Alice (Gap Teeth continue to inspire)

This is a song that started out funny and ended up sounding sad. Most people who knew me a couple of years ago think it’s a little too painful, but I want to talk about where this song came from, because it amuses me. I started writing this in the final months of 2005, and finished the only recording I have of it in March 2006. The section where I now sing “callus” and “palace” used to be “Alice.” The song was going to be called Alice. I was writing a song from the perspective of Jankyn, who is the fifth husband of Alyson, or Alice, the Wife of Bath in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. While in her prologue it is obvious that he has died before she sets out on her pilgrimage, I envisioned her leaving him while he was still alive for this piece. There are a couple of lines that I threw in to make it sound specific to my own personal experience (there are obvious parallels anyways), but this has never been one of my more personal songs, contrary to popular belief. I must admit though that as the song was coming together, I saw the “sad potential” and tried to milk that. Truth be told, I actually enjoy it.

Calluses

I overlay her memory with gold,
And the finest jewelry.
The engagement gone wrong fills every song,
And brings on every callus.

And I admit my tendency to be possessive,
Was lightly put just a bit excessive.

I’m still not immune to her perfume,
That fills this empty palace.

How could I be jealous of her former lovers?
She said they got nothing on me.

And I recant every lengthy rant about all my needs.
On my knees I am.

All the brighter thoughts ignite my want for her.
I’m gaunt with worry, my judgment blurry.
I almost forget the calluses.