Blues On the Telephone

Blues On the Telephone is mostly non-sense and Emily Dickinson allusions. But I have great ideas for the instrumentation!¹ I wrote this song in the autumn of 2000 when I found out my sister was going to be having my first nephew, Elijah.

I only know a few songs
on one instrument
why don’t you play along with me
and I’ll play the guitar with you on the slide-trombone
you’ll blast through our weary bones
the wonders of love unknown
love unknown

and all of God’s children are scared of the lightning
and framed in a flash are the fears on their faces
but you and I sit up and wait for the morning
to stab through the storming and bleed through the trees
and I’m so glad you’re with me²

or I’ll play the guitar with you on the bongo drums
the pulse of our revelry will hint of the world to come
I’ll play the guitar with you on the clarinet
and those Benny Goodman tunes
will fill us with laughter soon
we’ll swing to the joy we find

all of God’s children are scared of the lightning
and framed in a flash are the fears on their faces
but you and I sit up and wait for the morning
to stab through the storming and bleed through the trees
and I’m so glad you’re with me

I’ll play the guitar with you on the piccolo
whispering soft and low/ secrets nobody knows
I’ll play the guitar while you stroke a saxophone
it’s blues on the telephone
but I know I’m not alone
don’t cross the lines or your fingers, friend
we’ll be fine

even though all of God’s children are scared of the lightning
and framed in a flash are the fears on their faces
but you and I sit up and wait for the morning
to stab through the storming and bleed through the trees
and I’m so glad you’re with me

1. Instrumentation: Of course I’ll want to use every instrument I name in the song. At first, they’ll fade in and fade out with their mention. But in the end, I want them to build up to a Sufjan-Stevens-esque cacophony! My favorite entrance – at least in my head where I hear it – is when the clarinet highlights “those Benny Goodman tunes” in the lyrics. The time signature right after this switches from 4/4 to 3/4 at “swing to the joy we find”. Oh, the junk I hear in my head! It’ll never happen without help from someone more talented. [↩]
2. Emily Dickinson said “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—
   Success in Cirrcuit lies
   Too bright for our infirm Delight
   The Truth’s superb surprise
   As Lightening to the Children eased
   With explanation kind
   The Truth must dazzle gradually
   Or every man be blind—” [↩]

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Sep 1st, 2000 | By Justin Brock | Category: Songs