The Milk Song

Lyrics

Drinking milk from a wine glass, but it still tastes like milk
You can wear the finest suit of cotton, but it will never feel like silk
Happy laugh, happy laugh, happy laugh you call your own
Step on back, step on back into yourself you've grown

And you're not a number like three is to four
You're like love is to love is to love is to love and
You wake up each day to love a little more

There will be days when the rain drops fall like diamonds from the sky
Pierce your sun-burnt skin so you never wish again that you were dry
And its only then that you champion the questions you entertain
Well it's something like a stranger on a 19th Century train
And it's impossible to be something that you're not
You can try but its hard, you can try but its hard
to teach the tango to a polka dot

Piece-by-piece I place my words 'cause you know there is no right one
I might say a heavy thing, and you might hear a light one

Well enjoy the scenic route. Take some time to roam
And check the date on the milk before you get it home
Sleep under the starts but not in New York City
And don't try to get to far on days you're feeling shitty

And little brother just understand and forgive
Take a trip 'round the world, take a chance on a girl,
Find a night-colored pearl and don't forget to give

And you're not a number like three is to four
You're like love is to love is to love is to love and
You wake up each day to love a little more

Reflections

The original title of this song was "Little Brother."  At the time it was recorded I refered to it among the other musicians as "The Milk Song," and the name just sort of stuck. I wrote this song for my younger brother, Roy who was probably about 17, seven years younger than I.  It was a big-brother-giving-advice song, much of which, looking back, he took to heart perhaps more than I ever did.

The advice, simply put, was to be yourself, take advantage of all that life has to offer and to be prudent.

The night-colored pearl was a reference to a story in Thomas Merton's "The Way of Chuang Tzu" in which neither science nor logic nor analysis could find the Emperor's lost pearl.  It was an example of Merton trying to show the similarities between Eastern thought and what is know in the West as "Negative Theology," or the idea that there is more about God that we don't know than that we do know.  I think I might have been trying to tell my brother to not over-analyze things and let the diamonds from the sky take care of him.

This is the closest thing to a pop song on this first record because of its 4/4 drum beat, simple chord structure, consonant sound, and presence of a bridge section.  Although, in the world of commercial music it has several things going against it.  First of all it has no repetitive hook or catchy chorus.  It definitely has some great one-liners but nothing to grab hold of the radio airwaves.  The other thing that makes it not commercially viable is the word, "shitty."  I wish I hadn't made that choice - primarily because it is lazy writing but also because it made a very positive and uplifting song very difficult to perform to a mixed audience or in a family-friendly environment. It's not the worst word in the world, and from brother-to-brother it is probably more common than not, but it still shows my lack of foresight. Perhaps it is irony (if this is the right use of the word - I am never sure) that I was imprudent in a song about how to be prudent.

Mike Ofca's guitar playing suits the song really well - there is no excess, no fat to trim.  He just lays down that riff and then busts out a short solo in the middle and at the end.  It was his idea, and I'm glad that I agreed to it.

I think Roy liked this song, and I think he took it to heart because in a lot of ways he has far surpassed me in virtue and gentle kindness.  He's doing very well these days living in Philadelphia with his wife, Erin, and their beautiful son, Everett.