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Clear

from Drakus by James Murray

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about

Here's another song in three parts:
I. Dying Embers
II. Empty Head
III. Procession

The first part, Dying Embers and the end of Procession, are both quite old and was originally written in 1995 as part of the original 20 minute Drakus Suite. It was just a short, short slow country sounding bluesy guitar solo that hasn't changed much since it was first written.

The middle section, however, Empty Head, was written in 2009 and is actually one of the first songs I recorded in protools. I had been struggling with chronic migraines my entire life and in 2009 my neurologist had put me on medication that did help the headaches but also affected my memories and made me act rather impulsively at times. The song was about the feelings I felt when my migraines went away. It started off as a very short acoustic pop song but the southern rock sounding jam at the end grew and grew.

It wasn't until last year when I decided to record Dying Embers on Logic Pro X that the two songs merged into Clear. I was living in North Carolina and felt like recording something with a Southern sounding flavor. Dying Embers came to mind because of its twangy feel. But while Dying Embers worked well as a section of Drakus I wanted to develop it into an actual song. Rather than write something new from scratch, I already had plenty of songs already written that I had been performing at various open mics. Empty Head seemed like the perfect choice since it had been my other southern flavored song.

I eventually abandoned my protools session of Empty Head (which had always been a bit of a Frankenstein mess) and re-recorded it onto Logic Pro X after Dying Embers. The slow accelerando from Dying Embers into Empty Head just felt so natural that I felt like it needed to slow again and go back into a Dying Embers reprise at the end. But before it got there there was this wonderful moment where the jam entered this slow procession like march with the trumpets playing an almost New Orleans style funeral dirge ... the song became even more southern, and the procession section was born.

I adjusted the lyrics a bit to fit the concept of the album rather than just be about me and my migraines. It can also be about losing everything to the dragon, but using it as opportunity clear away all the things that were holding you back before and starting anew. It might be my favorite song on the album. Of course it was improved further by Bongo John's drums and mixing.

lyrics

I. Dying Embers
(Instrumental)

II. Empty Head

Woke up outside
Had no bed
Had nothing on
My things are gone

Feel the sunlight
turn me red
He's burned my home
Yet the pain is gone

I never felt so alive
My head's
My head's clear

Cloudy skies
won't get me down
Don't feel misused
I'm so confused

Feel the rain
cool my body down
soothes my aching head
my empty head

Nothing to tether me down
My head's
My head's clear

I'm all alone but I don't feel lonely
I have no memories to hold me back
I know exactly what I've got to do now
I know exactly what I want at last

Dancing naked in the streets
My body is turning red
I can't remember anything
Feeding my empty head

Now that I've lost everything
I'm ready to start again
The pain is starting to lift away
Ooooh I'm going down down
I'm slowing down now

III. Procession
(Instrumental)

credits

from Drakus, released April 17, 2018
James Murray - vocals, guitars, trumpets, bass, banjo, keyboards
Bongo John - drums
Rain sounds captured by Bruce Leech

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about

James Murray

I'm a musician from Long Island influenced mainly by folk singer songwriters of the 60s and 70s as well as Progressive Rock, Jam Rock, and Jazz

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