Lyrics & Notes: Someone Else's Home

Dotted Line
Someone Else's Home
What Would Be Left?
Make You Smile
Stop Holding On
Pleading

Dotted Line

In the broken light of day
In the frozen chill of morning
I want the guts to walk away
I wanna listen to the warning

That's flashing angry hazard lights
Telling me to run and hide forever

But when the sun breaks through the cloud
When my memory lets me see her
And when the radio sings loud
it feels like a good idea

Reflections of the road behind me
Won't catch up or try to find me
I only have this car and what's inside
But dirt jeans and half squeezed toothpaste
Thrown into my granddads suitcase
Are all I need to ride this dotted line.

Changing gear and changing lanes
But I can't change direction
And every signpost looks the same
But I'm missing the connection

Will she hear what I've planned to say,
She's every right to turn away forever

I've tried to fold my life in two and separate myself from you
But now I see that all the blame is mine
I've left the life that I've been leading
To get to grips with all the feelings
Tearing me along this dotted lines

And all the white lines
Keep me on the right track
Until my headlights shine on you

..and we're almost there..

I left her when she needed me,
Thinking it would set me free
I drove away and left our lives behind
I should take responsibility
For broken histories haunting me
And sign my name upon this dotted line

Dotted line was written in response to a painting by Joe Simpson. Joe was doing a project called 'Almost There' in which he did 12 paintings and gave each one to a different musician. Each musician would then write a song inspired by it. I was really pleased to be asked to get involved as I'm always up for pushing myself in different directions. The writing process was really difficult, I had to make up a story that would fit the painting, but that worked as a stand alone idea as well. I wrote it during a blissful week off where I worked on music in the morning then cycled up to a local pub to sit outside with a pint and write lyrics. I'm really pleased with the recording of this tune. We worked with Jamie Vizard in the studio and still managed to get a really nice live feel. We also invited Missy Claughan from the Launderette Poets to come and play some cello. My favorite bit is where I sing 'radio sings loud' and then all the backing vocals kick in as if they are on the radio. Probably the most hopeful song on the EP and worth listening to in your car on the way to work.

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Someone Else's Home

Open up the windows jar the door, to let some air in,
Wind the clocks then sweep the floor and clean the kitchen.
Fill the cupboards carefully. Don't spill the wine.
Pull the blinds 'til you can see the view outside

Your flowers are out of bed
All the plants are dead or over grown..

You're on your own
Until you make your heart someone else's home.

Splash some colour on the walls to hide the cobwebs.
Or you could up and leave it all and paint the town red
But when you're not there the clocks still tick, and the dust still falls

The boilers hiss and steam,
The radiators bleeding out with cold..

It's freezing cold
Until you make your heart someone else's home.

Draw the curtains,
Just write someone else's name into the dust.
Don't close the door.

Imagine your surprise,
You can't believe your eyes when you turn down the road that's never changed
But your house doesn't look the same
Cos someone's kept the beat while you were gone..
The lights are on,
cos someone else is home.

Someone else is home

Someone else is home.

This is the second version of this song. We recorded the original when we recorded 'make you smile', 'what would be left?' and 'halfway house'. I was really pleased with the song but we recorded without the rest of the band having heard it before the day in the studio. After we recorded it we gigged with it loads and settled on the version that's now on the EP. I'm really pleased with how delicate the arrangement is, with Spence's glock hook and Ivan's latin-style Cajon. I purchased a ukulele about a week before the session and felt it added a bit more of a jaunty feel to the tune so that went on as well. The song is about a character who hasn't shared his heart for a long time. I try to put in a lot of subtle references to the heart throughout the lyric, from 'beat' to 'bleed' to the red wine that might spill out of the cupboards. As soon as I wrote the title down, I knew it would become the title for the whole EP

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What Would Be Left?

Trying to get through the long night
But all you can see through the moonlight
Are memories of enemies and shame
And you're still shouldering the blame, but you always will
Cos what would be left if you let it all go?

All of the things to be proud of
Are ignored because you can't get rid of,
All of the demons that will crawl on your weaknesses
They could fall into nothingness
But what would be left if you chased them away

We've all become the line of resistance
The sum of less than the parts that we show off
We can't afford to let go of.

You're left with...
Doors that you're too scared to open,
You don't even dare to walk past them.
You're stitching the wounds deciding which ones
You'd definitely lose in a heartbeat
But what would be left if you took them away

Inst

Doors that you're too scared to open,
You don't even dare to walk past them.
You're stitching the wounds deciding which ones
You'd definitely lose in a heartbeat
But what would be left if you took them away

This is probably my favorite, but I'm a sucker for a country waltz. I walk the thin line between being hopeful and being morose throughout the whole song. Musically it is as simple as anything I've ever written but I think that helps get the emotion across. It's about how people wish they could get rid of all of the bad things that have happened to them, when in fact, it is those experiences that define us - often more than the positive ones. I wrote it very quickly when I was early to a rehearsal and was sat with my guitar. As soon as the band and I played it together, the feel was perfect. It's probably my favorite song of this new batch to sing live. The intimate recording really helps this tune, especially Ivan's bass drum pedal, which squeeks and creeks throughout the whole recording, but adds a real warmth and reality to proceedings. I thought long and hard about dropping Stu Hudson's electric slide guitar as it was a bit too country and western but in the end decided to go with it - in for a penny...

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Make You Smile

Trying to talk about what we talk about,
Could help you see inside of me someday.
But trying to think about the way I think about
Is too absurd to find the words to say,

To clear the air, to get me off the hook,
This policy's been bad for me before.
I hope this bring and share brings more than just bad luck,
And paves the winding way to whats in store

But I don't know what to do,
When we're arguing the difference
I know I'm gonna say some stupid thing

I'll try to lighten up the mood,
With jokes and smoke and mirrors,
But not cause I'm afraid to let you in,
I just wanna make you smile, that's all.

Trying to deal with the way I deal with you,
The problem is our differences are clear.
But when we look at what's behind the things we do,
Our hearts aren't flung as far as they appear

Chorus

Have you heard the one about the princess
Who stayed up in her tower hoping no one cared less,
She stayed there forever hoping,
No one got hurt

And did you hear the one about the jester,
Who bottled up his heart and then he did his best to,
Keep it there forever hoping..

No one else got hurt,
But we can't hide forever
You let down your hair, I'll climb to you

I'll try to lighten up the mood,
With jokes and smoke and mirrors,
But not cause I'm afraid to let you in,
I just wanna make you smile, that's all.

This was the first song written for this project and it was always intended to go first. Ultimately 'dotted line' won that battle and I still believe it to be the right choice. I'd bought a half-capo which covered the middle three strings of the guitar and almost as soon as I started mucking around with it, had found the progression that would become the chorus to this song. Lyrically it is about me and my wife having couples counseling before we got married, and my inability to take it too seriously. Its testament to the band that we really hold off on the choruses despite the big hook, instead, saving it all for the middle 8 which is better story telling.

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Stop Holding On

My dreams can all burn down in flames
And up in smoke - Stop holding on
Tomorrow can feel just the same
When I'm losing hope - Stop holding on

It is hard, to hear what your loved ones say
And to regard, your life as their right of way
To do as they please,
To bring you to your knees,
If it's up to me I'll stop holding on

The people around me surprise me
Let it go - Stop holding on
And who am I to advise them?
What do I know? - Stop holding on

You can spend, your time on someone else
The problem then, there's no way to share the wealth
It it's all one way,
There's just a price to pay
So if it's all the same I'll stop holding on.

Inst

It's tough to find, somewhere to make a stand
And to define, what I should understand
What I shouldn't do
What I should pursue
If it was up to you what should I hold on to

If you give me something to fight for
Then I won't - Stop holding on

Then I won't - Stop holding on

On every album that I've made, there's always a tune that's just me and guitar playing live. Despite being constantly tempted to add other instruments to this I decided to add it to 'second date song' and 'lend me your ears' as a solo tune. It's a simple song about a complicated idea - the harder we try to control or understand things, the further we get from our objectives. We recorded it a Diamond Studios and we only had time for two takes before another band was in, the urgency helped me and Brad get the right take.

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Pleading

I know I've let you down
You think it's your fault but I'm just as lost as before
You offer solid ground
I'm losing balance; don't know what I'm falling toward

I can't find, my way between the lines

But you're pleading,
Dividing your heart cause its bleeding
Pleading, you're sending but I'm not receiving

I've heard it all before,
The pages turn but I'll never know what they mean.
Stuck in metaphor
There's rocks and sand, with water and fire in between.

I cant find, my way to get inside

But you're pleading,
Dividing your heart cause its bleeding
Pleading, you're sending but I'm not receiving

On paper wings you lift into the air
I watch you as your flying
The angels sing, the cherubs stop and stare
And I'm the only one that's hiding
And you're the only one that's crying

You lie awake, thinking I can't hear you..

Pleading,
Dividing your heart cause its bleeding
Pleading, you're sending but I'm not receiving
You're bleeding on all of the ground I'm conceding
And all the half truths I believe in
But I pray that you never stop pleading

This is an interesting addition to the other five songs. In many ways it doesn't fit in musically and there's a temptation to do a much bigger production job on it than we have done, that would have made it stick out a mile mind you. We did everything we could to make this one feel as live as the others despite being a totally different feel. This song is more in keeping with the stuff off the last album so it's good to have given that a nod on this new release. I love the glock/cello counter melody on the second verse and I'm also a big fan of the coda which is really dramatic. This is another song featuring the half-capo, and harmonically it is very similar to 'are you listening?' off the first album. Spence and Ivan hit a real groove throughout which closes the 'someone else's home EP in style.

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