Day 15: Bitter Boy (Song-a-day January)

 

Day 15: Bitter Boy
By David Coile

Part of my daily songwriting project for January 2025

Lyrics:

I woke up craving a little bit of sweetness
So I decided to go patronize your business
I got a table in the corner of your venue
Then I went and opened up your menu

I saw coffee, cappuccino and chai
Blueberry muffins, coffee cake and fruit pie
I tried a sample just to ease my doubts
But that left a bad taste in my mouth

Now I'm a bitter boy through and through
Yes, I'm a bitter boy, it makes me blue
I'm acidic and I'm sharp
Disagreeable and a little harsh
I'm a bitter boy, yes, it's true

Come noontime, I wanted something savory
A little bit of salt can bring out the flavor, you see
Let me tell you folks, I hate to be whiny
But that dish came out a little too briny

I'm a bitter boy through and through
Yes, I'm a bitter boy, it makes me blue
I'm acidic and I'm sharp
Disagreeable and a little harsh
I'm a bitter boy, yes, it's true

When supper came, I got a little bit feisty
Thought I'd try a meal just a little more spicy
Took onion, ginger, garlic, made them into a curry
That only resulted in my vision getting blurry

'Cause I'm a bitter boy through and through
Yes, I'm a bitter boy, it makes me blue
I'm acidic and I'm sharp
Disagreeable and a little harsh
I'm a bitter boy, yes, it's true

***

Details:

I don't really play the blues. There are a lot of other folks who have a good handle on it, and I don't feel like I have much to add. It's also one of those song forms that benefits from playing it a lot; blues jams are pretty common, and those guitarists can really rip it up. So, because I don't do the blues, I was a little embarrassed today when a client wanted me to play a basic blues progression on the guitar, and I was a little stumped. You see, I don't improvise much, either, and I don't think in terms of the number system (I IV V, etc.)-- in other words, I'm lacking some basic skills that any musician should have. Anyway, I decided that tonight's song should be a blues for that reason.

I also ran across some colleagues complaining about the music business. And it was one of those things where I understand the complaints, but it's hard to see how it's hard to avoid some of the annoying aspects, either as the annoyed or the annoyance. For whatever reason, it left me feeling a bit bitter. And once I get bitter about one thing, it creates a chain reaction where all the things I'm bitter about come to the fore. So when I started writing the song, the line "I'm a bitter boy" came out straight away.

From there I looked up a bunch of words related to taste and decided to jumble them together. Unlike my Day 10 song, "Breakfast at Sunrise", I didn't have Josh Elioseff here to feed me food terminology.

Honestly, this song felt like a cheat, or a paint by number piece, at least. Just an exercise in style. I'll guess it's good to have a blues song in my back pocket...