February Album Writing Month - FAWM.ORG

Slow March

Phil Norman

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Tagged As:

synecdoche rock

Liner Notes:

What better to warm up the FAWM muscles than three chords and the truth?

Inspired by the head-trip caused by Synecdoche, New York and the facebook conversation with IQ after he just watched it, too. He told me I was cheery.

Lyrics:

my head hurts
my back hurts
I'm running late

I'm not what
I once was
when did I age?

all I wanna do is stay in bed
pull the blankets over my head
but then my love comes and pulls me awake
gives me a kiss to face the day

if we're on a slow march towards death
it ain't killed me yet
I have been given today
if we're on a slow march towards death
it ain't killed me yet
I'm gonna march in the parade

I'm scared of
everything
failure, betrayal,
futility

I feel my heart beat in my chest
doing the thing that it does best
then my love comes and gets me out of my head
I get to love until I'm dead

if we're on a slow march towards death
it ain't killed me yet
I have been given today
if we're on a slow march towards death
it ain't killed me yet
I'm gonna march in the parade

these are my demons
this is my love

Feedback:

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The Das Binky Recording Collective 2 weeks ago

This jumped right out of the jukebox, and immediately identified itself as a Phil Norman tune, even with the more rocked out sound. Love the tune! Awesome across the board!
Captain Vulpine! 3 weeks ago

Another great Phil tunesy!
Stumbled upon it on the Juke whilst doing other things, and forget I was even on FAWM...
Quality indeed!

-Captain Vulpine!
sherrycanary 3 weeks ago

Phil, what an uplifting song! I love the vulnerability and spirit for love and life in spite of it.
Crazy about your voice and delivery too.
Glad you somehow got to my valentine song. Meant what I said!
onetomany 1 month ago

Tight n Crunchy - love it! Nice vocals
Jharms 1 month ago

Great quality of recording! Did you do all of these tracks yourself? Great lines in the chorus, too.
Halfpenny Orchestra 1 month ago

Way to kick things off...the guitar squall gives a nice edge to the simple chord structure.
rashbre 1 month ago

Great recording, very enjoyable listen, if some poignant lyrics.
dreamscuba 1 month ago

Wow. Really fab song. I love your voice...bit Crash Test Dummies...cool.
Great lyrics and quite apt for me.
What you have done with 3 chords is inspiring me ...Great.
Thanks.
mannyc53 1 month ago

Amazing what you can do with three chords
Sean_T_Wright 1 month ago

awesome!!! Love the Green Day type of treatment on the vocals.
Anthony Bitetti 1 month ago

I could hear this all over the radio...it remind me of the Clarks.
Mike Debenham 1 month ago

Ah yes. Great riff. Great guitar tone. Maybe a little rejig of the chorus lyrics so they scan more naturally, but otherwise pretty impeccable.
Face of Einstein 1 month ago

Well, there really is nothing left to be said after all those comments, but I feel the need to comment on songs that I like so......great song!
Robyn Mackenzie 1 month ago

I love these lyrics. Exactly what I needed today. Nice sound, too.
Kevin Reid 1 month ago

wow, you could out-Green-Day Green Day. The bridge is cool with the effects you use. I really like how you're mixing up your sounds between this and Get Up and Go. Both seem equally effortless for you. Nice work.
Aaron Nathans 1 month ago

You rock! This sounds great. Three chords and the truth, for sure, but it's good to hear a rock song about really getting older, as opposed to "I'm 24, and a quarter of my life has passed me by, oh my..." I like it.
Wynia.Smith 1 month ago

I like the vocals on this one. Nice job so early in the game!
Boltoph 1 month ago

Love it! Clean, driving, fun, feels good and sounds powerful. I love how it's so simple yet effective and catchy.
Meg 1 month ago

This rocks, Phil!
Psy-T 1 month ago

Simple in terms of melodies and such, but the recording and the production are spot on.
Lovely stuff.
T.C. Elliott 1 month ago

Excellent. I love the "march in the parade" line. These three chords sound very good the way you play them.
Jeff Landgraf 1 month ago

Awesome! The guitars sound great with the vocals. Great hook with the "slow march to death aint killed me yet..."
sandman313 1 month ago

Phil another great one! Loved the breakdown! Still kicking out great songs this year. Eager to hear more of what you've got!
Beth Kille 1 month ago

So good to hear your voice again my friend!

Love the trippy bridge in this tune. Nice arrangement too.

Looking forward to more great music:)
Nick 1 month ago

Holy balls! I heard this on Charlie Cheney's radio show and I was blown away! Rockin' jam bro!
Billy Sea 1 month ago

And until it kills us, we will write. Very nice Phil, really enjoyed it!
mike skliar 1 month ago

Amazing- love the song, love the feel of the recording, love the whole damm thing!
Phil Bearce 1 month ago

Great groove, amazing spot on lyrics, this is a really good rock anthem. Nice work, Phil.
mikejames 1 month ago

Nice work-three chords never sounded so good! Solid
Valerie Cox 1 month ago

The bridge is so, so cool. Love the FX there. This rocks! Great song to start off with.
Elaine DiMasi 1 month ago

That second verse so shook me awake - seven words that made two more orders of magnitude of emotion happen.
JRamoneWI 1 month ago

Holy crap, man, you've done it again. This ROCKS! A hint of Green Day in there, definitely. Whether you meant to or not! Keep rockin!
Joel D Canfield 1 month ago

That ain't newgrass, son. (I love it when you rock.)

I turned 50 in December. When yer gonna live forever, age is just a number, right?
daisy takes no prisoners 1 month ago

you took away very different things than i did from that movie! very nice song. cheery indeed. awesome production.
Roel van Veldt 1 month ago

Great song! If you made, arranged and recorded these two songs in one day... I am impressed. I just don't believe you have a day job and kids to look after...
Christmas Card 1 month ago

nice work dude - quality is great. reminds me of the bad "the crash test dummies"
grygrx 1 month ago

I turn 36 this next week. I feel it, marching...
Billy Chase 1 month ago

Nice opening track. I may post a warm up, quickie song tonight. I'll have one for tomorrow night that will be a bit more focused.
Ben Carroll 1 month ago

love this.

um, not a lot more to say. the lyrics in the chorus and the shift in sound for the bridge.
isaac quatorze 1 month ago

so that's your secret.... i can dig it

huh! what can i say? you simultaneously posted a (killer) song and continued our conversation, in one fell swoop. like some other commenters, i'm struck by the simplicity here, which totally complements the message — don't complicate things, just love.

thank you, phil i'm glad my slow march towards death included this song.
MAX VANREMMERDEN 1 month ago

speechless ..........

.........completely blown away by it.
AXL 1 month ago

Good to hear one of my favorite voices of FAWM again. Nice simple rocker with an interesting bridge.
rob barreda 1 month ago

Hi Phil. First time FAWMer... long time listener to rock music like this. Love it! So simple in it's premise yet delivered with pro effort. Delivered really well. And I really like the production you did on it.

Man, way to go on your first song out of the gate.
Scott McBride 1 month ago

Phil, I'm loving it. What else can I say? Great way to start 2010!
chrisshepard 1 month ago

Awesome...I need to learn to mix like you guys.
Scott O. Clamp 1 month ago

Yes, I'm liking raw-nerve Norman very much! Wonderful, Phil.
Embers of Autumn 1 month ago

Sounds very Stroke 9ish, perhaps some Marvelous 3 in there. It's very nice.
Michael Gutierrez-May 1 month ago

I almost see this as the beginning of a song cycle. Either that or a collection of songs inspired by Synedoche, NY. Cool song.
Becca 1 month ago

Ah, dearest Phil...... You open my heart as always (my gut and my mind too...)
sebastian6 1 month ago

I like this. Your voice has a quirky vibrato to it that is completely complimentary to this style. Good lyrics too. I'd bring the guitars up just a bit into the mix but the it's a solid piece of recording. Good stuff! Keep it up!
musicmaniac 1 month ago

dynamite! even better than the hamburgers you used to cook at Wit's End/Belly of the Beast! Several exceptionally good lines and a rockin' back-beat.
Steven Wesley Guiles (formerly Apple_Head) 1 month ago

Phil, cool stuff going on in this song.
Great chant rock song. Love the lyrics.
Have some friends who are in a situation that sounds a lot like this.
I interpret this as a seize the day kind of song for those who have a choice between despondency or living to the fullest.

Way to bring it for February!
pianoman 1 month ago

You're the only one I know who can turn so little into so much.
chrishensongs 1 month ago

"doing the thing that it does best" More like, "doing the thing that Phil Norman does best!" What an utterly complete song. Fab-rawk-ulous!

It's on, homeslice. It's on.
Nicholas Wautier 1 month ago

Truth... Pure, unadulterated, truth...
opabobby 1 month ago

Good job.. Doesn't need a thing.
Regards
teggy aka Broadcast Failure 1 month ago

Nice job - can you post what you used for recording and drums?
Jay Africa 1 month ago

Love the chorus! Catchy and poignant. Such a great way to describe a cool outlook.
Nancy Rost 1 month ago

Love it! Three chords and the truth indeed. This is a big hit of inspiration -- thank you!
PQ 1 month ago

A little punkish, that works just as fine for being a Phil Norman!

Glad to catch it!