From the recording Your Corners Curve Like Lemonade
more detail on the song production process below for those who care to dig deeper:
I happened to surf across an article about Richard Brautigan. I found the story mildly interesting. The article's author was writing about a recent biography that had come out about Brautigan. The picture he painted of the man did not seem flattering. In fact, he made him sound like a real misogynistic, drunken asshole which I am sure he very well may have been. However, what caught my eye in his write-up was a reference to Brautigan's book called "Trout Fishing in America".
I recall chuckling at the way the article's author stated Brautigan used the phrase "trout fishing" or "trout stream" in ways that made the reader double-take. Some of the book's cultural popularity was misleadingly due to that title's use in the more conventional sense. However, Brautigan would personify the phrase "trout fishing" onto people or places or things throughout the book. This was un-conventional for the time and trippy to me. It created a sort of ear-worm of magic on me during my own song development process. It was a needed hit of hippie, beat generation, creative juice just in the nick of time. The trout stream which had been simmering for close to a year was dusted off, revised and finally completed.
This song may be about my ongoing discontent with the state of our world. It may be about my deep conviction that we can and will do better. It may be about my general state of happiness despite the world we live in. It may be about trout fishing in America.
Thank You for sharing a moment with me. I appreciate your friendship as I continue to cobble my musical creations together one trout fish at a time.
Here's to you with much gratitude.
V/r
Dave
Lyrics
Trout Fishing in America
By David Husted
16 MAY 2020
V1a
I can't hit that top………can't take it any longer
0.1% ……….not taking new members
They say you got to give your life to me
They say they'll help you dig your grave
Still shucking that corn for da man who don't mourn you
V1b
What you gonna do when the world won't play?
What you gonna do when we break those chains?
What you gonna do when we're face to face
See our blood, sweat and tears,……. maybe a little taste of
Peace …………Love…….and some of that Amazing Grace
Pre-ch
Down for the count now, I'd really had to meet ya
rolling on the ground without your power, without your millions
Leaking out the pockets of the towered coward leaders
Bribes, lies, recognize you ain't got nowhere to rise
V1c
I refused
I will not be used
Wont give my life away
Gonna make my own plans
Gonna pay my own way
Ch
But Today, Baby
Wanna spend my life with you
Cause I Love You
{instrumental}
I lay down but I ain't gonna sleep
Cause I ain't gonna close my eyes
I am the lion; I dream
V2 {call and response}
I refused
{I Can't Hit that top………can't take it any longer}
I will Not Be Used
{0.1 % ……….not taking new members}
Wont Give My Life Away
{They say you got to give your life to me}
{They say they'll help you dig your grave}
Gonna make my own Plans
Gonna pay my own way
{Bribes, lies, recognize you aint got nowhere to rise}
Ch
But Today, Baby
Gonna spend my life with you
What you gonna do when we're face to face, You'll See
Our blood, sweat and tears,……. maybe a little taste of
Peace …………Love…….Amazing Grace
Bridge
Cracks; burning inside of my baby grand
Slap the keys like nutter-butter slippin-in the frying pan
Cranking out the metaphors better than a Brautigan
I hope he still out there "Trout Fishing in America"
Outro