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The Ocean Doesn't Listen

from 3 Solid Blows to the Head by Adam Stemple

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about

This song contains one of my favorite bridges of all time. The song is in A minor and the opening chord of the bridge is Bb13, just a half-step above the root. Sounds insane, but it works, largely because that chord also works as a sub for the five chord.

I laid down all the keyboard tracks for this song and had an absolute ball doing it. I was actually a piano player before I was a guitar player, so dusting off those old chops is always fun. And Leo had a couple of classic keyboards that I played on this song: a old Rhodes Stage Piano and a genuine B3 organ played through a Leslie rotating speaker.

lyrics

A west wind's blowing out across the bay
tossing storm clouds to the shore
and I see Laughing Gulls dancing in the spray
but I don't see your lost sailor coming back no more

February tucked its tail and took off at a run
March is pounding at the door
and I see sunken ships rising with the sun
but I don't see your lost sailor coming back no more

Stones are crumbling neath my feet
with the ending of the day
all I see will come to pass
or will it slip away?
I know, I know
what you're trying to say
but the ocean doesn't listen
and you know that I can't stay

Widows walk along the broken hills at night
like a thousand years before
and I see watchfires on the ocean burning bright
but I don't see your lost sailor coming back no more

credits

from 3 Solid Blows to the Head, released May 18, 2021
Music and Lyrics by Adam Stemple and Steven Brust

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all rights reserved

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Adam Stemple Minneapolis, Minnesota

Adam has played so much guitar it'd make your ass hurt. Road dog for 20 years, in town Irish bars for another 20. Played everything from metal to folk to ethno-gothic-sludge-jazz. Winner of two Minnesota Music Awards.

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