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Don't Let it Start This Way

from Treehouse (2019 Yearbook) by Sean McGaughey

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This is the first lyric Stephen Wort (aka Stephen Wordsmith, aka @swordsmith) posted this July for the 50/90 challenge. I leapt on the lyric and fell a little down the production hole on this one.

Stephen Wordsmith is a master of lyric. Every FAWM, he writes dozens of witty, intelligent, flawlessly-structured lyrics and invites collaborators to set them to music. From all over the world, they do.
Every year or so, Stephen releases a new album of his songs, each song arranged and recorded by a different guest interpreter. Check him out at stephenwordsmith.bandcamp.com

lyrics

Don't let it start this way
Tell them I wrote something
Tell them I told them a wonderful tale
Don't pull the curtain back
Let them be certain I
Strove for success when I opted to fail

Don't let it start this way
Thrown in the spotlight
No mouth and no trousers, no something to say
Don't let me be the deer
Caught in the oncoming
Headlights of 'nothing to see here today'

Don't let them see me
A minuscule mortal
With migraines and cobwebs inside of my head
The pistol is smoking
The masses are roaring
The gates are flung wide but the greyhound is dead

The seconds are ticking
The runners are restless
The starter is waving the flag of bright green
No portrait of Dorian
For this old writer
Laid outlined in chalk as the crowd flee the scene

Don't let it start this way
Tell them I came in
With blazing of guns and a swashing of coat
Don't let me greet the dawn
Wrapped in my darkest hour
Don't let it start this way
Tell them I wrote

credits

from Treehouse (2019 Yearbook), released December 29, 2019
Lyrics: © Stephen Wort
Music: © Sean McGaughey
Vocals and Instruments: Sean McGaughey

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Sean McGaughey Ontario

I am a folk singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and children's entertainer in Simcoe County Ontario. By day, I am a mild-mannered Elementary School teacher-librarian.

Since 2013, I have been participating the the February Album Writing Month Challenge at fawm.org to write 14 songs in February.

This year I challenged myself to up my musicianship and production values. This is the result. ... more

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