For Lou

OK, well, I feel a lot better this morning. Amber and I patched things up last night. I worked all day on some very Velvet-Underground-inspired song lyrics that I think turned out pretty good. The tune I have in mind already sounds like a cross between VU and Stereolab, so I kept trying to steer the lyrics away from being a pastiche of images from "The Ocean." But they kept struggling their way back in that direction, and then I found out that Lou Reed had died that morning. So I said screw it and gave him full reign over my pen. Ride into the sun, Lou. You finally got out of the city.

Some nights a dark emotion
Rolls in upon the ocean
Indomitable motion
Outside you can't be certain
No sky beyond the curtain
Don't cry it only hurts your heart

You can never stop the tide
And there's nowhere you can hide
With nothing left inside
It's over once you start
Watch the castles fall apart

Moonlight and violent motion
Turn now to blind devotion
Learn how to love the ocean
So shy and unappealing
Birds fly beyond the ceiling
Don't try to lose this feeling

You'll forever be the tide
And there's nowhere you can hide
When everything's inside
You'll hear it in your heart
Once the castles fall apart

Give your body to the sea

Someday I'll write a song that's not about drowning. But not yet.