Some of you know, I spend a lot of time up at my cabin in the woods of Julian, CA... it's an absolutely amazing place to be... It's fairly isolated and at elevation... so we often get snow once or twice year... this year, we actually got snowed in 14"-16" of snow in about 24 hours... that means often 3 feet of snow in a lot of spots... and we're at the top of a mountain with no chains and cliffs at the side of the winding roads. Snow is awesome until it becomes a prison. Then it goes a little Jekyll and Hyde on you.
We almost ran out of food over the course of a few days... and as I looked on the internet, I discovered everyone was rushing up to the area to enjoy the snow.
"One man's trash is another man's treasure"... well, also, one man's sticky situation is another man's awesome one-day vacation.
Don't get me wrong, it was far from life or death and I was actually treating it like a fun adventure... but it got me thinking... about varying perspectives... about the pure beautiful whiteness of snow and the raw power and potential of nature and how that beauty can be deceiving.... "oh, look at the beautiful teddy bear!" then it eats you.
there's a part of this story I can't share... the most important part actually... but that's what the song is for.
Anyways, all that pondering and some stuff that went down in the middle of it all, had me thinking this wasn't the white beautiful snow... but became Black Snow...... it served as a metaphoric jumping off point for the dark the lingers underneath otherwise good thing (the kind that Trojan Horse's itself into a situation via good things).
I'm dancing around the true meaning of this song by giving you the lead up to it........ and also admitting that as the song and recording developed (mostly over the course of one long day of recording/writing), it became a tangled knot of feelings and meanings that stretch beyond what I consciously could explain... which is why it's a song and not a blog.
The outro is where the intensity of it all has to be expressed in one of the most visceral and primal ways I know how... you'll hear it when you get there.
lyrics
BLACK SNOW
(Adam Watts)
I can't tell if I'm feeling right
Checked my pulse
And my blood is running cold
It's cold
I made friends with my demons
Went to war with reason
I guess I sold my soul
(Chorus)
I can take it but it's cold
Black snow
When it falls on me
It cuts straight through me
And it's really getting old
Black snow
When it falls on me
It cuts straight through me
Black snow
Black snow
Found out where I fit this time
Found dawn in the dying light
So low
New lows
No rest for my wicked side
No faith and the whole man dies
That's all she wrote
(Chorus)
I can take it but it's cold
She made it
Made it
Black snow
She made it
Made it
When it falls on me
I hate it
Hate it
It cuts straight through me
I hate it
And it's really getting old
She made it
Made it
Black snow
She made it
Made it
When it falls on me
I hate it
It cuts straight through me
Black snow
Black snow
Black snow
Black snow
I can take it but it's cold
She made it
Made it
She made it
Made it
When it falls on me
I hate it
It cuts straight through me
I hate it
Black snow
Black snow
Black snow
Black snow
Black snow
credits
from Reason to Grow - EP,
released May 23, 2019
Written, Performed, Produced, Engineered, Mixed & Mastered by Adam Watts
Vocals, Drums, Bass, Moog Bass, Piano, Guitars, Strings, Mellotron, and Percussion by Adam Watts
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