All the Way and Back Again

Something of a Song, no. 12

I tuned the guitar a bit differently for this song — dropping the A down to G. I’d like to play around more with alternate tunings, since it seems like doing so can be a useful way of generating new ideas.

I was floored several years ago when I read Life by Keith Richards and discovered that lots of those classic Stones riffs were in open G tuning. Man, what a trick!

Growing up playing guitar and listening to classic rock, I think I believed that there were essentially three routes to greatness:

1. You could be born with it.

2. You could make an otherworldly bargain to acquire it.

3. You could achieve it through exercise and pain tolerance.

I definitely had one of those finger strengthening devices.

All these years later, having long abandoned those old guitar hero dreams, the memory of approaching music as an athletic endeavor makes me chuckle. It also makes me a little sad to think of how much I could have learned about songs and sounds — exploring things like alternate tunings — if I’d been able to think more expansively about where meaningful music comes from. On the other hand, as I sit here wishing I had better chops, maybe I should have just kept practicing.

“All the Way and Back Again”

All the way and back again
from daylight to darkness
it was hard enough back then
now it's harder to be honest
with where I've been and where I'd rather be

All the way and back again
with a picture in my wallet
two kids trying to pretend
they knew everything they wanted
folded and faded, looking back at me

I parked up on the bridge
and watched the water flowing under it
I don't miss the slamming doors
but I don't blame you anymore

All the way and back again
on gasoline and coffee
and on the hope that you, my friend
will find your way along beside me
how it used to be and always should have been

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