Songwriter Envy - Cymbal Crashing Clouds

Songwriter envy - I've got it  - I confess.  But not in the dark, malicious, green-eyed monster kind of way, but in the "aspiring to" and "hankerin'" kind of way, i.e., "this song makes me want to go write a new song..."

Certain songwriters' lyrics inspire me and move me to delve deeper into my own creative mine.  Recently, it was Ben Shive and his latest cd "Cymbal Crashing Clouds".  The record's been out almost a year... but it's new to me and hopefully new to a few of you!

Now, I have say to that a few people I've talked with are not big fans of Cymbal Crashing Clouds, probably in the same way they may not be big fans of modern visual art (myself included here).  I understand that and I had to listen a few times myself to wrap my mind around this imagery.  And sometimes records like this can make me feel like I'm not a real artist because, generally speaking, most of my lyrics make sense on the first listen!  But this record doesn't make me feel that way... in fact, it makes me want to be a better writer!


I seriously love the brilliant way Ben employs words.  Andrew Peterson says it best, "These songs are quirky, brilliant, poetic, and joyful... with pop hooks, chamber strings, great sounds, intricate poetry, and on top of that, Scriptural allusions galore."  In "Cymbal Crashing Clouds" Ben creates fascinating images through word collisions that explode in my mind like fireworks!  

LISTEN!

I pass through a door in a dream

Hidden in the cleft of the night

Among the parked cars lining the street

Robed in petals of white 

Where the seeds spin down from the trees

Whirling angels in free flight

And the houses mutter in their sleep

Covered in shuttered eyes

Listen!

I'm skipping to the end here...

So signal the cymbal crashing clouds

Pluck all the steeples and spires

Cue the rivers with the reeds in their mouths

Conduct the electrical choirs

Rattle every window in town

Strum all the telephone wires

Crossing arms drawing the phrase out

Crossing arms drawing the phrase out

‘Cause my bones are all bells to be rung

My nerves are attuned and tight

So come knock the air from my lungs

Out over the cords in my windpipe

My skin pulled taut like a drum

I am bracing myself for the strike

Waiting like a song to be sung

Hidden in the cleft of the night

And sprinkled throughout the record are lines that I have oohed and ahed over more than once:  


"the bitter's end" in "Last Time For Everything";
"panning ordinary rivers on rumors of gold" in "EGBDF";
"the city is a mirror ball throwing rainbows around" in "Someone is Asking"
"tearing at my soul with oblivious claws" from "She's Invincible"

Dang!  Thanks, Lil Wrangler, for stirring things up!  Isn't that what great writing does?

Visit Ben's website And at http://www.rabbitroom.com/2011/08/psst-listen/ Ben shares his writing process for "Listen".