From "David Poe," the debut album on Sony Music, produced by T-Bone Burnett.
"Blue Glass Fall is a pop song in a minor key.
Blue Glass Fall is based on a simple riff. I added its highest note because I feared the main riff would grow monotonous -- so like so many times before I asked myself, "W.W.J.D.?, with the J standing for Jimi.
This song features a magical chord taught to me by my friend and sometime collaborator Morgan Taylor: a J-Sharp Pigmented (from a song he wrote called Paper Airplane that we used to play together when we performed as Glee & Beak, an acoustic duo.)
The word moromou is Greek, I believe. A girl I knew told me "moro mou" was a term of affection, and she trained me to say it on her command, like a seal. In those days I believed you had to live what you wrote. I don't necessarily think that anymore.
There is game for adults known as Drink & Dial, also known as "Call Your Ex When You're Loaded." Lesson learned: do not do it, and if you do, do not throw the telephone in anger, but if you do, not at a mirror.
Pieces of blue glass fall. The love of a fool is strong.
The song was started in an apartment on 13th Street in the East Village, where I lived with saxophonist Glen Mauser and songwriter Frank DeCarlo. It was finished, or was premiered at least, at the Machaffie lake house in upstate New York. Matt Machaffie also inspired a line from Silver Eyelashes: "robot worked good today."
Blue Glass Fall was recorded first at Sim Cain's apartment on Avenue A with Melvin Gibbs playing bass. People liked it. Dougie Bowne* (the excellent drummer and producer who played with Chris Whitley, The Chocolate Genius, Iggy Pop, Cibo Matto and Hope Is A Muscle) heard it and said "what are you going to do with all that money?" So we recorded it again for the Glass Suit EP, and again for the debut record, and I did it again on a live record.
This version began with a tamborine loop played by Don Heffington, and I labored to get the riff in perfect time. The rest came together pretty quickly -- Sim Cain came to Los Angeles to nail this excellent drum track, which he played with a drum stick in one hand and a brush in the other, shimmying it on the floor tom.
Slide guitarist / producer / musicologist Colin Linden happened to be visiting the studio that day and got roped into playing a few foreboding sounds on the verses.
The record company folks wanted this song to sound like a hit and I was game. So I went down to Miami, Florida and spent a day with Tom Lord-Alge, a "power-mixer." Mr. Lord-Alge was not a recording artist per se but as a mix engineer was one of the biggest stars of the decade. He used hi-fi compression -- "spanking," he called it -- to create a synthesized, uniform sound that flattered the pop music of the day. And he could conjure up a harmonic distortion that made a singer's voice sound big as a house, even while whispering.
I remember someone at Sony talking about how if a single didn't sell and 100,000 extra were sitting in the warehouse, they'd melt them down and start again with the next thing. I don't know if this was true. It sounded like the Wicked Witch at the end of the movie. But if it was true, that's probably what happened to most of the copies of this song.
The ubiquitous hit pop single is an awesome, powerful thing. I didn't record that version of this song, if there is one. Still, Blue Glass Fall was the first single from the record, the first thing most people ever heard from me.
Some people mistake its title as Blue Grass Falls, but that's a town in Kentucky."
CAREFUL BAREFOOT ON THE FLOOR
I THREW THE PHONE AT THE DOOR
MISSED THE DOOR AND HIT THE MIRROR
SHE HUNG IT UP WHEN SHE LIVED HERE
PIECES OF BLUE GLASS FALL
THE LOVE OF A FOOL IS STRONG
TO PATIENTLY WAIT SO LONG
TO BUILD A BOMB THAT DON'T GO OFF
LISTENING TO ALL HER SONGS
GETTING DRUNK AND LEAVING MESSAGES
FOR MOROMOU
ONE MORE TIME TODAY
I HAVE TO FEEL THIS WAY
BUT HOW MUCH SLEEP COULD SHE GET
WHEN SHE HAS TO WAKE UP IN HER OWN HEAD
LEARNING THAT JOY'S LIKE RAIN
AND LVOE IS A LONG PAARDE AND SORROW IS LIKE THE SUN
WHEN YOU'RE TRYING TO SLEEP, SLEEP AGAIN
AND IKNOW YOU'RE HAPPIER THAN ME
TO BE ALONE AT YOUR WINDOW
OH MOROMOU
LIKE WE USED TO DO
I TOOK A TRIP INTO YOUR PAST
TO KILL THE ONE WHO MADE YOU SAD
BUT YOU HARBORED FUGITIVES
THEY LIVE INSIDE OF YOU
MUST HAVE LOVED THEM
I MUST HAVE TO
WHEN PIECES OF BLUE GLASS FALL
THE LOVE OF A FOOL IS STRONG
TO PATIENTLY WAIT SO LONG
TO BUILD A BOMB THAT DON'T GO OFF
LISTENING TO ALL HER SONGS
GETTING DRUNK AND LEAVING MESSAGES
FOR MORO MOU
PIECES OF BLUE GLASS FALL
THE LOVE OF A FOOL IS STRONG
LEARNING THAT JOY'S LIKE RAIN
AND SORROW IS LIKE THE SUN WHEN YOU'RE TRYING TO SLEEP,
SLEEP AGAIN
credits
from David Poe,
track released September 15, 1997
From the album David Poe (Sony/550)
Released in the US 1997; in Europe, 1999 on Ulftone
Drums: Sim Cain
Bass: John Abbey
Percussion: Don Heffington
Slide guitar tasters: Colin Linden
Guitars and vocals: David Poe
Produced by T-Bone Burnett
Recorded by Susan Rogers
Recorded at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles
Mixed by Sim Cain and Greg Frey at RPM Studios, New York
Mastered by Joe Palmaccio at Sterling Sound, New York
Single mix by Tom Lord-Alge at Criterion Studios, Miami
Single mastered by Ted Jensen, Sterling Sound, New York
Live version recorded by David Patillo at Sneaky Studios, New York
Mastered by Gene Paul at dB Plus, New York
Also appears on The Glass Suit EP (720 Records)
Released 1995
Produced by Sim Cain
Recorded by Greg Frey
Recorded at Sony Studios, New York
Mastered by Vlado Meller
"Blue Glass Fall" also appears on:
David Poe Live & Solo At The Artists Den (iTunes)
David Poe Blue Glass Fall single (Sony/550)
David Poe Blue Glass Fall single (Ulftone)
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