The songs for the upcoming album are divided into two sets: The "a team" (songs that'll definitely go on) and the "b team" (songs that may or may not). Out of the 10 or so b team songs that I'll give a shot at, only about 2-3 will make it. This is one of the b-team songs, written over a day or so in July and then played about once, expanding on another Cornersville character mentioned briefly in "New York Rain."
WHEN KEVIN COMES MARCHING HOME
When Kevin comes marching home again
I doubt that they'll have a parade
just some friends and relations down at the airport
meeting him by baggage claim
he'll smile politely and kiss all the cheeks
but he won't look at you in the face
as he hugs you briefly, then heads for his car
and peels his old stickers off right away.
You'll get in the front seat and put on a brave face
and drive off and leave me alone
I know that I won't see you much anymore
when Kevin comes marching home
When Kevin comes marching home again
hurrah, hurrah and all that
He won't grow his hair back, and he'll smoke like a fiend
and he won't ever show up to class
we'll wonder if he died and sent back a ghost
to fill in his place over here
and once it finds out that it's not fooling anyone
it'll fade til it just disappears
Well, I can't quite be certain, but he sure sounded different
when I last talked to him on the phone
We can safely assume that things won't be the same
when Kevin comes marching home
What if spends all his time in the basement
"exercising his arm?"
and thinking of moving to south Indiana
to work on his great uncle's farm?
Or handing out pamphlets down by the park
that ramble and don't make much sense?
Or selling those copies of his god-awful poems
for two bucks and ninety-nine cents?
taking the drugs that he swore off before
and constantly asking for loans?
I'm only saying that you know it might happen
when Kevin comes marching home
Don't get me wrong, when Kevin comes back
man, I hope to God he's okay
But he just looks like hell in those pictures he sent
though he already did, anyway
Have you seen that one where he's in his green jacket
standing by some sort of gate?
All I can say is that I've never seen him
with that kind of look on his face.
Of course I'm still hoping that it's all in my head
and I think maybe I should just go
Cause it'll only be harder (for me, anyway)
when Kevin comes marching home.
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3 comments:
nancy - "exercising his arm" is a term I picked up from having to watch Forrest Gump over and over while working at the restaurant over the summer. It's what Lt. Dan did after getting back from Vietnam - the exercise being lifting up a bottle.
Great work, Adam.
I'm curious, what designates a particular song as a "b team" song?
Is it your own opinion of the song's quality, or are you also taking into account how each song fits into the theme of your record (if there is one)?
Because this one seems "a team" to me. Lyrically anyway.
Comments:
I thought it amazing how you were able to weave socio-political opinions into this song without ever using the word "war."
I love how "small" this song is. Too many writers, when writing a song of similar intent and subject matter, go "big" with their content, thinking that doing so will make their song more universal. What actually happens is the opposite. When writers stay "small," however, the song becomes more relatable, more universal. This is a great example of that.
Besides all that, the one thing that I think is extraordinary about this song and really pushes into the realm of the sublime, is the speaker's intention. I get the feeling that the speaker doesn't really care about the war that Kevin's marching home from, that he doesn't really have a concrete opinion on it. All he's trying to do is make time with Kevin's girlfriend. As the speaker lists all the reasons that Kevin is no longer the ideal boyfriend, he also unknowingly tells the listener how fucked up war really is.
I love how egocentric the speaker is. His buddy Kevin's coming home from the war, reunites with his old girlfriend, and all the speaker's worrying about is himself. There's your universality right there. We're all like that, as much as we try to deny it or do the opposite.
Just fantastic, man.
Songs get on the "b-team" by a variety of means. Some are actually old songs that I thought might fit in (new songs get priority over really old ones), some aren't quite as good as the A-team songs, and, in the case of this, I'm just not sure how well it'll fit in with the rest of the songs or where on the album I could put it - fits in okay theme-wise, since Kevin is also mentioned in New York Rain. The tune for this one is actually not bad; sort of Dylan-circa-64ish.
Here's the current list of songs:
A team:
New York Rain
One Last Short Poem
I Don't Believe in Summer
Wake Up, September
Barbara Allen's Grave
Crooked Houses
Singer But Not the Songs
Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps
Bells of St. Julian's
An Intellectual Country Song About Joan Baez
B-team
Long Way Home
When Kevin Comes Marching Home
Trills (stalker song)
Contents of the Dead Man's Pockets
Viktor (Human Cannonball)
Blue Line Train
Nights Are So Long
Let the Toast Pass
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