Song of the Week – The Day After Everything Changed – 8FEB10
Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:11 am
THE DAY AFTER EVERYTHING CHANGED
By Ellis Paul
It was like a hummingbird
flew through the air between us
Bringing a promise from your lips to mine
a sweet honey kiss,
like none I'd ever tasted
Straight to my head like wine
I carried home the rush, the crush
your touch still burning on my skin
I'm falling in where I stop and you begin
Leaves they fall
a clock is turning on the wall
Colors change
Iron rusts
You can trust
that you'll never be the same
'cause it's the day after everything changed
Behind the walls are cracks
and truths that will reveal us
Like water breaking stone
buckets of rain have fallen
in the sheets between us
We lie together
We lie alone
So what is Beauty?
What is broken?
Has it faded now unspoken?
A crack in the window pane
can break the world in two
Leaves they fall
a clock is turning on the wall
Colors change
Iron rusts
You can trust
that you'll never be the same
'cause it's the day after everything changed
After everything changed
Everything changed
Iron rusts
you can trust
that you'll never be the same
'cause it's the day after everything changed
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The first time Elaine and I heard this song was October 20, 2007 at Canal Street Tavern in Dayton, Ohio. He introduced the song as one of two songs he’d written about the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi. Celebrating beauty and frailty. I was captured by the song immediately.
I next heard Ellis play this song on two YouTube videos in early 2008. I tried very hard to figure out how to record the audio from YouTube on my computer. I can’t remember exactly what I did, but eventually I figured out a way to lift the audio and then I could listen to it on constant repeat.
I really couldn’t wait until the next time we saw Ellis in April of 2008 at Shank Hall in Milwaukee. I requested the song and he went to the piano and started to play “If I Could Catch the Rain”. When he started playing that song he said “This isn’t the song you requested!” Well, he went ahead and finished that song and came right back to my request. I was thrilled. And I was moved to tears. It’s such a lovely song and really plays with ones emotions.
As with another song on this album, Elaine and I have a preference to the way it was originally played. We prefer “Bringing nectar from your lips to mine” rather than “a promise”. And Ellis has been kind enough to play it that way on occasion when we are at his shows.
I was also thrilled to find out that Ellis had chosen this song to be the title track to his new record. When we talked to him in Milwaukee he was talking about what was going to be on the new record and when I asked about this song he didn’t think it would make the cut. And here it is! Front and Center!
And when I think about my life, I think about how everyday can be The Day After Everything Changed. And while that might be a bit melodramatic, there are times when I can really identify with what it’s all about.
And Ellis blessed Elain and I to be one of the very first people to hear the song two days after it was recorded in Nashville. I’m grateful for the opportunity that he gave me to listen to it. And I think his traveling buddy was grateful, too, to get it out of the car for 24 hours so that he could listen to something else for awhile. Am I right, M.C.?
Perhaps I’ve said enough for now.
Take care. I look forward to what y’all have to say.
db
By Ellis Paul
It was like a hummingbird
flew through the air between us
Bringing a promise from your lips to mine
a sweet honey kiss,
like none I'd ever tasted
Straight to my head like wine
I carried home the rush, the crush
your touch still burning on my skin
I'm falling in where I stop and you begin
Leaves they fall
a clock is turning on the wall
Colors change
Iron rusts
You can trust
that you'll never be the same
'cause it's the day after everything changed
Behind the walls are cracks
and truths that will reveal us
Like water breaking stone
buckets of rain have fallen
in the sheets between us
We lie together
We lie alone
So what is Beauty?
What is broken?
Has it faded now unspoken?
A crack in the window pane
can break the world in two
Leaves they fall
a clock is turning on the wall
Colors change
Iron rusts
You can trust
that you'll never be the same
'cause it's the day after everything changed
After everything changed
Everything changed
Iron rusts
you can trust
that you'll never be the same
'cause it's the day after everything changed
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The first time Elaine and I heard this song was October 20, 2007 at Canal Street Tavern in Dayton, Ohio. He introduced the song as one of two songs he’d written about the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi. Celebrating beauty and frailty. I was captured by the song immediately.
I next heard Ellis play this song on two YouTube videos in early 2008. I tried very hard to figure out how to record the audio from YouTube on my computer. I can’t remember exactly what I did, but eventually I figured out a way to lift the audio and then I could listen to it on constant repeat.
I really couldn’t wait until the next time we saw Ellis in April of 2008 at Shank Hall in Milwaukee. I requested the song and he went to the piano and started to play “If I Could Catch the Rain”. When he started playing that song he said “This isn’t the song you requested!” Well, he went ahead and finished that song and came right back to my request. I was thrilled. And I was moved to tears. It’s such a lovely song and really plays with ones emotions.
As with another song on this album, Elaine and I have a preference to the way it was originally played. We prefer “Bringing nectar from your lips to mine” rather than “a promise”. And Ellis has been kind enough to play it that way on occasion when we are at his shows.
I was also thrilled to find out that Ellis had chosen this song to be the title track to his new record. When we talked to him in Milwaukee he was talking about what was going to be on the new record and when I asked about this song he didn’t think it would make the cut. And here it is! Front and Center!
And when I think about my life, I think about how everyday can be The Day After Everything Changed. And while that might be a bit melodramatic, there are times when I can really identify with what it’s all about.
And Ellis blessed Elain and I to be one of the very first people to hear the song two days after it was recorded in Nashville. I’m grateful for the opportunity that he gave me to listen to it. And I think his traveling buddy was grateful, too, to get it out of the car for 24 hours so that he could listen to something else for awhile. Am I right, M.C.?
Perhaps I’ve said enough for now.
Take care. I look forward to what y’all have to say.
db