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Saturday, March 30th, 2013

ANSWER TO WHY

ANSWER TO WHY
written 5/12/03, 3/6/08, 3/30/13
copyrightjohncommonmusic

My best friends were all out to kill me
All my life, they all tried to kill me
My best friends were trying to kill me
With their cigarettes and beer

We thought that growing up meant finally
We counted the days til we could finally
When we grew up I thought we’d finally
Get out of here

I love them like a limb
And we dreamt up a million trips
But it makes me want to cry
To see them hanging around
Trying to find the answer…

To why… Answer to why… answer…

These sad songs are all gonna kill me
And sad sack songs can get so boring
My miserable songs are all gonna kill me
‘Cause they’re all true

I tried to live them but it hurt too much
Painful art’s a broken crutch
It’s a miserable job that hurts too much
Turning red to blue

I don’t want to be
Something I’m not
But in case I am…
Here’s my best shot

FUCKING ROCK SOLO

I thought this town was trying to kill me
This whole damn town was trying to kill me
I just knew this town was out to kill me
But it was only you

I loved you like a limb
And you made me want to take a million sips
But it made me want to cry
To see us hanging around
Trying to find the answer…

To why… Answer to why… answer...

Posted By John Common at: 10:03 am. 1 Comment

Saturday, December 1st, 2012

CHRISTMAS IS WEIRD

Here's a new song I just wrote. Hope you like it.

CHRISTMAS IS WEIRD
Copyright John Common 12-14-12

Christmas is weird, so weird
Christmas is weird, so weird
I never did believe in the guy with the long white beard

Christmas is sad, so sad
Christmas is sad, so sad
Makes me think of all, the things that I never had

But don’t give up
Don’t give up
Don’t give up
Don’t give up

Christmas is cold, so cold
Christmas is cold, so cold
Think of the ones you lost, the ones that you’ll never hold

But don’t give up
Don’t give up (Christmas is weird)
Don’t give up Christmas is weird)
Don’t give up (Christmas is weird)
But don’t give up
Don’t give up
Don’t give up
Don’t give up

Posted By John Common at: 8:12 pm. Add Comment

Monday, October 1st, 2012

Fall Is Here

Oh man... I do love Fall.

To say that it's my favorite season is an enormous understatement...

In a lot of ways, Fall makes me feel the way Spring makes most people feel... When I step out into crisp Fall air, I literally get giddy.  I've been known to hop around. Immediately and without warning, Fall fills my head with crazed notions, endless possibility, ridiculous long shots and childish pursuits....

I want to go build a fort with my friends... I want to go record an album.  Or three.  I want to get in my truck with a fresh mug of very hot coffee, a comfortable pair of jeans, my favorite black boots, a worn out t-shirt and drive for a long time in any direction...  I want to have a movie romance... I want to write a book.. I want to completely redesign my life... I want to get rid of everything I own at a garage sale... I want to toss a football in your front yard... I want to catch some late afternoon light on a park bench and talk softly about the future... I want to wander through a small town hardware store... I want to find the perfect diner... I want to lay on my back in a department store and breath up into the new winter coats... I want to slip notes into your pocket when you're not looking... I want to read a Brautigan poem aloud to a 7 Eleven clerk... I want to visit the old folks home and sing "dream a little dream of me" to them as many times as they'll let me... I want to sit on a rock by a river until I get thoroughly bored... I want to give up, give in, give out, give back...

Promise. 
Faith. 
Renewal. 

These are very big words... but that's what Fall does to me.  It makes me re-believe in large ideas.  And in myself..  I know.  I know. I'm getting sappy.

Sap.  That's another Fall thing.

And then there's the word itself: Fall. 

Fall. It's like a gentle command...

"Fall" 

Has there ever been a better name for anything ever?

Posted By John Common at: 12:10 am. 2 Comments

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012

My humanity classification system (HCS)

There are 4 kinds of people in the world. It's my Condiment Theory:

Ketchups (Ket) Mustards (Mus) Mayonnaises (May) and Horseradishes (Hor)

It make sense if you think about it:

Ketchup (Ket) = mainstream, obvious, affable, easy to relate to, open, earnest, etc.

Mustard (Mus) = kind of angular, smart, sassy, individual, independent, saucy but still in the realm of normalcy, probably a little self-centered, occasionally blind to other's needs, etc.

Mayonnaise (May) = comfort, peace, contentment, relaxation, laziness, non-action, passivity, etc

Horseradish (Hor) is exactly what you'd think: out there, ascerbic, very strong, easy to take wrong, creative, difficult, but fucking singular.

Every person has two dominant condiments. You get to pick a primary and a secondary. (Sort of like Meyers-Briggs or those other personality tests.)

Me? I like to THINK that I'm a Horseradish (primary) and a Mustard (secondary). That's a HorMus. But the truth is, I'm probably a Ketchup (primary) and a Horseradish (secondary). That's a KetHor... or maybe that's just a negative self image. Truth is, I'm probably a HorKet.

What are you? Honestly...

Posted By John Common at: 12:07 am. 2 Comments

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

NEW SONG: BLACK LIKE ME

BLACK LIKE ME
April 29, 2012

Yeh I’m bitter
I see the other side of life
I invited you in
And then I watched you turn the knife

You turned me black baby
Every smile’s a conspiracy
I walk around like an amputee
I’m seeing ghosts where you used to be

When you’re black like me
You enjoy the suffering
I’m hurt bad like you want me to be
You think you really know
Think you really know

I’ll be better
Without your medicine
It hurt plenty, plenty
On its ugly way in

When you’re black…
When you’r black… black like me

CH

Posted By John Common at: 6:04 pm. Add Comment

Saturday, March 31st, 2012

John Common and Band to Preview New Material on 4-27-12 at Oriental Theater

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JOHN COMMON AND BLINDING FLASHES OF LIGHT TO PERFORM AT THE ORIENTAL THEATER
First band show in Denver after a busy year touring the U.S. and releasing two albums

(DENVER, CO) Denver-based singer/writer/musician, JOHN COMMON and his band, BLINDING FLASHES OF LIGHT, are headlining Oriental Theater on Friday, April 27th. The band’s set will take the audience through material from last year’s two successful releases (Beautiful Empty and Side 3), and deep into new territory that the group is currently exploring.

The past year has been a busy one for Common and the band. While they were out touring in support of Beautiful Empty and Side 3, the writing not only didn’t stop, it accelerated. "I don't know what happened, really,” says Common. “When it came time to think about the next record, I realized I had about 80 new songs – and they’re all over the map, stylistically. I'm trying not to write new material at this point, but new songs keep coming. It's sort of ridiculous."

The band intends to use this fountain of new material as an opportunity to do something different in the coming year. “We’re reaching out to different world-class producers in the U.S. and Europe to do a series of ‘adventure recording sessions’ where the focus is on the process as much as the outcome,” says Larry Ciancia, the band’s manager.

In order for the public to get a taste of where they’ve been, and where they might be going, the band will perform an extended set of music in three sections.  Each section will highlight material in different stages of completion including songs they performed during their 2011 tours as well as touching on both truly raw and unreleased material.

Their set will feature a number of distinguished musical guests; including Matt Close (Achille Lauro), Caleb Slade, Scott McCormick (Boulder Acoustic Society), Ian Short (Hello Kavita), Seth Donovan, Jim Ruberto and Jen Korte (Jen Korte and the Loss). Local acts Eldren and Caleb Slade (full band) will be opening the evening.

Show Details:

John Common and Blinding Flashes of Light
at Oriental Theater
w/ Eldren and Caleb Slade

Tickets: $10
Doors 8pm, Show 8:30, Ages 16+
Ticket link: http://www.theorientaltheater.com/event/38039
Venue Address:
4335 West 44^th Avenue
Denver, CO 80212

 

Posted By John Common at: 6:03 pm. Add Comment

Friday, March 30th, 2012

tucson

you know... Tucson is one of my favorite towns.

i haven't been there in years... i was on tour. we ended up playing a gig on a sunday night at hotel congress. classic old music venue in a hotel. love that place. we played a KICKASS set to 7 people. loaded our gear into the van, it was something like 1AM... and looked across the street to a 2nd story window. saw a guy and a girl hanging out, smoking, listening to music. we just called out to them and said hi. we all ended up hanging out, drinking and chatting with them til 4am.

if i recall, there's a ring of mountains far off in the distance around tucson? or maybe on just one side? they're lovely. they sit out there patiently in the distance. like memories or maybe futures. i remember the streets being really wide too. i have a thing for small towns with really wide streets. like they are ready for a future that hasn't quite arrived yet.

my 2nd tucson memory:

2nd time through, on tour again, we played this other club called plush, i think. we got done early that night... it was an early show. so we started walking around that part of town. everyone was outside it seemed. it felt like a carnival or something. i think it was fall. or maybe it's just permanently fall inside my mind and i've superimposed fall onto this memory. dunno. but i DO remember that the air felt perfect on your skin that night.
and me and the band just started walking around, talking to people... we were in one of those famously good moods that happens sometimes on tour. when you feel completely in motion -- attached to nothing back home, truly free -- and so you can really feel the present tense.

and we're walking through the crowded streets of that part of tucson. it was really weird -- why were all of those people out? maybe they just wanted to feel the air too? i dunno. anyway, we turn the corner and there's this OLD MAN playing accordion on the street. smiling, having a blast just people watching and randomly playing different songs for people as they walked past him. You could tell he'd played one million gigs, and he's REALLY REALLY GOOD. i mean... clearly, a lifetime playing the accordion.

  when we walked up he started playing that stupid chicken dance song. so we started chicken dancing in front of him that night on the street while he played. he loved it. we were dancing in front of him like idiots and people were walking by.

  silly moment. but fun.

Posted By John Common at: 8:03 am. Add Comment

Friday, March 30th, 2012

YOU ARE MY HOME

This song started life as "North Denver".  Now it's called YOU ARE MY HOME.

YOU ARE MY HOME
Copyright John Common
Feb and Mar 2012

My Darlin’, My Darlin’, You are my home
From the Brooklyn to Roswell, London to Rome
From Tulsa to Oakland, Richmond to Lowell
I live here and love here ‘cause you are my home

When I first arrived, dry as a bone
The road was my lover, I loved her alone
Then something happened, I got you on loan
When the earth receives you, I’ll sink like a stone
My Darlin’, My Darlin’, You are my home
From the Brooklyn to Roswell, London to Rome
From Tulsa to Oakland, Richmond to Lowell
I live here and love here ‘cause you are my home

I used to wander, and love from afar
I loved like a voyeur who loved from his car
And why I loved badly: my heart was a scar
But I’m homeless and rootless and lonely no more

My Darlin’, My Darlin’, You are my home
From the Brooklyn to Roswell, from London to Rome
From Tulsa to Oakland, Richmond to Lowell
I live here and love here ‘cause you are my home

My Darlin’, My Darlin’, You are my home
From the Brooklyn to Roswell, from London to Rome
From Tulsa to Oakland, Richmond to Lowell
I live here and love here ‘cause you are my home

You are my home…

Posted By John Common at: 8:03 am. 1 Comment

Monday, February 6th, 2012

NEW SONG: NORTH DENVER

A sort of love letter to my neighborhood.

NORTH DENVER

North Denver, North Denver, You are my home
From Lowell and Hooker to Clay and Shoshone
From Berkeley to Rocky from Rhoda to Sloans
I live here and love here ‘cause you are my home

When I first arrived, I wasn’t alone
But Laura she left me, she wanted to roam
Then I found Emma, I have her on loan
When the earth receives her, I’ll sink like a stone

North Denver, North Denver, You are my home
From Lowell and Hooker to Clay and Shoshone
From Berkeley to Rocky from Rhoda to Sloans
I live here and love here ‘cause you are my home

I used to wander, and love from afar
I loved like a voyeur who loved from his car
And why I loved badly: my heart was a scar
But I’m homeless and rootless and lonely no more

North Denver, North Denver, You are my home
From Lowell and Hooker to Clay and Shoshone
From Berkeley to Rocky from Rhoda to Sloans
I live here and love here ‘cause you are my home
You are my home

Posted By John Common at: 11:02 pm. Add Comment

Friday, January 6th, 2012

NEW SONG: ONLY ONE

ONLY ONE
Jan 6, 2012

Been working hard
I got this thing I wanna tell you about
It might make you sing
Make you wanna turn somethin’ out
It didn’t take a lot of money – it aint slick
It aint even on the internet
But I took my time and promise you
I mean every single word of it

Baby you… you’re the one that I need
Baby you… you’re the one who makes me bleed
Baby you… you’re the only one that I see
You crashed my heart and my head
I’m here ‘til I’m dead
You’re the only one…

It’s just another love song
But since it’s yours maybe you’ll love it
Love songs usually make me sad
But I’m starting to rise above it
Get ready – here it comes, the predictable line
But it’s actually true
I walked around most of my life
Just to find you

CH

And when you cry I know it’s just how you feel
I’m learning not to run when things get real
When things get real, when things get real

CH

Posted By John Common at: 10:01 pm. 1 Comment