The original "cover" lyrics for this song were Jethro Tull's "Living in the Past," a great song that got horribly overplayed. The new lyrics for this tune from 1993 were retrofitted from a much shorter song from 1989, called "Alone Too Long," back when I was in a band called Tao Jones. Not many lines survived the transition, and this new version written in Fall of 2005 is a much more developed concept. Again, when one is as hardened a loner as I, one tends to attend social events surrounded by an entourage of nobody. It's all done in a very cheery mask, but if one only knows one or two people and they're only acquaintances, after about 5 minutes of chit chat, they move on. That leaves one feeling rather desperate to cover one's unwantedness. As I've never been much of a posse person, I've resigned myself to making a more Garbo-like availability work for me. I vant to be alone...
This was a really fun song to arrange. There's a lot drama with the shaker egg plectrum adding percussion. The words come in big nervous gushes as the desperation mounts.
lyrics
"Alone Too Long"
(vonHummer)
I think I been alone too long, too long, too long,
and I think I been alone too long...
Think I been alone too long,
from time to time I get that shipwrecked feeling,
Think I been alone too long,
brought on by something strange I've said or done,
On my own everywhere I go,
Always show without a date or friend,
Shuck and jive I gotta stay alive,
Mr. Independent Great Pretender,
end each day the way it started out:
only me and my growing doubt,
seems so sad now and wrong, and
I think I been alone too long, too long, too long,
and I think I been alone too long...
Think I been alone too long
and my facade is giving out, about to crumble,
Think I been alone too long,
I still think "I" by default, and never "we,"
Speak too loud or I mostly mumble,
Stream of consciousness conversations,
Context convoluted in a jumble, Innuendoes flying overhead,
You do what again and where you from?
Are they speaking to me here below
like Great Gatsby from the great beyond?
Do I know anybody here? They keep asking lord I must look like a
party crasher, Well everybody here I thought I knew
musta looked around a got a clue,
when I went to hang my jacket up, I been ditched by acquaintences,
Lonely bi-planes of desperation
in each social situation shoot down my King Kong, and I think I been alone too long, too long, too long,
and I think I been alone too long...
credits
from Indiscreet Where You Live,
released February 25, 2006
vonHummer: bass, shaker egg plectrum, vocals
vonHummer is a Portland music/cable access legend whose career spanned from Fall of 2001 to Fall of 2011, during which he
recorded a hundred or so songs for use in his absurdist show (and feature film) and played only a handful of concerts. Currently retired, his work shines on for the ages. Or will he someday return...?...more
Long split up, but not forgotten. Some say the Winebirds functioned as an ersatz Fleetwood Mac, and that's more than fair, but to me, they functioned as a real-life Partridge Family. vonHummer
Continuing the rock tradition of talking about awkward, intimate minutiae and nerdy obsessions via mammoth guitar lines. Bandcamp Album of the Day Sep 12, 2017