“Teachin” - a song about wreckspondency
Written in the back of a 1976 G20 van (I think that’s right, but man, that feels old).. (no offense)
Story Pairing
It’s actually kind of wild that I haven’t done a musing for this song, but it’s also one that I love playing but I don’t like thinking about too much. Not because I don’t care about the song or the story behind it, just that it makes me a little sad. The core of that sadness is because I wrote this one alongside one of my best friends who has since passed away, Chris Volpe.
There is a venue in Cincinnati, OH called Southgate House. It’s an old church that they have made into a music venue with a few stages spread throughout, and it’s really special. I haven’t been back in a few years because they don’t seem to want to book my little solo act, but I get that. It really shines with bands that can shake that place up.
We had played there one night as The Gage Brothers, a bluegrass band I was a part of for a few years. The guy that sang after us was really hard to understand. He sounded great, but no of it made legible sense. He was playing a blues tune and I thought he was saying “Teaching myself the blues”, which I was like… oh that’s clever. Simple, but clever. Blues songwriters always blame everything else for their blues, so it was a fresh approach. When I went and asked him about the tune after his set, he said he was singing about a bird, and the words were nothing like that… ok… well they are mine now.
The next day we were driving to Indianapolis, and I wasn’t the one driving. I don’t like not being the one driving, so I was trying to distract myself in the back. Chris was back there having just woke up from a nap (after I elbowed him because he was snoring in my ear). Now the both of us were bored and looking for distraction. At a similar time we passed a race horse track, and I was thinking about that song from last night. I asked Chris if he ever knew a bad boss. He said a guy named Mr Richards. Then the song just sort of flowed from there, following a character that’s aware they are ruining their own life. My favorite part is on the chorus, I had it ending on the A to the E, but Chris mentioned that we should go up to the B and tag that chorus line to give it a little more something, and it’s by far my favorite part of the song.
He was always finding little ways to make things better. In the voice memos you can hear him finding lovely spaces for harmonies that make you think a bit. He never was boring and what I wouldn’t give for some honking snoring in my ear from him on my next road trip.
Playing this song, and pulling these pieces together are so bittersweet. Truly I’m teaching myself the blues by reminiscing and missing him, but at the same time how lucky I am to have known him and for him to visit me in these ways consistently. He lives on in the magical mystical stream that is music and as long as I keep visiting that river, I get to spend time with my old friend.
Below is the recorded we did in the band we were in together. Chris is singing harmonies and playing banjo.
Song Structure
Verse: E - G - A7 - E
Chorus: G - A7 - B7 - E
Bridge: A7 - E - A7 - E - G - A7 - E
Voice Memos
** These voice memos are very special, and listening to them choked me up a bit. The first one was recorded in the van while we were driving because we wanted to remember the harmony part we worked out. Hearing those voices, specifically Chris, is special.
No Notebook Page
2016
How about a picture from the band that first recorded this tune, The Gage Bros.
Order top to bottom:
Ben Gage
Chris Volpe
Zach Gage
Brendan O’Malley
Lyrics
Old man richards, liked the way I worked the line
Made me foreman, twenty more men were mine
Turns out whiskey chose to miss me so i poured another glass
Old man richards and them twenty men they kicked me on my ass
And it's me, leaving you
Teaching myself the blues
And it's me leaving you
Teaching myself the blues
Teaching myself the blues
Every penny, every dollar at the Cincinnati track
Lifetime of saving that I’m never getting back
My sure thing lighting came in second to thunders hooves and mane
With empty pockets, I’m hanging my head in shame
And it's me, leaving you
Teaching myself the blues
And it's me leaving you
Teaching myself the blues
Teaching myself the blues
And of course there was a girl
She's the prettiest in the world
But I left her just the same
When she said someone else's name
And it's me, leaving you
Teaching myself the blues
And it's me leaving you
Teaching myself the blues
Teaching myself the blues
Teaching myself the blues (outro)