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"Is This a Thing?"


LCK

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Germ of something doable?

 

 

So, is this a thing? I asked.

 

Is what a thing? she said.

 

This, us just hanging out, you know.

 

She thought a bit, then No, she said.

 

No?

 

No it’s not a thing.

 

Then she smiled and said

it’s nice to think you think it is.

 

Wait, who said, I thought…

who said I’m thinking?

 

You mean you’re not?

 

No I’m just asking. I mean, I was wond’ring…

 

Good. She stared at the distance. It’s nice to wonder.

The world is full of wonder.

 

Then she took my hand

and we walked down to the river

and threw some stones

and watched them skip across the water.

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Hey Lee, this is cool, I like it. Some thoughts:

* There's a real risk for the listener getting lost in the lyric, 'who's on first' style, so be sure to always make it clear...When you say "wait who said i though" I was a little thrown.

* When you have multiple lines ending in "she said," consider rhyming the words *before* she said. E.g. "I have to go, she said / this much I know, she said'.

* I'm interested where this narrative is going and what the tone will be. I was bummed she said 'no' already. Seems like you could invest this with more weight, and build up, Maybe each verse is a phase of the relationship, and they ask is this a thing each time.

 

Not sure if this helps - very cool.

 

 

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and watched them

skip, skip, skip

across the water.

 

I'd like to see this section as a chorus if possible. Maybe change the number of skips (increase them) each time through. There's a bit of a joke in the metaphor of "skip, skip, skip" cause we all know what happens next, plunk. But you don't have to say "plunk" at all.

 

I'm a big fan of natural dialogue. Gets people out of the poetic/literary mindset and into the real world we inhabit, which is where real poetry begins anyway.

 

nat whilk ii

 

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:)

 

Was in your neck of the woods this weekend, and cribbed a little from you...

 

tumblr_nb4mny08PI1sopi93o1_1280.jpg

 

Nice photo! It looks like you were in the meat-packing district.

 

A propos of that, I watched a scene from I think it was Serpico the other night. I mainly stopped to watch it because the scene was shot on Gansevoort street back when it really was a meat-packing district.

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I wasn't really sure what to make of this when I first read it last week... is it a song? Is it a story? I do like it though and will be interested to see what you do with it musically.

 

That said... I don't know that I've ever been involved with a girl that can skip a rock across the water... so that last line kind of threw me because I immediately thought of the uh, more athletic types. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I might have said something along the lines of 'took off our shoes and waded/splashed/walked in the water'.

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I wasn't really sure what to make of this when I first read it last week... is it a song? Is it a story? I do like it though and will be interested to see what you do with it musically.

 

That said... I don't know that I've ever been involved with a girl that can skip a rock across the water... so that last line kind of threw me because I immediately thought of the uh, more athletic types. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I might have said something along the lines of 'took off our shoes and waded/splashed/walked in the water'.

 

Skipping a rock is not a brute strength activity, more of a dexterous, wrist thing. It shows she's fun, can do actual things, not a wallflower.

 

That said, maybe that could be a theme...you're prattling on talking and talking (is this a thing, do you love me, do you, do you?) while she is actually *doing* constructive useful things that demonstrate her love. In the end she leaves you because you won't shut up, ha.

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Then she took my hand

and we walked down to the river

and threw some stones

and watched them skip across the water.

 

We aren't told that she actually threw any stones. I am seeing an image of playful togetherness at the river shore which, to me, is in nice juxtaposition to the more serious repartee of earlier on.

 

*wave*

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Maybe just change it to "I threw some stones / we watched them skip across the water" to shut me up? :)

 

I wouldn't want to shut you up!

 

The thought had occurred to me, after I posted this, that skipping stones is more of a guy thing. However, I have seen girls (i.e., women) do it too. They can be very competitive about it and still be very feminine.

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Naw, watching her skip stones is eminently cool.

 

The song reminds me of the back-and-forth conversatoin in "Strawberry Fields." Easy, natural flow, sounds like real people. Puts you there in the moment. I think you're ready to build it into a song.

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I think girls are missing that skipping stone gene. I am no sexist by any means. I have a daughter and a wife that can out-guy any guy in lots of areas... but skipping stones? No way. My wife stares in awe as the stone blip-blip-blips over the surface of the water. "Show me how again!" So I give her the run down, the right rock, the angle, the whole bit. And plop...

 

My daughter exactly the same thing. Pretty much every woman who's asked me, "how does that work?" can't seem to grasp it. My two sisters, their friends growing up. Maybe it has to do with the penis as balance or something. That's probably it.

 

This doesn't effect this great lyric in my view but hey, I just felt like sharing darn it

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I think girls are missing that skipping stone gene. I am no sexist by any means. I have a daughter and a wife that can out-guy any guy in lots of areas... but skipping stones? No way. My wife stares in awe as the stone blip-blip-blips over the surface of the water. "Show me how again!" So I give her the run down, the right rock, the angle, the whole bit. And plop...

 

My daughter exactly the same thing. Pretty much every woman who's asked me, "how does that work?" can't seem to grasp it. My two sisters, their friends growing up. Maybe it has to do with the penis as balance or something. That's probably it.

 

I think it's because women have a different configuration in their elbows.

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