The Inner State

 

At a shallow pond
On a shallow shore
On a shallow lake
Never seen before

The water clear
The sound of the sea
The ocean tide
Tsunami near

Shine the light
On a larger stone
It's a place
You've never known

We want to go
Where we've gone before
But where we land
Is what we settle for

Bitter taste 
The inner show
The Interstate
A metaphor

I love the spooky "Wichita Lineman" vibe in context with Robert Adams' 1968 "Eden" photo and ironic juxtaposition of ponds, lakes, and shores appearing in a dream, and a dry barren landscape. His quote: “After people live awhile in a place to which they’ve laid waste, it gets to be easy to hate a great many things. Including themselves. And anything green that tries to rise again.” 

This is one of the instances where the harmony is less cliche and uses 2 Mixolydian modes (C and F), with the key center in F--an odd guitar key--or the stems used were an acoustic guitar with a capo on the first fret. 

Would I write a song like this and sing it? No. I'd probably make it "dreamy", but I like this particular atmosphere. If I had sent this lyric to this artist and he produced this demo, I wouldn't reject it. I'd add parts to it, like organ and piano. Some of the lines are clunky, like "tsunami near"  and "bitter taste".  

The lap part is fantastic. Again, who is it? I recall Daniel Lanois playing in an open F tuning on one of his solo albums.  

Out-takes: