A Political Song for Kevin Arnold to Sing.

"If growing up is a tragedy, you're dying in a car crash on 83."

I grew up with two older brothers:  Ariel (center) and Omar (far left).  They are true inspirations in my life and also one of the main reasons why I continue to write music.  My real name is Hiram (pronounced Ee-dom in Espanol).  If you say it in English, it's pronounced "Hi Ram."  That's me on the far right by the way.  I think I still own that pair of Osh-Kosh overalls.  The backyard swing set, however, perished shortly after Hurricane Gilbert in 1988:(





The late-80's/early 90's are like hazy flashbacks.  I don't remember much about that time except my brothers' love/hate relationship for competitive sports and Van Halen.   However, if there are two things I DO remember most, it was:  1.)  Witnessing "crank calls" which involved them calling random people/neighborhood friends and playing parts of random heavy metal albums and then hanging up.  So juvenile, I know.  I'll never forget when they played clips from Anthrax's State of Euphoria on cassette to frighten some of their friends.  These kids would freak out on the telephone after hearing "Now it's Dark."  Truly inspiring.  Among Anthrax, these were some other records they would play:

 

...and of course 2.)  Watching Cinemax's Friday After Dark.  I could post a picture regarding this matter but I will choose to keep this PG-rated.

January 9th, 2013 - I had this melody in my head for several days but couldn't wrap my finger around what kind of lyrics to write. Family is all I could think of when I hummed it though. It felt very "homey" if that makes sense and I don't mean these kinda"homies:"

Then, I thought, why can't the first word of the song be your own name?  Hiram.  This is where the following opening verse came about...

"Hiram,

You were dreaming all your wonder years away

while your brothers stayed awake 'till Saturday

making prank phone calls and watching bad TV."

Bet you can't guess where I wrote it?  You guessed it, refereeing girl's basketball again.  Why not start the song like an open letter to your childhood-self from a 30-year old's perspective?  With that being said, the song ends up being a letter to Hiram about the triumphant highs and devastating lows of "growing up."  

Highway 83 is the expressway that runs through most of the Rio Grande Valley.  I wanted to include it somewhere in this new song just didn't know where.  One day in the early-90's, after Sunday mass, my family and I were involved in a non-serious car accident on our way to Luby's (Mac 'n' Cheese...mmmmm).  We were in my father's red Cutlass Supreme and I was in the backseat.  Thankfully, nobody was injured.  This event inspired the song's chorus: 

"If growing up is a tragedy, you're dying in a car crash on 83

where your one last memory is a lie.

Now, it's hard to say "goodbye" 

to the days when your mother sang you lullabies

Those days are over, time to walk away

from every yesterday."

~January 14th, 2013

Metaphors aside, that opening line is a homage to The Replacement's song, "Swingin' Party" off the album, Tim.  "If being afraid is a crime, we hang side-by-side," Paul Westerberg sings.  It's a line that leaves me speechless every time I hear it.  Whitman covered that song a handful of times years ago and I recall that line often caught someone's attention.  Whether it be a line cook on a smoke break at a bar & grill in Lafayette, LA or a teenager at a coffee shop in Fort Collins, CO, that line is as thought-provoking as it is ear-catching.  That's what I'm aiming for.  A song that every man and woman can relate to because we've ALL experienced the pitfalls of "growing up," and are still having a difficult time saying "goodbye."

 
~Hiramcito