Song Lyric Sunday: Dear Time

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday Jim is inviting us to play a song that mentions Time, as he tells us in his post – It’s About Time. I have featured this as a Tuesday Tunes theme a couple of times, and have thereby ruled out playing either of my two standards for it today: no Al Stewart or Sandy Denny this time! Instead I’m playing a couple of new ones (for me), though one of them is a longtime favourite I really should have played before now.

There is a huge clue to my first song in the image above, so having already wrecked any chance of building suspense I’ll just play it – it’s lovely:

 

And here are the lyrics:

Dear time, on this fair occasionI’d like to say you given me more than what you’ve takenHey time, working well togetherI know it’s not forever, we’ll both be moving on
Look what I’ve collected, a little box of memoriesSomewhat disconnected, tied with twineEach a small remembrance, one inside the otherOn rewind, tonight I find them dimmed by wine
Hey time, thank you for the loversThe ones that went astray, and thank you for the one that stayedHey time, accepting of each otherHold off on that buzzer for just a little while
Look what I’ve collected, a little box of memoriesSomewhat disconnected, tied with twineEach a bit of color, winter, spring, fall, and summerSet to burn, they return, a warm blue flame
Dear time, you know I’m at your serviceThank you for the extra heartbeats, I’m not so sure I earned themDear time, I’ve heard you are efficientI cancelled my physician, whatever you decide
How much have I forgotten? In the little box of memoriesEdges start to soften and lose their shineEach a little wonder, a faded watercolorAll unsigned, on standby in my mind
Look what I’ve collected, a little box of memoriesSomewhat disconnected, tied with twineCould I trade them in for a visit with my mom and dadOr throw the ball with my old dog one more time?
Hey time, look at what you’ve made meSentimental and slightly crazyDear time (dear time), on this fair occasionI’d like to say you’ve given me more than what you’ve takenDear time
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Stephen Glenn Martin, Alison Brown

 

As you saw from the video, this track is the result of a collaboration between Steve Martin – actor, author, funny man and accomplished musician – and Alison Brown – banjo player, guitarist, composer and producer, who runs her own record label with her husband, bass player Garry West. It was released last August on an album called Safe, Sensible and Sane, which has twelve equally lovely tracks, many of which, like this one, involve other collaborations. No doubt you spotted that Jackson Browne took the lead vocal on this, and the video (and album track) are also credited with including Jeff Hanna of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, though try as I might I can’t work out if he was in any way involved with this video – he is credited with harmony vocals, but he must have been somewhere offstage!
You probably don’t need me to tell you about Steve Martin’s incredibly successful career in movies and as a comic actor, but his musical side may be less familiar. He actually released his first album all the way back in 1977, and has a further ten, including several with his band The Stone Canyon Raiders, who featured Edie Brickell among their number. Alison Brown released her first album in 1990, and has more than fifteen to her name since then, including other collaborations. As far as I can tell this is the first time they have made a record together and on this evidence I hope they do more – as I said, I think this is lovely.
I promised you a second song for today, and here’s a clue:

That is the sleeve to the second album by Semisonic, Feeling Strangely Fine, and this is its opening track:

The album came out in March 1998 and peaked at #43 in the US, though it did much better here in the UK, getting to #16. This was one of the albums that kept me company on my long commute around the North Circular Road in London, and I played it a lot! Closing Time was released as a single a couple of weeks before the album and fared pretty well in the charts. It made #25 here in the UK, #2 in the Canadian Alternative Rock chart, and whilst it didn’t make the main Billboard listing in the US it had several placings on their Airplay Charts, including a #1 on the Alternative Airplay rankings. I have previously referred to a rather sneering review of Semisonic which described them as “making music for college kids.” So what’s wrong with that, anyway? And any song which contains a lyric as intelligent as “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end” isn’t to be taken lightly, in my view.

That’s my twofer today, and I hope you enjoyed them. Thanks as always to Jim for running the show, and for giving me some added fun this week with a Beatles quiz he sent me – it was just as well it was a multi choice thing or I’d have scored poorly!

See you again for some more Tuesday Tunes, I trust? 👍

 

46 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Dear Time”

  2. I’ve listened to some of Steve Martin’s music and yea I love it…I also remember Closing Time in my teen years…good song!
    Hey Clive…there is a question I would like to ask you. I’m about to cover, in March, a British television show from the 60s which I love called The Prisoner. Is it still shown over there at all? For me it was like James Bond meets The Twilight Zone meets psychedelic meets pop art. I love McGoohans acting.

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    • Glad you liked them, Max.

      I don’t think The Prisoner is shown here now. We have a couple of channels devoted to old tv shows but I don’t think they have it – we get The Avengers and The Saint, but not that one. I’ve been to Portmeirion, where it was filmed – strange place!

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      • It is what we call an architectural ‘folly,’ and was loved by Brian Epstein, who visited often. They filmed George’s interviews for the Anthology series there. There have been many changes to the village down the years but all have been required to remain true to the original design. It’s a unique place.

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  5. Two great choices Clive. I wasn’t familiar with the Steve Martin and Alison Brown song, so thanks for the introduction; it’s a lovely track. I’ve been watching Steve in the series Only Murders in The Building where he stars alongside Selena Gomez who is down to play Linda Ronstadt in a bio-pic; ironic given that Linda was his girlfriend at one point. The video is a nice reminder of what a good musician he is, and of my ambition to one day visit the Troubadour.

    And I follow Dan Wilson of Semisonics as he gives short pearls of song-writing wisdom, I was watching one only this morning actually. Tremendous songwriter.

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    • That song is lovely, isn’t it, and they are such a talented bunch. I watched some of that too, but rather lost interest part way through!

      Dan Wilson is a very underrated songwriter – Semisonic made some great albums.

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  9. So funny Clive I just watched this video last night when I was doing my search for a song. I almost picked your first one because I love Jackson Browne and Steve Martin with his banjo. I also considered the Jim Croce song because that was the first thing that jumped into my mind. So both songs are a great choice! Thanks for the share. ☺️

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  11. Clive two *excellent* songs! The lyrics to the first one are poetry and could stand alone as such. I have known about Steve Martin’s musicianship since he played banjo on Saturday Night Live. Have watched concerts with The Stone Canyon Raiders with Edie (do you know the song about the little train baby?)

    The second song hits me in the feels with its beauty. Fell in love with it when it played on the radio but hadn’t heard it since then.

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  13. Love that first song, and it’s always a surprise and a treat to realize that Steve Martin is such a great musician as well as actor and author. … Semisonic sounds so good on this song. I’ve featured it a few times, myself. :()

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  16. Great post, Clive! I really, really like the first (new to me) song with Steve Martin. I knew he played, but I never listened to him. And I also enjoyed the second song: Why didn’t they find each other in the video???? 🙂

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  17. R.E.M. made music for college kids being the quintessential college rock band, emerging from the University of Georgia scene in the early 1980s, gaining massive support from college radio, so I would say there is nothing wrong with making music for college kids. Thanks for sharing your lovely tunes today, Clive.

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    • It is, isn’t it. I got it from a YouTube recommendation when the album came out and promptly saved it to my Apple Music library. A lovely album. And Semisonic have long been favourites of mine. Glad you liked them 👍

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  20. Your first selection I feel as if I became acquainted with on this prompt at some other time- because I distinctly remember the opening scene of the video- but cannot recall the prompt.

    Now your second choice was a definite winner with me- as it brings back so many memories. Thank you for including it for my listening pleasure this morning, Clive.

    From a place I will be from.

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