The lyric project - Blue Baby

Finishing off the lyrics from the second and third Throttle Body m/c releases, For The Few and Marley's Chain, is the song, Blue Baby.

Gertrude Stein, in The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, wrote, “After a while I murmured to Picasso that I liked his portrait of Gertrude Stein. Yes, he said, everybody says that she does not look like it but that does not make any difference, she will, he said.”


This song didn't look like me at the time I wrote it, but it was unfortunately accurate of what was to transpire in my life seven year later. Maybe as artists, God allows us to tap, however unknowingly, into his own omniscience, to make us aware of what might come if we don't pay more attention. I didn't pay attention, but the lesson of this song isn't lost on me.

Blue Baby

Storm clouds ahead
On my blue horizon
My love is gone
The water is high
I'm swept by the wind
My world unwinds
and
All I do is think of you
I'm so lonely
And you're half a world away
I dream of you all night, girl
Everyday
You're love forever is all I pray for

Blue baby
Flowering cherry love I feel for you, baby

All I do is think of you
I'm so lonely
And you're half a world away
I dream of you all night, girl
Everyday
You're love forever is all I pray for

Once with love
you have more than enough
You're king for a day
But the court's comprised of thieves
Once without
Full of doubt
With a paper heart pinned to your sleeve
Begging, "Please"


Blue baby
Flowering cherry love I feel for you, baby

All I do is think of you
I'm so lonely
And you're half a world away
I dream of you all night, girl
Everyday
You're love forever is all I pray for

All songs Copyright Jerry Hammack, used by permission, published by Really Real Music, BMI

The lyric project - Red Light

This is a song that I started writing in about 1985, but didn't get to properly recording until the "Marley's Chain" release. The red light was a metaphor for "attention" more than anything else; a spotlight; but I guess in my head it was also a warning light. Lyrics always have these internal layers - especially if you don't think about them too much. I always remember a quote of Paul McCartney's, talking about "Hey Jude":

In Anthology, it is recalled that when McCartney introduced Lennon to his new composition, he came to "the movement you need is on your shoulder" lyric and told Lennon "I'll fix that bit." Lennon asked why, and McCartney answered "...it's a stupid expression; it sounds like a parrot." Lennon parried with "You won't, you know. That's the best line in the song."

So, I tend to leave things alone that sound good, but don't necessarily make sense to me at the time. It worked for Paul, after all!

Red Light

Ooo you've got that red light shining on you
Breathing on you
Leading on you
You're such a nasty little, tiny little brittle girl
Oh, aren't you?

Once in awhile think you've got it all figured out
It took me awhile to get control of myself
But the river is deep and I've been losing sleep
Red lights on you

Ooo you've got that mist
It hangs about you
Drifts around you
Whips about you
Oh don't you want?
I've got to have, I've got to have it
But in the mist I lose you
Misconstrue you


Once in awhile think you've got it all figured out
It took me awhile to get control of myself
But the river is deep and I've been losing sleep
Red lights on you

Once in awhile you think you've got it all made
You've made some space between real life and yourself
But the river is dry
Like the wastelands by the highway tonight
With nowhere left to hide
The red light is shining

All songs Copyright Jerry Hammack, used by permission, published by Really Real Music, BMI

The lyric project - Marley's Chain

When I wrote "Marley's Chain" I was thinking about the bad habits I had that were starting to pile up on me, and how they isolated me, and how that probably wasn't a very good thing. Mind you, writing a song about it was probably my way of avoiding having to do something practical! "Marley's chain" of course, refers to Dickens and the idea that we create our own chains in life, each link forged by poor choices and decisions. Still and all, one of the great Throttle Body tunes as far as I'm concerned.

Marley's Chain

I'm out of reach at the end of a long thin line
Across the edge of my mind
There ain't time to think of nothing
Jesus and Mary
Coming to save me
In a little while
I just gotta have patience

Look over River Jordan and what do I see?
There's a boat going down and it looks like me
I'm that sailor who is still trying to row

I'm out of touch
Maybe just a bit too much for my soul to sustain
Marley's chain is dragging me down
Marley's chain
Dragging me down
Someone throw me a torch
Someone throw me a line
Before I drown


Look over River Jordan and what do I see?
There's a boat going down and it looks like me
I'm that sailor who is still trying to row

All songs Copyright Jerry Hammack, used by permission, published by Really Real Music, BMI

The lyric project - Love Comes Down

Now, onto the lyrics for "Marley's Chain". The songs on this release were a little odd in their birth. First off, I went into the studio to record these with basically just a guitar riff for each one. I had sort of a melody in mind, and like a lot of songwriters, I put nonsense words to it that included a lot muttering and such. When it was time to cut the vocals, I figured out what I wanted to say.

This is a song that is really more of a personal narrative. I guess how I saw myself when I was writing it. Even though it's addressed to a "girl", sometimes you're just talking to yourself, hoping maybe someone is listening besides you.

Love Comes Down

I need love to ease the pain
of a life going nowhere
A world spinning so fast
It's my life
I can do what I want
If my luck don't run dry
If I don't lose my funk

But with this board pulled from my eye
I can see right through the world
Only love can free you, girl

And when love comes down
It's going to to turn your head around
You'll go silent with the sound
When love comes down

I need faith to see me through
I need to trust in what I'll never understand
Miracles surround
I can see it in the garden
We're here for just a breath
We're just a sentence in the story of the world

And when I hold your hand in mine
I've not a care in the world

Only love can free you, girl

And when love comes down
It's going to to turn your head around
You'll go silent with the sound
When love comes down

All songs Copyright Jerry Hammack, used by permission, published by Really Real Music, BMI

The lyric project - For The Few

"For The Few" was the title of the 1992 EP right from the moment the song was written. Every now and then I get a smattering of social conscious that runs through my lyrical veins and this song was the result. America in the early 90's was increasingly the home of the haves and have-nots. I was a "have", but I always knew I was a step away from the other side of the economic coin. A few years later, I'd get the opportunity to join that club. But this song was written from the point of view of a global observer - a role I've enjoyed no matter my personal economic condition.

For The Few

Right now, far away
Another day comes into view
Lives go on like yesterday
Lived happy by a chosen few

The day picks you up
And you're swept in the tide
Of a thousand generations
Of a million muffled cries
There's no easy outs
And no one's to blame
You can die for being born with a bad name

Right now, far away
Left to right as time goes by
Fortune's pendulum does sway
And they say you can catch it if you try

If it picks you up
And you're lost in the tide
Of a thousand destinations
And no knowing why
Just try to keep cool
Try to pretend
That you know what's coming up just around the bend

And right now, somewhere, far away
Things are getting better

For the few who have love
For the few who have faith
For the few who have hope
For the others only pain

That's the way it is, baby

For the few who have choice
For the few who have pay
For the few who have rights
For the others only pain

That's the way it is, baby

It's a hard, fucking world

All songs Copyright Jerry Hammack, used by permission, published by Really Real Music, BMI

The lyric project - Getaway

I thought maybe this project would mean more if the stories behind the songs were also told, so I'll try that starting with today's song, "Getaway". I have always felt I wrote it about TBMC guitar player, Stephen Dorocke. I see it like he's talking to you. Stephen, to me, seemed a man always on the run - always looking for the next cool thing to apply his vast talent to. Is that accurate? I don't know.

Getaway

Stepping out in the middle of the night
My best shirt on
My hair just right and
I swim to the bottom of the sea
I swim to the bottom of the sea
Yeah, just like the night before
I'm making my way through the green door

And though I said I'd stay for a couple of days
Now I'm wondering when I'm gonna getaway

Neon bright lights my way
Coast to coast beat
I prey
Across the water
My wake in the pond
Pointing the way to the great beyond
Somewhere down near the middle of town
You will find me there
You will find me there

Somewhere out grooving on the floor
With a blank stare
You will find me there

Everybody wants to steal the party
Everyone wants to have the good time
Sad, when I'm having fun
I can't see no one
No one but you
Wade through the morning
Through the nine-to-five time
And love so frightening
From that soul suck sense surround
I've stumbled to this light I've found
Into the life I've found

Waking up in the middle of the night
Everything's going to be alright I've found

All alone in the middle of the night
The TV's on
The snow is bright
I play till morning
Till the break of dawn
Hear the call from the town beyond
My blood starts to pound
Need to find the sound

You can find me there
You can find me there

Cos' though I said I'd stay for a couple of days
Now I'm wondering when I'm gonna getaway

All songs Copyright Jerry Hammack, used by permission, published by Really Real Music, BMI

The lyric project - Need It Bad

Need It Bad

If you're not teasin'
Give me a sign
Just one more drink
Before you change your mind
Do I have to get begging
Down on my knees and pray?
All this hot/cold/yes/no
Is getting on me
Pick me up
Take me home
Right here down on my knees
I pray

I want your love
I need it bad
I want your love
I don't care how I get it

Give me a hand now
Something to hold
Something soft I can pet
Late at night when I'm cold and alone
And I think of you
Do I have to get begging
Down on my knees and pray?
All this hot/cold/yes/no
Is getting on me
Pick me up
Take me home
Right here down on my knees
I pray

I want your love
I need it bad
I want your love
I don't care how I get it

When I'm down on my knees

Begging pretty, pretty, pretty please

Right there where you squeeze

I go

There are plenty of girls

Who would gladly pass the time

Nasty young things 

I wouldn't have to wine or dine

Do I have to get begging
Down on my knees and pray?
All this hot/cold/yes/no
Is getting on me
Pick me up
Take me home
Right here down on my knees
I pray

I want your love
I need it bad
I want your love
I don't care how I get it

All songs Copyright Jerry Hammack, used by permission, published by Really Real Music, BMI