Letter to a young songwriter

I just wrote this random email to a young, 18 or 19 yr old kid on myspace... He lives in Kansas... He's a songwriter in a band... He's got a cute, sweet girlfriend who loves him to death... His name is "Chance".

I suppose it's a random act of unsolicited advice... but who knows, it might prevent thousands of pounds of regret and pain. Probably not.


hey chance,

so you don't know me AT ALL. and i don't know you at all. but i think i somehow became "friends" with your girlfriend on myspace... i forget her name honestly. but she seems like a really sweet girl -- truly. i just quickly scanned her page (because i guess she has a birthday or something today) and she CLEARLY loves you to pieces.

here's the reason i'm writing. she's something like 18 right? you're probably close to the same age, I'm guessing. i've been writing songs, playing in bands since i was about 16 -- probably just like you. so here's some advice from your possible future:

treat your girlfriend really well. chances are very high that you're going to blow her off, or leave town, or act stupidly... it's okay -- everyone does this. it's kind of required, actually, in one's younger years. it's the primary way we learn - the hard way. but if you can avoid it, i would. because i had a girlfriend like yours years and years ago and i blew her off, acted stupidly, left town to go travel around the country, pursue music, etc. and you know what??? here it comes... all of the music, all of the gigs, all of the records, all of the reviews in the world will very likely never compare with how it feels to have a great girl love and adore you. i know... it seems sappy. but it's true man.

in a way, you're screwed... because we don't know what to do with these things when we have them. we have to fuck them up in order to learn their value. but if you can avoid that, you'll be thankful that you did some day.

take care,

john common
denver, co via vermont via new york city via kansas via florida via north carolina via pennsylvania

Carousel - $50 song

I just finished a new song named "carousel". it's one of those $50 songs... where someone (a friend, a fan, an enemy of the state, whatever) sends me $50 and an idea for a song and I write it, record it and mail them a CD copy of it. This one is for a girl named Angel... The only direction she gave me was "something about a carousel". I actually do better with less direction, I think... Anyway, here are the lyrics:

carousel
oct 20, nov 8, 2006

climb aboard baby
I might be chipped but I've been around
if is this your first ride
well you couldn't have picked a gentler mount

round and round we go
a spiral never ending
and where it stops, we do not know
that's what we're saying…

this circle we're traveling
this carnival calliope of circumstance
you're holding cotton candy
wet, wet sugary lips

round and round we go
barely touching, shallow breathing
round and round we go
painted smiles, baring our teeth

oh no
do not cry for the time you've wasted
do not cry for the things you're losing
do not cry for the ones who loved you dear
'cause they live inside you like a cancer cell
you're really crying for the carousel

the carousel is weeping
for the horses all locked inside
pierced by these posts of need
and ridden into the night

round and round we grew
a spiral never ending
and where it stopped, we always knew
an old world ending…