Ordinary Life - original song
648 views · Published 12 July 2016 · 2:46 · Indexed 7 October 2026
Channel: Oswlek · 2016 · Film & Animation
Details below the lyrics: -------------------------------- Drag on a cigarette As I have my morning cup Burns inside But it feels so right I race outside Try to beat the cold Another day is waiting Another year is fading It's an ordinary life In an ordinary time I get to work As I curse under my breath No sick days left to take And miles from my smoking break I close my eyes And I think of better things But dreams don't last And these days just pass It's an ordinary life In an ordinary time ----------------------------- This song has taken a long, circuitous path to its current edition. A live acoustic version posted back in 2009 and received a fair amount of praise, but I couldn't disagree when it also drew this well-earned criticism: "Dude, you suck. You can't play or sing for shit." So I took it down. In the interim, tuber Jock Jenkins gave me the first shove in the right direction by posting this great, unsolicited cover - the first anyone ever did of my work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddc1F3IJ6dA&index=3&list=PL8AE416E668CCE6C3 He deserves specific credit for the melody/delivery on "drag on a cigarette" and "I race outside." That was not how I sang it in the original version and, as you can tell, I ended up adopting his approach. I also borrowed from his more emphatic latter verse delivery as well. Thanks for the inspiration, Jock. The song then sat in the archives for a few years before I dragged it out during a dry spell. I ran it by my friends over on Harmonycentral and that's when "OL" transitioned to a piano piece. That's also when I rewrote the lyric (you can hear the old version on Jock's cover) and altered the arrangement to open on the chorus progression instead of the verse. The new ending (the prior one just faded out on the verse) was a happy accident that finally solidified the tune for me, roughly six years in the making. Two other notes of potential interest. This was the first of my "dream songs" - tunes that initially appear as music being played in a dream. While many of these arrive fully formed, "OL" was verse only... which leads to the second quirk. In the midst of a several hour struggle to illuminate the chorus, I played Am-F and frustratingly exclaimed, "it's just so damn ORDINARY!" Immediately after spitting the word out, I knew I found the key and the chorus came together quickly after that. Yes, I do talk to myself sometimes. :) The footage was taken from a public domain video on this site: https://archive.org/details/prelinger Thanks for listening and supporting my music. I hope you and yours are well.
