Magazine
"Magazine"
Music & Lyrics by Scott Cooley.
When prayers don't get answered by heaven above
And it seems like all I've got is time
When there's no one to fill my heart with love
When my mind's eye is blind
To escape this emptiness I feel
I can fill my head with pretty pictures
It's better that I read about things that are real
Instead of some made-up scripture
They're merely objects of my desire
I have the will, but not the means
Magazine, things I'll never be able to do
Magazine, every time I've got a case of the blues
Magazine, places I won't ever go
Magazine, things I've always wanted to know
Magazine, stuff I'll never be able to own
Magazine, dream of calling another place home
Travel without being heard or seen, magazine
Can't really afford the monthly rate
I've been out of circulation
But it's the stories that I can't go without
The trials and the tribulations
Can't make it out to a bookstore
A newstand or coffee shop
But when it's delivered to my mailbox
It's a subscription I won't ever stop
Architecture, travel, sports and wildlife
Satire set me free
Magazine, things I'll never be able to do
Magazine, every time I've got a case of the blues
Magazine, places I won't ever go
Magazine, things I've always wanted to know
Magazine, stuff I'll never be able to own
Magazine, dream of calling another place home
Travel without being heard or seen, magazine
Can't throw away the old volumes
Stacks of fantasies against the wall
They're the closest I'll get to the real thing
These dreams, I paid for them all
All it is is just ink and paper
And every month it's sent to my home
But it brings the rest of the world to me
All the places I'll never roam
All I can do is sit alone and daydream
And live my life vicariously
Magazine, things I'll never be able to do
Magazine, every time I've got a case of the blues
Magazine, places I won't ever go
Magazine, things I've always wanted to know
Magazine, stuff I'll never be able to own
Magazine, dream of calling another place home
Travel without being heard or seen, magazine
No one can ever take away my dreams, magazine
Copyright © ℗ 2014 by Scott Cooley. All rights reserved.
This song was just an experimentation, a project song, wherein I was motivated to figure out what chords jazz songs had in them. I literally googled 'jazz guitar chords' or something like that, and began learning. Then out of the chords I already sort of knew how to play, I strung a few of them together, changed the order around until they sounded good, and oila, it sounded sort of like a jazz song. I have no idea if this technically qualifies as being an actual jazz song or not, probably not, but it's my attempt at something in that vein. Then I thought about what I liked about the vocal standards I've heard over the years, probably on radio, and tried to imagine something that was sort of melancholy and blue and classic-sounding as the subject matter, as some of those songs are. There's a feel to them, which is hard to describe, but anyway, I thought of maybe like a Billy Holliday or Frank Sinatra or Willie Nelson doing old standards or Diana Krall types of songs that I'd heard before and enjoyed.
Then I thought about someone I know, a few different people I know actually, who have this habit of collecting magazines. I thought about how it's kind of sad that they live in a kind of fantasy world, wishing for the lifestyles of the rich and famous, yearning to travel to exotic places, or have fancy clothes or furniture or whatever, but never end up attaining it. They always want something other than what they have, something bigger and better, their wish list stuff is in the pages of those magazines. These people I know pile up stacks of the magazines where they live, not wanting to part with them, and when I thought about that more, I thought about how it's as if they don't want to give up on their dreams or lose hope, so they find it hard to ever throw those away because of what they represent. The magazines become their prized possessions, as if the next best thing to having the actual items in them. So that's what was behind me writing this one. Maybe you, or someone you know is like this, and hence, you can relate. Hope you like the song. I regret not making it be in a better key for my singing range, but maybe since it's a melancholy song, the key works, I don't really know.