I guess if I was going to have one message that I wanted associated with my name, it would be the concept of putting yourself out there and chasing down even the inkling of a dream.
Story Pairing
I was in Mississippi River State Park (am I the only one that still sing songs that m-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i in my head every time I have to spell that river?) when this song came to visit. I think it noticed I was a touch lonely, but really in awe of such a beautiful space. The song had no interest in being tainted with lonesomeness, but it did want to be a part of that lovely feeling of exploring and sniffing around for the next piece of the puzzle that is dreams.
I do think that songs come to us pretty much finished. We aren’t really making up anything new, we are just living our version of a life that countless other humans have already or are currently. It’s our steps that make it unique and the way we look at things changes from person to person. Songs are the same. Think of all the love songs that exist and will continue to. An infinite amount of love songs are floating in the ether right now, just waiting to find an artist with enough of a handhold so they can pull themselves over into our world. That’s my favorite way to think of art. It’s already out there, with all the foundations laid. It’s just waiting for an artist to bridge the worlds and then finish the build.
That takes a lot of pressure off. We don’t have to invent the magic, we just have to learn to hold it for a bit.
A little breakthrough of sorts while writing this song came during the chorus. I knew what the melody would be, but wasn’t sure yet what the words would be. They clearly didn’t end up being anything complex, but I didn’t want to lose the melody by stressing over the final lyrics. I was in Arkansas at the time, so I started singing “down to Arkansas, down to Arkansas” as a placeholder that I knew I would remember. I have a tendency to throw songs away if I don’t get all the lyrics in the first sitting. It’s almost like a punishment for not being able to “hear” the muse properly. I’ve been trying to be better at that self imposed rule, and just acknowledging that maybe the muse didn’t have a final list of words either, it just trusted me to help it out. So finding small ways to keep the overall momentum going is going to be a good exercise going forward and I hope it leads to writing more songs and always striving to not be crushed by the breathy lies of whispering perfection.
Song Structure
**Ok, I have no clue what I am doing here. I stumbled on this tune while practicing partial shapes for fingerpicking.
Instead, here is a great link to a guy I’ve been following lately on YouTube. I love his approach to the guitar and have been picking up some cool ideas from him.
Voice Memos
Notebook Page
October 2026
Lyrics
Follow your old brother, dirty heron down the mississippi
Carhopping the wind, back to anyone who will miss me
There's room around this fire son, you’ve got a hunger in your eyes
Chasing the legend of a woman, the promise of a dollar, right on
Right on down, gotta chase it, down, gotta chase it down, you gotta chase it down
Right on down, gotta chase it, down, gotta chase it down (x2)
If you ever had a mind to taste it you should chase it now
These shoes they used to sparkle, like dark water lapping up the moon
If you’ve never seen em dance boy, you’ve been turning to sleep too soon
Wasting dreams on empty pockets, when they give this away for free
Just takes a little bit of slowing down, and a change of scenery
Right on down, gotta chase it, down, gotta chase it down, you gotta chase it down
Right on down, gotta chase it, down, gotta chase it down (x2)
If you ever had a mind to taste it you should chase it now
Break
Right on down, gotta chase it, down, gotta chase it down, you gotta chase it down
Right on down, gotta chase it, down, gotta chase it down (x2)
If you ever had a mind to taste it
If you ever had a mind to taste it
If you ever had a mind to taste it you should chase it now