WEEK 95: I See A Mountain (Demo)

Hey again!

This is kind of an embarrassing demo from 2007, but it's one of my favorite songs I've written. It's a touch sentimental, kind of purposefully and blatantly so, but it's not bad to have a few songs like that, to contrast with your 100 coldhearted cynical songs.

This song is based on a road trip I took with my friend Matt, when we went to see The Rheostatics in Canada. It's just about the freeing feeling of getting the hell out of New York City, and the "joke" is that it was really only like 45 minutes of driving till we were upstate and saw a mountain. It's so close yet so far. I also threw in some allusions to being at a stuffy office job, to help hammer the contrast home.

The bridge is meant to have a somewhat sexual double meaning, hopefully it's not too gross. I think a possible other interpretation for this song could also be about finding...love....Yep I told you it's sentimental. When I wrote this I was painfully single and basically no matter what kind of song I was writing, those feelings would creep in without me knowing it. Anyway, I'm really proud of the line "3 day weekend, forever smile." I feel like that could be a state motto or a slogan for a tourist destination. But it's really sincere, I still smile about that 3 day weekend.

OH one more thing about the lyrics, the first line refers to stolen food. It's cause I did steal a bunch of food for the trip. At a temp job I was working at that week, I grabbed tons of snacks and threw them in my car. Hehehe.

As for the recording, it's an ultra late night low quality awkward demo. It's the first time I ever tried singing the song so my timing is off and I don't quite know the melody yet. So please listen with that in mind. Or don't listen. I think this song would rock with a full band.  Imagine it more confident, with electric guitars and organ and stuff. The problem is it's very similar rhythmically to another song of mine, more than I'm comfortable with.

Here are the lyrics:

We've got all our stolen food stowed away
Stashed in the dash and crushed by our feet
Get some gas but not too much
Just enough for a running start

I see a mountain once the traffic is gone
I see a mountain with shuffle mode on
I see a mountain
So let's climb on

This ain't a joke I've never seen one before
Just in posters hanging on the office door
Just on TV where some character escapes
Just in dreams when I can barely stay awake

Now all you mountains, better open wide
Cause I'm comin' right inside
I'm thinkin' I might stay awhile
3 day weekend, forever smile

Hills on the highway make the road fade in
Such a strange image, like special effects
I'm so enthusiastic, you can't even tell
Never been able to express these feelings well

I see a mountain, I see a mountain
It was only 45 minutes away


Download the song by right-clicking here!

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See you soon!

-Jordan