Today is the start of “90 Songs in 90 Days”, a creative journey that I’m embarking on to test the limits and possibilities of my songwriting and the endurance and strength of my marriage. This exercise will coincide with my wife’s last trimester, end around the time of my son’s birth, and mirror AA’s “90 Meetings in 90 Days” program. These songs are my babies and my confessional AA meetings, minus the throw-up, diapers, clichés, 12 steps, and bad coffee.
I’m going to spend one whole day living with and writing, or re-writing, one song; record it, blog about it, and then post it on my website as an MP3. I’ll also film some of the songs and put them up on my YouTube channel. It may take a day or to two, depending on my travel circumstances and performing schedule to record the songs in some format and get them posted, so be patient. I will work 6 days a week and rest my voice, brain, and family’s nerves on the Sabbath, as per our Lord’s wishes. I will be finished on November 30th, just in time to play with, stare at, and cry over my newborn son, Joseph James Godwin.
Back in the old WMMR Morning Zoo days, and when I was working for The Bob & Tom Show, I would have to come up with 4 or 5 songs at a time as part of my job, and some amazing things came out of having those deadlines… I need deadlines Thomas Edison once famously said, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” I‘d have to agree with him, although I didn’t care for his music. At the end of the 90 days, you will decide by vote, what songs I’ll record for my next comedy AND serious album.
The rules are simple: I can’t put up any song that’s been released on my albums, “Excess in Moderation,” “Reindeer Games,” “Under the Bed,” or the new CD, “Captured Live”. The goal is to write as many new songs as possible, but I can go back to the “scraps and bait” notebook to finish and re-write old songs. I’m looking forward to this, because ever since I started comedy full-time in 1995, I’ve had no outlet for my more serious fare. Believe it or not, I have a much easier time writing a so-called serious song, than the light-hearted ones I’m known for like “Gangsta Folk” and “I’ve Got a Barney, Too”… a dueling piano bar favorite. There’s nothing funny sometimes about writing a comedy song… they can be surprisingly difficult to reel in and make work for 3 minutes. The tunes I’ll post will range from the broadly funny, to the very serious. I’ll list the writer for the funny ones as Paddy G., the quirky tunes as Pat Godwin and the serious songs, J. Patrick Godwin. I once used to joke that my songs were like a bad toaster… either too light or too dark. Hopefully this will change that.
I was hanging out after a show last week in Port Charlotte, FL and an audience member approached me with questions in his eyes… this is usually not good. It’s almost always a, “Why aren’t you on ‘The Bob & Tom Show’ anymore,” “What’s Howard Stern like,” or “Wanna hear a joke?” question, and the joke’s always too long and racist. The guy says to me, “Why didn’t you do ‘Sleepin’ on Willie’s Bed’… that’s my favorite.” I stood gob smacked, flattered, confused and politely told him that I did that song ONCE on the radio, 4, 5 years ago, and I barely remembered it. How could it possibly be this guy’s favorite? In fact, when compiling a list of 100 possible songs that I would put up on the blocks and refurbish, it didn’t make the cut… because I forgot all about it. Today I poked around in an old folder on my computer marked, “Bob & Tom Stuff” and there it was, just like I left it… unfinished.
The back-story of this song is this– Around the time that I was working on my album “Under the Bed” in Indianapolis, IN, a curious thing happened. I became really good friends with Tom Griswold, of “Bob & Tom” fame (the guy producing my album), and his incredible family. It’s rare to forge such a friendship at our age and we got along great, so well in fact, that Tom made me his son Willie’s godfather. I had just come out of a terrible breakup that left me penniless and nearly homeless, living in my mom’s basement, when Tom encouraged me to move to Indianapolis and write for his nationally syndicated, “Bob & Tom” show. Great, life is looking up! So I got a place in Castleton, north of Indy and set up shop, but when Tom came by to pick me up for one of our many lunches and writing sessions, he was shocked. I had no furniture, no dishes, no shower curtain, no nothing… I had been sleeping on the floor and using my clothes as a blanket. We had endless fun discussing my living conditions on the radio, and fans used to bring me lamps, end tables, and even shower curtains to the shows. Tommy G. came by one night unannounced with a gift… a bed, not just any bed mind you; it was his 10 year-old son Willie’s bed – and a song was born.
I did the song on “The Bob & Tom Show” the following week, and even though it was by no means a comedy song, it went over very well. That was the last time I thought about it, or sang it, and since the song didn’t fit my comedy needs, it was forgotten. I’ve always loved the melody and when I reexamined it today I realized that I was only scratching the surface of the song’s true potential and possible poetry. I added a verse, tightened up some old lines and wrote a brand new bridge that pretty much lays it all out there. The song is a true exaggeration of what I had been through, and what I had put others through. Here’s the point in the blog where I should shut up and let you come to your own conclusion as to what’s real, hidden, or imagined, and decide for yourself whether you enjoy the song or it moves you. When I played my wife this song today, I started to tear up a little when I got to the line about “chatterin’ mind” and I said, “I have no idea why I’m crying,” and she said, “Yes, you do.” She’s right, I do.
I travel ‘round the world with a wanderin’ eye
And a head full of hobo dreams
I stare up at the sky and wonder why
I’m falling apart at the seams
Every woman’s left me for a better life
Can’t keep a job, let alone a wife
Most folks thought I was left for dead
But I’m sleepin’ on Willie’s bed
Yeah, I’m sleepin’ on Willie’s bed
Willie is the son of my good friend Tom
And he’s away right now at camp
Tom picks me up and dries me out
When I’m shaky, cold and damp
I may have me a pillow with a chocolate stain
But it’s a hell of a lot softer than a railroad train
Tonight I found a place I can rest my head
I’m sleepin’ on Willy’s bed
I’m sleepin’ on Willy’s bed
I’m alive and I’ve been fed
Sleepin’ on Willie’s bed
Got a roof overhead
Sleepin’ on Willie’s bed
‘Cause when your chatterin’ mind gets too deep
You want to shut it off and get some sleep
So you turn to the bottle, so you don’t have to think
But your troubles are double when you start to drink
And you start to sink
Willie is boy, ‘bout 10 years old
And I taught him how to play guitar
I wish I could teach him ‘bout the ways of the world
But he wants to be a Rock ’n’ Roll star
The price of falling down from the edge of your dreams
Could be a cardboard box and the nightmare screams
You can’t tell a young boy what may lie ahead
Till he’s sleepin’ on Willie’s bed
Sleepin’ on Willie’s bed
‘So when that chatterin’ mind gets too deep
You want to shut it off and get some sleep
Turn to your friend, when you’ve had too much to think
Talk through your troubles and your troubles start to shrink
They start to shrink
I traveled ‘round the world with a wanderin’ eye
And a head full of hobo dreams
But now I stare up at the ceiling and I start to cry
In spite of the comic book theme
The bed may be too small to fit my feet
And I feel a little funny on Spiderman sheets
But tonight I found a place I can clear my head
I’m Sleeping on Willie’s Bed
I’m Sleeping on Willie’s Bed
