Here’s another tune from the song circle.

Back in 2002 I was working in Silicon Valley. It was not at all glamorous. It was post-dotcom crash, post-9/11, pre-Iraq invasion and pre-Web 2.0. My post-Ohio career path had started in San Francisco, then moved farther and farther south until I was commuting three hours a day round trip to a desolate, sun-baked office park at the hot, stinky south end of the Bay, not far from where Yahoo! have their offices.

One day on the Caltrain home, I looked out the window and saw tiny birds darting around in a green hedge. I opened a notebook and wrote:

he packs his desk in a box
nods to the receptionist
steps into the parking lot
birds sing in the new green of spring
he rubs his eyes in disbelief and says
“no one ever tells me anything”

I had an idea that this was a character who wanders through his day job wondering where all the fun went.

Later on, I wrote a separate chorus around the phrase “ghost in the graveyard” which is a kid’s game, sort of like freeze tag. One kid is the “ghost” and his job is to tag other kids running through the “graveyard” which is an area the ghost can’t leave. Caught kids become ghosts themselves, and help catch the remaining kids. I liked the idea because it was both fun and grim, and I liked the thought of the disaffected office worker dude wandering around his office like a ghost, dreaming of playing outside again. Oh, and I named the guy Walter.

I wrote music for it but didn’t even complete the song until about a month ago, when the song circle forced my hand and I was determined to bring something new. So I sat down for a few hours the night before (of course) and banged out the rest of the verses.

My song circle peeps liked it but thought it could use another verse and some stronger imagery. I’m not entirely happy with some of the lines (“he’s got a toner stain on his tie?” ORLY?) but admittedly I crammed some stuff in there just to get the first draft out of the way.

Here are two guitars and rough one-take vocals. Lyrics after the jump.

Ghost In The Graveyard

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5 a.m. the streets are still dark
Walter guides his Subaru
south towards the office park
he wakes the dozing guard at the gate
coffee mug and headphones on
whatever gets him through another day

So close your eyes
and I’ll run and hide
spinning ’round
moving side to side
and we’ll play ghost in the graveyard
just like we did
’til the sun went down

flourescents pop and buzz overhead
he shuffles down the hallway
to the breakroom for a cigarette
he’s got a toner stain on his tie
he wanders through the cubicles
but no one stops to look him in the eye

So close your eyes
and I’ll run and hide
spinning ’round
moving side to side
and we’ll play ghost in the graveyard
just like we did
’til the sun went down

Walter packs his desk in a box
he nods to the receptionist
and steps into the parking lot
the birds sing in the new green of spring
he rubs his eyes in disbelief and says
“no one ever tells me anything”

So close your eyes
and I’ll run and hide
spinning ’round
moving side to side
and we’ll play ghost in the graveyard
just like we did
’til the sun went down

So close your eyes
and I’ll run and hide
no one can say
we can’t change our minds
and we’ll play ghost in the graveyard
just like we did
’til the sun went down