(swell) °O°°° | SOUTH OF THE RAIN AND SNOW

south of the rain and snow

lyrics - liner notes for 'south of the rain and snow'

this is probably the least auto-biographical album i ever made.
it is also the most personal album i ever made. i guess that's possible...
i tried to only ever have 3 instruments playing at once.
but simplicity can be a bitch - i didn't always succeed...

1 . kickin' all them ghosts :

kickin' all them ghosts that drove us on - so long!
i feel your hands upon my shoulders.
(as) this road just paves right over,
half the friends we ever made.
kickin' all them ghosts that made us smart - so smart!
we've found better things to do...
extra ordinary.
a bit of what's contrary.
this i think i hope, is you.

> recorded in a motel room in Mojave, CA.
written in september '07 - last song to make the album

2 . trouble loves you :

let some time go by - i think that we have to...
let these dark days die - you can leave 'em behind...
that's all, cuz fate don't know - how little it owns you...
so let your course run free - or steer if you want...
and trouble has a way of giving, doesn't matter what you do.
if trouble's gonna love you, - don't love it too.
let some time drift by - i know it will help too...
let those bad days just die - we'll leave 'em behind...
and trouble has a way of giving, doesn't matter what you do
if trouble's gonna get you, i get you too.

> written for a friend who was going through some difficult times.

3 . saved by summer :

i was bored - without one thing i would fight for
i was ten - before i ever saw the old man
i was received - in the summer of love,
and in love - i always win
i was named - for some stupid hippie bullshit
i forget - so it never makes me too mad
my mom would pray - for my half-assed education
but i was saved - by the summer...

> me imagining i grew up in the midwest with all those
tremendous thunderstorms that roll through there in the summertime...
> the clicking sounds are playing cards in bicycle spokes

4 . comes right here :

it all comes right (here!) in perfect synch
how might this be saved? - by frozen hearts
paint up past our knees, you're semi-glossed
this proves not so bad, we wash it off
water warms our hands, then gets too hot
four goods days of rain, will cool us off...

> a hot little love story

5 . our aquarium :

the black mouse said - just walk on in
the black mouse said - just go ahead
go ahead and make your motions. go ahead and make your pleas.
go ahead and be a person or personality.
go ahead and worry the angels. just don't try to change this boy.
till this cartoon's out of characters and this toystore's out of toy...
and the backside is gonna be the frontside of our aquarium
the black mouse said - just go ahead
the black mouse said - you're right again
be yourself just a child, lookin' to visit it.
not important like jurys; they come then they're goin'
more like a little smile in the lives of the people we're knowin'
you're outrageous and you're faultless, you're a certified genius
you're a goddamn perfect description of all that is pointless and needed
(me?) i'm a joker and a fighter. i'm a goddamn liar. i'm a'blaze in some way
so i might be a'fire - or in luck.
and the backside is gonna be the frontside of our aquarium
yes the outside is gonna be the inside and the shortside is gonna be the longside
and the wrong side is gonna be the right side - of our aquarium...

> a cartoon rodent named mickey was heard giving this advice:
"fuck the rest of the world - cuz' it's just you and me now"

6 . south of the rain and snow :

"don't bother me i don't enjoy sunday drives"
still he guaranteed they would return every night
see, anyplace you go you got stars shining down...
"first look for the handle then the cup will appear"
"then follow that line - you see the brightest one there?"
"everybody knows we got stars shining down"
grandfather weed just thought that sky could not be
so he turned all the lights off and we walked up the street
"everyplace you go - stars fall right down"
and we were taught that every single thought is signed
i remember just being so damn high all the time
till moving farther south then rain or snow -
if i ever saw those same stars i'd know...

> as if i ever lived in the northwest and was shown,
one night, how to use the big dipper as a clock...
the keyboards are an icy thing moving in the dark.
may be the slowest slide guitar ever played
with phone-tone. shooting stars in the sky
warm your hands in front of the acoustic guitar burning in the campfire

07. good good good :

i'd always be climbing the cotton trees
swimming the pools and streams - it was a gift just being
sit with me beside the cotton trees
beside the pools and streams - we'll find someplace still seems, good
and when won't i be such a "?"
and when will i see - in this life you're good
tonight we'll be under the cotton trees under the pools and streams
take all these things from me - for good.

> traditional murder ballad - possibly written by existential hillbillies...
the original title was "murdered, by god!"

8 . tell us all :

on the road we're so full of hope that we're dying for someone that we can meet
but our desire don't make it right for every who and where or why and we
changin' anyplace on your perfect face would be capitally criminal - indeed
and calling back words - even bad words leaves too many damp fish in the sea
no these letters don't make it better when all they spell will not be heard or seen
it's so obvious forget about all 'us' - nothing's gonna change, at least for me
and life gets easier when i just give up everything i want
- that's what i need.
yes, everything i want - that's what i need

> travel makes the mind go round (and round)

9 . the measure of this moment :

if the capitol falls and their bodies lie broken
don't you leave this mess for me
becuz i'm only feeling sorry for someone who's not sorry; like me.
if the capitol falls and that party is over
don't you think well, we're home. yeah, we're free...
because the measure of this moment's the measure of the hope it can bring...
and if it's gonna make a difference the difference will be easy to see
when the capitol falls, we'll bring everyone home then...
because the measure of this moment is the measure of the hope it can bring
and if it's gonna make a difference, the difference will be easy to see

> yeah, it's about what's his name and the supreme court
who should be too embarrassed to even sit at a bus stop.

10. waiting for a beer :

i got no problems, i'm just waiting for a beer
while yesterdays' small times become yesterdays' year
and i will not talk around it, but it's not very nice
cuz it don't serve much purpose and it can't happen twice
got nothing but big cheers for my most terrible plans
and whiskey's just murder by a subtler hand
now i can not lie about this - i wish i didn't know more
cuz we're always much braver when we don't know what for
then some stupid joke gets told like how 'even water is damned'
still i hope we'll leave right now and find a little dry land
we don't need more patients - you hear whatever you want -
becuz if he lives above us - then we must be below

> sitting at the bar...

liner notes: album released december 11th, 2007 - by pSychoSpecificMusic
all of these songs were written in 2007 by me (david freel)
most of these songs were recorded in Los Angeles California at Nick Lucero's studio:
www.songlabstudios.com.
nick played all the drums on the album except for 'comes right here' - i played those.
he also played the B3 organ on 'saved by summer'.
cable mods and other amusements performed by charlie.
drawings/characters by Mike Stahlbrodt - www.starbro.com

www.swellsongs.com
-and-
may all your good days be long ones...