who was writin’ the songs. As I I tipped your jar and I left that bar, I thought, “this man don't know me at all.” Cos every day since I've been movin' on... it's all in the music I write. We'll chat like we're friends but you can't understand, our connection’s gone, and you weren't wrong when you said it was just the beginning, it just wasn't the beginning for us. Movin’ on with the lives that we're living, it’s just not quite the livin’ it was. And I’m grateful for what I remember, and I see you were close to the truth, cos you said it was just the beginning, it just wasn't the beginning with you. No, it wasn't the beginning with you.

Beginning With You

"Meaning of Life"

Written & sung by Rachel Dalton
Bass guitar by George MacDonald
All other instruments & production by Garrett Williams
© 2024

~ ~ ~

"Meaning of Life"

Heard you did it up right, got high as a kite and then 
figured out the meaning of life, and later lost it all again, 
and maybe someday we can recreate the method and the mind, 
and if it don't turn out we can watch TV instead. 

So let’s get high tonight, like back in ‘01, when bein’ irresponsible was half of the fun, sitting in a cypher say so-long to the sun, keepin’ in time with the rhythm of the drums.

Heard you let the adrenaline settle into your veins, 
after the audience packed it in, and only you remained. 
Danced all night in a paper dream, flashin’ green and white, maybe sometime you and I could do the same. 

So let’s get high tonight, like after we played, rockin’ suede and leather and some gold lamé, keepin’ it together ‘til the half-moon fades, keepin’ in time with the rhythm of the bass.

Folks been talkin’ ‘bout everything’s just the same -- forget the normal and mundane. Folks just tryin’ to get ahead in that game, but all I want is somethin’ strange, 

so let’s get high tonight, like back in ‘01, when bein’ irresponsible was half of the fun. Sitting in a cypher say so-long to the sun, keepin’ in time with the rhythm of the drums.

So let’s get high tonight, can't wait anymore... baby, meet me over at the 154. Maybe we'll be bolder than we’ve been before. Keepin' in time with the rhythm of the chords.

So let’s get high tonight, like back in ‘01, when bein’ irresponsible was half of the fun. Sitting in a cypher say so-long to the sun, keepin’ in time with the rhythm of the drums.

Keepin' in time with the rhythm . . .

Meaning of Life

“Clockwork & Cogs”


Shipwrecked on a Sunday night, 
all messed up on questions and wrestlin’ the rest of my life.
I set up a scale just to measure it out, 
the serious stability up against a little twist and shout 
These college town counties are cute & polite, 
but pretty little postcards don’t leave you a lot of room to write. 
And it might be a kick to sit in on a verse – 
but kicks lead to habits, and habits get worse.
 
And the man at the store has me scrubbin’ the floors
he says ‘keep your head down, 
you’ll get crowned without having to start any wars.’
And the professors at school push their rubrics and rules:
“You can practice the proper procedure 
to purchase a place with a pool.”

But these cats aren’t cut out for careers; 
they’re bumpin’ through the culture, 
they’re pushing off like gondoliers.
Syncopated slanted rhymes, 
it’s a pretty bit of mischief, 
a breezy way to lose your mind,
inside a hall of funhouse mirrors, 
where estimated prophets are nothing more than profiteers.
But we talked some shit out over beers. 
And a couple things are clear: 

If I leave with the tour, 
they’ll say “How immature –
She blew up her promising future
to flirt with some cute ‘troubadours’”
But if I fall through the glass, 
I could blow off the brass.
All this talk about “follow your passions,” 
I just wanna step on the gas.

Hey beautiful, hey spacious skies, 
come to me with comfort ‘cause I can’t get to sleep tonight.
Visions of my grandpa’s ghost, 
burnin’ down his cornfield, escapin’ on a riverboat.
I know what I am, I don’t like what I’ve been, 
and don’t we all get by with a little help from friends?
Hey Nebraska, I need you to lend 
a little courage at the end.

‘Cause the God of the Blues 
says you are what you choose.
He says this world was only a template, 
the next one is all up to you.
And the God of the Dogs 
says it’s clockwork and cogs
keep us spinning us around and around 
and around and around and around 
and around and around.

Could a couple of concerts save me from clockwork?
Could a couple of gods save me from cogs?

~ ~ ~

Garrett Williams - Lead Vocal, Instruments & Production
Featuring:
Rachel Dalton - Vocals

Original image by Drone Factory Art

Recorded at Henry Studios, Brooklyn NY. | © 2024

Cori & the Cosmos

Clockwork & Cogs

"Acrobat"

Taxis, tickets, liquids, it's the business. 
Placin’ phone calls from the hotel pool.
Blistered little syntax for a princess.
Delighting in rewriting all the rules.

Steamrolling’ through Nola, she knows no one. 
Contract, backscratch, clapback, zydeco.
Didn’t count on counsel or consigliere, 
but if she says yes, who are we to say no? 

And if you wanna sing, you oughta sing like you’re not just talking.          
And if you wanna dance you can’t be sittin’ out the really good songs. 

Slackin’ at the Radisson in Jackson.
Crackin’ up with action flicks and wine.
Harry’s in a dust-up with some numbers.
 But she stays lockdown Motown four/four right on time.

But if you wanna play, you oughta play like it really matters.          
And if you wanna dance you can’t be sittin’ out the really good songs. 

Mixing up the medicines in Memphis. 
Machiavellian Mephistopheles.
She will operate debauchery concoctions. 
She will ask you very kindly to say ‘please.”

And if you fall in love, you oughta love like you might die tryin’.          
And if you wanna dance, you can’t be sittin’ out the really good songs. 
And if you wanna sing you oughta sing like you’re not just talking.
and if you wanna dance you can’t be sittin out,
don’t be sittin’ out, don’t go sittin’ out the really good songs

~ ~ ~

Garrett Williams - Lead Vocal, Instruments & Production
Featuring:
Rachel Dalton - Vocals
George MacDonald - Bass Guitar

Original image by Drone Factory Art

Recorded at Henry Studios, Brooklyn NY. | © 2024

Acrobat

“Echo Effect” 

Another argument ‘bout the encore? 
Christ, whatcha carryin’ on for? 
There’s a couple people waiting outside.
You conjure these collaborative glories, 
and then you tell such perpendicular stories
about the where and the when and the why.

But you snap right back when the kick hits home.
Like an echo effect on an analog tone.
And you make it good just to be alive.
I’m tryin’ to echo the sound of this life.  
     
Now it’s scalpels out over the set list. 
You take offense to shit he ain't said yet.
You've been borrowing trouble for weeks.
Fixin’ for a fight in your finery, 
reducing everything to a binary,
no, I don’t think either of you are Keith.

But you’ll snap right back when the house lights dim.
When he screws up the solo, you’re rescuing him.   
Now we’re crackin’ up back at the Holiday Inn.
All these echoes still under my skin.

Waiting out this latest bad weather. 
But Olive says it all works out better
if you can scrap it out on the stage – okay.
So come on now, let's find us a diner, folks.  
We won’t include tonight in the liner notes.
And no, I don’t think either of you are Page.

And it’s not fair who gets to feel okay!
And there’s so much context I can’t keep straight.
It’s a real weird time just to be alive!
Tryin’ to echo the sound of this life.  


~ ~ ~

Garrett Williams - Lead Vocal, Instruments & Production
Featuring:
George MacDonald - Bass Guitar

Original image by Drone Factory Art

Recorded at Henry Studios, Brooklyn NY. | © 2024

Echo Effect

"Thirty Lilies Out Of New York" 

Written & performed by Sarah Fleck & the Palpitations
Recorded live at the Local 269, New York City, February 2010.

Sarah Fleck - drums
Patrick Hayes - electric guitar
Garrett Williams - vocals & Wurlitzer

Thirty Lilies Out Of New York (Sarah Fleck & the Palpitations)

Colorful rock & roll from Brooklyn, NY. 
Collaborations with Rachel Dalton & Project Diem.
Alumni of: 
Sarah Fleck & the Palpitations
The Irresponsibles.

Garrett Williams

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