songwriter sessions

We're staying in an apartment that currently has Country Music Television. I didn't realize I was a country music fan until I realized that the songwriters have migrated there. The ones that still know how to tell a story and make it irresistable with the kind of music the story deserves.

Fun stuff. I felt like I was home the other night. (True confessions) We'd just watched American Idol (I've since repented.) I looked at Ruth and said I'd never make the cut if I would audition, and it would probably so humiliate me I'd stop singing all together.

Then later that night, I saw Crossroads on CMT with Brad Paisley and John Meyer playing together. It was wonderful watching them playing on each others tunes. Then, don't ask me why, but Meyer turns to the interviewer and said, he was in the shower singing recently and realized he'd never survive the American Idol cut. OK, so that's where the similarities between John Meyer and I end... but I can dream, can't I?

Tired of sappy ol' love songs for Valentines Day? This one may be a new to you, but I wrote it several years ago. It's one of those songs that made a difference... at least in me.

I came to the realization a few years back that my love usually ended up being conditional, with strings attached. "I'll love you if" kind of love. I was more subtle than that but it was still there. And it was really hindering the way I loved my wife and kids.

But instead of writing the song from my viewpoint I tried to write it from theirs. It was like getting hit by a truck. It still haunts me in a way that wakes me up when the roots of demandingness sneak back into my world. And at least my wife thinks I'm a better man for it. I hope so.

Wanting Me
©1998 Noel Durand Robinson

Verse 1
Don't ever think I'd go away
I promise you I'm here to stay
But I need room if I'm to grow
To be someone, to be someone
You'd want to know

Chorus
I can't be the things you want
Unless you're wanting me
Please don't try and change me
Into what you'd hoped I'd be

The best that I can do
Is to be myself for you
But I can't be the things you want
Unless you're wanting me

Verse 2
Your disappointment I can feel
I'm made of flesh, not wood or steel
Now here we are, just you and me
Release the chains, release the chains love
Set me free

(Chorus)

Bridge
I'll never meet your expectations
Satisfy your stipulations
They're like a plumbline on the wall
Will I stand or will I fall

(Chorus to end)