Unresolved

It's just a title ...

BeJae (Unresolved), copyright GDPaul 1997, Ivanhoe Road Music (ASCAP); released on A Woman’s Touch, 1998, Ivanhoe Road Records; recorded and mixed by Dan Towey at Up ‘til Dawn studios

Musical inside jokes can be hilarious, but hardly anybody ever gets them.

This is a song in the key of G, but it never actually hits a G chord. Well, it might in one spot for a nanosecond. But it never hangs there. And it ends on the 4 chord, which is what we call leaving a song “unresolved.”

BeJae Flaming and I put on some miles together, playing some great shows and some shit shows, but hanging in like two women who supported each other unconditionally. And it was magic. BeJae is one of my biggest influences and the songwriter I most often wish I could be when I grow up.

I was writing music for this record, A Woman’s Touch, and I kind of wish I’d called it something else because it sold for shit because nobody in 1998 wanted to hear a woman playing guitar. But … woulda coulda shoulda. It’s actually some killer playing, if I do say so myself, although attempting to play much of it would now put me in the ER. (This is the record I was sort of hearing in the coffee house and couldn’t identify, even though it sounded so familiar; and when I asked the manager what it was, he looked at me like I had 3 heads and none of them working. I’ve told you this story before, can’t remember when.)

Anyway, sorry for the digression, but I’m a double Sagittarius with Libra rising and Venus and Neptune conjunct in Scorpio, so … you know, it’s gonna happen. Like just there.

But like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted (twice), I was writing music for this poorly named record, and I stumbled onto this cool lick, and thought I’d push it and see how long I could play in the key of G without ever landing on G, and then I decided that because the 4 chord dominated everything - and BeJae and I both had a thing about leaving songs on a 4 chord if we felt like the story might not be over - I would name the song after her. She got it. She loved it. I don’t know if she thought it was hilarious or not, but … at least she got it.

And now maybe you do, too, but if not, hey, it’s pretty and peaceful and just the thing for a Tuesday. Enjoy.

Brief update: My cold is basically over but my ears are still full of shit - no, I swear I haven’t been listening to any Presidential press conferences. Singing isn’t impossible, but it’s off, because I sound funny in my head and can’t always tell if I’m doin’ it right. I’m using a nasal spray that seems to be helping, so hopefully in a week or so I will be able to sing without second-guessing myself, which is never, ever a good thing to do when you are singing. Unless you want it to sound like shit, in which case, you do you.

I had written three new songs, but two of them are actually getting some surgery, which will make them both much better, so I’m glad I waited to record and post them.

Gear Box

I suspect this was recorded on a 1972 Gallagher G50 dreadnaught, mahogany and spruce.

Songwriter’s Workshop

Making these two solo guitar records, How Can I Keep From Singing in 1997 and A Woman’s Touch in 1998, made me a better songwriter. I began to pay a lot more attention to what the music was saying for me, so I didn’t have to write a fucking 6 minute song every time I put pen to paper. Because the music can tell so much of the story if you let it.

Of course, there are some great songs that sound really happy and bouncy and the lyrics are sadness, despair, and gloom. And that’s a fun way to write, absolutely - and actually that says a lot about looking like you're perfectly fine when underneath the veneer you present to the world you are crumbling like a stale cookie.

This song uses the 4 chord, in the key of G that’s the C chord, to hinge the whole thing on. It resolves, if you can call it that, to the 6 chord, the Em, once in a while, and yes, it feels good, but that tension of never actually getting to the Root is kind of delicious, honestly. I really love this tune. I was on the couch at Dan Towey’s house when I found the first phrase of the song, and started to poke at it a bit. I think my son was fast asleep on the couch next to me. He would have been … gosh, 5 probably.

The tuning is CGDGBD, which made it easy to hang on the C chord.

Sound Healer’s Planet

There’s a wonderful relationship between the interval of 1 and 4, C and F or G and C, for example, in sound healing. Those two tones played together, C and F particularly, but any tones with that relationship, causes the nervous system to relax just a bit. Moving from the C chord to the F chord, and back to C feels like ahhhhh. The tension releases, things resolve.

This song actually never quite gives you that relief. Resolving to the Em is as close as you get, but it’s never all the way. It’s a form of eustress, which means good stress, like stress that helps your body heal through building. Eustress is lifting weights, crunches, planks, interval training. Distress is the one we don’t want, harmful, bad stress that weakens the immune system and makes the body vulnerable to disease and injury. Sleep deprivation, bad nutrition, too much alcohol, bad decisions … you know, college.

The stately tempo, generous space, and gentle syncopation create an atmosphere of safety and ease in which the eustress can do some heavy lifting and break up stuck energies. I use this relationship a lot in my sound healing studio, using the notes C and F, followed by C and A, and back to C and F - that’s going from F major to A minor and back, which is peaceful and safe, but ever so slightly challenging.

This song lends itself nicely to some 4-count breathing, so close your eyes, get comfy and give that a try. Breathe in for four beats, hold for four, breathe out for four, and hold out for four. Lather, rinse, repeat.

If you are interested in more of Alma’s music, visit almadrake.bandcamp.com to check out her currently available digital releases.