Lyrics, tunes, and decades-old dreams
Deepest thoughts and consciousness streams
Filling up sheets and notebooks and reams
Where has it all led me
Steady gigs and one-night stands
Solos, duos, and countless bands
I never could quite understand
Why success seems to have fled me
The best part of my life is in my history pages
I find myself living in the middle ages
But what do I do if the fire is still burning
The ideas spring and jump and leap
I try to repeat them so they’ll keep
And while the baby’s fast asleep
I write them down
Chasing down a long-dormant muse
Hoping that she’ll light a fuse
And that I’ll manage not to lose
Her inspiring sound
I’ve gone through phases and I’ve gone through stages
And now I’m in the middle ages
But I don’t want to get sucked into nostalgic yearning
The young ones walk by me and stare
They like to make fun of my hair
And I’m amazed that I even care
But I do, ‘cause I was once one of them
And you know that it’s gotten bad
When I’m making noises like my dad
Pointing out the young ones’ silly fads
And poking fun at them
It feels like we’re being locked in cages
Imposed by the difference in our ages
When we could be looking at each other and learning
But I can’t change things, so I write these pages
As I get bummed out in the middle ages
Trying to figure out what to do with a fire still burning.
©2024 The Hesh Inc.
Teenagers aren't the only ones with angst ... it hits middle-agers as well, sometimes in the form of a midlife crisis that manifests in the form of affairs, sportscars, profligacy, and who knows what else. In musicians, especially those with huge backlogs of unrecorded material and no shot at the big time, it can be especially painful.
I wrote this one sometime in the latter half of the 2000s, while living at the Jersey Shore after having returned from my first spell in Los Angeles. The angst had bitten me particularly hard, coming as it did after a second divorce and a second cross-country move. No music yet.