What Are You Trying To Tell Me?

by @nancycunning

What Are You Trying To Tell Me?
nancycunning
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Liner Notes

When @billwhite51 heard my first FAWM song, he said the liner notes sounded like Iris DeMent but I'd moved away from my twang songs towards more of a New York songwriter sensibility....So maybe this one is telling the same story a different way. The you in the song could be God or the Insurance Adjustor or the Universe or whomever.

Public Service Announcement: if you're in the US, your homeowner's policy may say you need to keep your house at 55 degrees Fahrenheit (not 50) or turn your water off...

#acoustic #americana #folk #singersongwriter

Lyrics

What are you trying tell me now What and who and why and how Gallons of water raining down through the plaster What’s the moral of this disaster

What new lesson did you need me to learn? How’d you decide must be my turn? What’s the take-away you wanted to burn into my brain

What’re you trying to tell me What’re you trying to tell me What’re you trying to tell me this time?

Why not just come out and say it Why do you always gotta play it so close to the vest? Maybe more could be less

You got my attention No need to mention one more thing Let me take a message, I’ll let her know when she comes in

What’re you trying to tell me What’re you trying to tell me What’re you trying to tell me this time?

I guess you could say it’s all my fault I’m gonna be the one rebuilding these walls ooooh ooooh ooooh oooh

Even though it did look dire It coulda been worse, coulda been a fire You sent your floods But I got the water turned back off

What’re you trying to tell me What’re you trying to tell me What’re you trying to tell me this time?

What’re you trying to tell me What’re you trying to tell me What’re you trying to tell me this time?

What are you trying tell me now With your what and your who and your why and your how With your gallons of water raining down down down through our plaster

There’s no moral. It’s not disaster There’s no moral. It’s just plaster

It’s raining it’s pouring The old man is snoring He bumped his head, so he went to bed And he won’t wake up, not til morning

Comments

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So cool how a comment can inspire a song. Beautiful, soulful, powerful song with a touch of sadness and a lot of poignancy. Beautiful singing, playing and very enjoyable listen. So expressive. Very relatable situation.

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Great variety in your delivery here. I love how you add sarcasm and subtle rage. The inclusion of the nursery rhyme is awesome.

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Really like the cadence of the guitar here, the root strum root strum. There is some lovely finger picking in there as well, but the intro in particular highlights this conversational dance, or call and response, that goes down to the base of the song, looking for answers from a question. That probably sounds stupid, cause isn't that the nature of a question, but i guess i'm not finding the right words. i guess maybe rhetorical in a sense, like you are having to through the dance regardless if there is an answer or not.

i also like the feeling of the biblical flood in the "even though it did look dire" section, also a sense of being able to battle mystical forces is a nice little bit of hope as well.

love the outro pieces, the talking pieces into the lullaby. i really like how the lullaby reframes the whole song acoustically, gives it a dreamy disconnected feeling, which i think works really well with that twist in the theme there. first section is all questions while the outro is very straight, hey there is no moral, it's not even a disaster it's just plaster, which could take on a couple of different meanings there with the context of the song, but i take it as "don't sweat the small stuff", but also a sense of there is no "you" at least that can care about plaster.

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Oh wow. I feel your pain in this one. I actually spent an entire FAWM in an air bnb while my kitchen was being rebuilt after a flood. Which was after living 6 months in a house with a torn up kitchen waiting for the work to start. I hope your ordeal is resolved much sooner. On a positive note, this song is beautiful and poignant. Love the sentiment at the end. It's just plaster. Helpful to remember but also cut yourself some slack for having major emotions when your home gets destroyed. It's upsetting

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you can take the song out of the country but you cant take the country out of the song. this one shows the increased sophistication of your new york persona but still has plenty of your original country sass. i love hearing both elements combine to create your entirely original style. (oh, but i do believe ive heard that last verse somewhere before)

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Oh wow, this has those old-timey vibes and sorry that it relates to a current event. Great hearing this at the circle.

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A sad story indeed, told (or sung) with energy and percolating annoyance and anger that makes this very relatable. Really great vocal performance selling the frustration underlying the words!

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Nancy! I can hear you raging against the gods here! Well done! Guitar accompaniment is rock solid, vocals are nicely done!

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Lovely vocal--interesting story in those lyrics. Very much enjoyed! ❤️

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@gm7

I know of your pain..sometimes it rain and sometimes it pours...but it's really annoying when it happens in doors. The song certainly had that lament feel..well done. Hopefully the repairs are over by now.

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@max

Impressively done—it captures that sense of bottled-up rage and reserve, showing understanding while delivering a total 'screw you. Really enjoyed the listen.

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Well, firstly, you have my utmost sympathies. That repeated 'What're you trying to tell me' feels like it's delivered with increasing exasperation (and that familiar Nancy twang). I like the idea that God IS basically the ultimate insurance adjustor 😆 Also the way you slip in the 'raining it's pouring' refrain at the end is such a nice touch. Sorry that this song had to be written in the first place, but it is magnificent so at least there's that.

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Great song. Been there - experienced that - but in my case, it was a sprinkler line accidentally broken by a maintenance person. It’s just plaster, but it’s a pain in the aster.

I really liked the reference to the “lesson” to learn and “coulda been worse.” Really nice job here.

[FAWM]