All the Beautiful Girls

Specs Type: song with words Version: 1.0 {{#ask: type::download title::All the Beautiful Girls

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Stream <echo now raw> <iframe width="100%" height="100" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/126260995&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe> </echo>

Comments

Ok, it's flawed in many ways, but then again the song is about being flawed so that's kind of appropriate. Plus this is only version 1.0; I'll re-record large chunks of it when circumstances permit (better mics, better recording space, a real piano, real drums, etc.). Here it is, flaws and all.

This is kind of my first "real" song, the first time I realized I could deliberately put meaning into lyrics and say something that mattered to me. I wrote it in the late fall of 2001, driving from Athens to Durham on I-85 at night. (I remember wondering, in the days after 9/11, how anyone could write music or create any kind of art after having witnessed all that deliberate mass destruction. I guess this was my answer.)

It's about inadequacy, falling short of one's goals and even shorter of one's dreams; falling short of (or out of) grace. It's about gender dysphoria. It's about depression. It's about my dead friends (one of whom was merely ill at the time).

~~ For Jenny and Tigger ~~ (...and with apologies to Tears for Fears, "Listen", Songs from the Big Chair)

Lyrics

This was my recording area during the time this song was recorded. Yes, I played the piano for this song on that keyboard while it was in that position.

Please remind me what it was I was put on this planet for

‘Cause every step I take I find a new hole in the floor

And everywhere I look I find another open door

To somewhere not meant for me

That’s not where I’m spozed to be

Where do you want to be?

I want to be with you!

What is it that you see?

I see myself outside the light

That shines on all the beautiful girls

Who fly.....

All the beautiful girls

Can fly away.

That dream is dead, it’s time to put it in the ground

And that one’s suffering, I ought to put it down

It screams so loud it’s sure to bring the neighbors ‘round

With all the help that they think I need

Confusion is guaranteed

What do you need to see?

I want to know what’s real

Where do you need to be?

I need to be inside the light

That shines from all the beautiful girls

Who fly....

All the beautiful girls

Can fly away.

Then maybe I’d be with you

Just think of all the things we could do

All the beautiful girls

Can fly....

All the beautiful girls

Can fly away.