The Avenue of Least Despair

It hadn't occurred me till recently that I should give this blog its proper theme song with a tune I wrote a quarter century ago and recorded with my band Millhouse. Obviously in this case "Train my ear" is something more than a musical reference—I think I'm punning a bit on the other meaning of "train" (as in "train your attention on"). For some reason I also think of the old Western trope of putting your ear to the railroad tracks to hear if a train is coming.

I bow to the expert producing/engineering of Jimb Fisher and Tommy Norton, to my Millhouse bandmates Mark Baker, David Ellis, and Steve Harris, and to guest steel player Danny Dugan. I must also acknowledge the verse melody's debt to an obscure Elvis Costello song, "Battered Old Bird," right down to the phrasing of the word "ministry." What can I say? I only steal from the best.

The rest is mine, as are the words:

Train My Ear

I’m threatening the revenue of a promising career

I’m settling on the avenue of least despair

And I hope I seize that day when that day draws near

But to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear

Yes, to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear

I’m counting on redemption while redemption counts on me

My mother always warned me off the ministry

Now I try to keep the faith my father holds so dear

But to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear

Yes, to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear

I worship at the altar of my shame

It’s a kind of pride by a different name

Drive the bloodhounds from the door and let me count my sheep

I’ve always had the gift of unencumbered sleep

But tonight I can’t shut the light, there’s something in the mirror

But to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear

Yes, to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear

Today I heard my best friend checked himself in to dry out

His wife has filed, she’ll get the house and child, no doubt

What kind of friend am I? When he reached out I wasn’t here

But to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear

Yes, to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear

I fall upon the sword of my regrets

Now they come upfront, like a veil of threats

I’m compromising things to come for things that went before

I know apathy is evil’s co-conspirator

The road that leads from passion to a shrug I must steer clear

But to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear

Yes, to hear the call, I’ll have to train my ear