Have You Heard

Light Of A Rainy Day

I’d planned to spend tonight writing and working, but my man Garrett stopped by to drink a bit and there was no way I was going to send him home. He’s currently in the middle of a six-year commitment to the Army that will see him leave for Somalia as an 11-Bravo (infantryman) early in 2014.

We started off by playing the stuff we always play — most notably, Coheed & Cambria’s “Welcome Home” — but then I broke out the Martin D-41 and the Korina Collection ASAT bass — and tried something else.

“Bread Stealing Bird” is the second track on Sam Beam’s “The Creek Drank The Cradle”. Now, I understand that Sam Beam as a performer is known as “Iron and Wine” but that just seems odd to me. It would be like having “Blood And Thunder” as my byline in a magazine. F**k it. Let’s respect the man. Iron and Wine it is. I bought the album earlier today and decided that “Bread Stealing Bird” was the song I wanted to play.

Tell me baby tell me
Are you still on the stoop
Watching the windows close
I’ve not seen seen you lately
On the street, by the beach
Or places we used to go

I’ve a picture of you
On our favorite day by the seaside
There’s a bird stealing bread
That I brought out from under my nose

Tell me baby tell me
Does his company make
Light of a rainy day
How I’ve missed you lately
And the way we would speak
And all that we wouldn’t say

Do his hands in your hair
Feel a lot like a thing you believe in
Or a bit like a bird stealing bread
Out from under your nose

Tell me baby tell me
Do you carry the words
Around like a key or change
I’ve been thinking lately
of a night on the stoop
and all that we wouldn’t say

If I see you again
On the street, by the beach
In the evening
Will you fly like a bird stealing bread
Out from under my nose

I&W performs it as a loosely non-tempoed acoustic chunk with a bit of pedal steel on top. For the sake of difference, I’ve recast it as a kind of alt-pop bopper. Annoyingly, the video recorder clips/buzzes a few times when I let the ASAT hit low “E” but I didn’t re-record it because I think Garrett has suffered enough lately. He gamely strums through the song, which I appreciate.

Afterwards, he said, “That’s kind of a nice song” and then we played something by Third Day, I think. After he left, I picked up the D-41 and played it alone, slowly, thinking about it a bit more. There’s nothing to the song — it’s three chords and a cloud of sorrow, Capo I — but I respect it. For the sorrow, I think, and for the simplicity of it. “Does his company make / Light of a rainy day?” How many people can really do that for anyone? Oh well. Time to go to work.

Tagged with: bird stealing bread, iron and wine, sam beam

Categorised as: Music