Story Behind The Song: In The Margins Of Life
Posted on March 6, 2010 with 3 comments
Story Behind The Song: In The Margins Of Life
My shortest song to date clocking in at just under two minutes minus any instrumentals. When I wrote this song it wasn't so much groove based. It has a very simple country bluegrass feel to it. Really nothing special musically… I wanted focus to be on the metaphorical lyrics.
When I sat down and came up with this music motif I got to thinking about the different life styles folks live. As I began to muse on that, as most songwriters do, I began to think of references to my own life and those around me.
Ever since I married my wife of 25 years, there has been a difference in our parent's lifestyle.
One set of parents is very conservative having been offspring of folks that came through the Great Depression. A lot of frugality and doing without or doing with little became a very comfortable lifestyle. The mentality of "pay as you go and we don't live on credit" was the belief structure they saw; they grew up in and also raised their kids with that mentality.
The other set of parents grew up with meager beginnings as well, but took a different approach to life, growing into the lifestyle of "I never had much for Christmas and I'll be danged if my kids will have that experience". Not that they went totally hog wild but they utilized the credit system, bought past their means and figured out how to pay for it later. A lifestyle of "If we just go for it, we'll find a way to make it work" ensued.
One set of parents very reserved and conservative, the other challenging themselves, hanging it out there and making it work in the end despite it all. One very much at peace with day to day life, the other more stressed when things got close to the edge. One living with less material things, treasuring the simpler things in life, and the other pushing the limits a bit more with toys and experiences they’d not otherwise have enjoyed. One making a garden to save money and the other with cans of store bought goods in the pantry.
As I began to think about these polar opposite lifestyles, I naturally began to question which one is right. In the end I came up with my answer that is reflected in the lyrics to the song "In The Margins Of Life" which by the way, happens to be my wife's fav at this point. She has a blog with "Journal Of Existence" as her focus, based off one of the lines in this song. So what more can a writer ask for but to have influence on another's direction. Her blog if interested is at: http://www.fiberbinder.wordpress.com.
Below is a breakdown of the lyrics and a summary of the thoughts that inspired them. You can stream a dirt roads version of the current month's Story Behind The Song at: http://www.braddunsemusic.com/files/sbts.m3u
In The Margins Of Life
©2009 Brad Dunse
All Rights Reserved
Stream: http://www.braddunsemusic.com/files/sbts.m3u
We journal our existence through the life that we lead
Each page is a day we fail or succeed
BD: No matter what happens in life, time clicks along and how we live it is permanently marked down by our time lines in how we are viewed by others, what we write, what we do, and etc. Our failings and our successes will be there for anyone to see if they so wish to look for them.
Sentences exhale the hopes we breathe
Decisions that we make are what we write
In the margins of life
BD: What we say to others and specifically to ourselves is so very important. Our hopes and dreams are driven by our words whether spoken or thought. Our words ultimately drive our decisions and direction. Those decisions we make are permanently marked down in our sentences, paragraphs, pages, chapters and ultimately our book of our life through public records, memories of others, and any other form that proves we existed here on Earth after we're gone.
Some double space the lines and narrow the page
Leave little ink despite their golden age
BD: Some will get by with less, some will take short cuts, and some will just not leave much of a mark. They go on through life minding their own business, reserved, quiet, conservative, happy, peaceful and secure in their lifestyle with nothing to prove. Even though they are older now, they've left very little ink of life on their page.
Others see the lines as the bars of their cage
Impatiently pace left to right
In the margins of life
BD: Others look at the lines on a page as restrictions, they feel cage. They'd like the freedom to write and do whatever they want their own way. They don't want anyone telling them how to live and even though they don't have the guide of a blue line across the page, they feel most at ease with that freedom.
It don't really matter the length or the breadth
As long as you can live within your depth
BD: Does it really matter what you've done in life? Does it matter how wide the page is? If the lines are single or double spaced? How deep you live or if you live on the shallow end of the pool? Who does it matter to anyway? As long as you can live with what you do, that is all that matters. We don't have to prove anything to anyone else but ourselves.
It's not up to me to judge the means to your end
"cause its your end
BD: How can I be the judge of the quality of your life? I don't live it, it is yours. In the end it is your life. Most folks get the fact that "it is your life's end so you're the one to answer for your actions" but some miss the fact I was really thinking "Buddy? I can't tell you what to do… in the end it is your rear end that's on the line and I can't be responsible for it".
So pick up the pen - lay the point on the sheet
Leave a good impression and no dream incomplete
BD: Basically this is a call to pick up whatever beliefs you have and just do it, just live them. Whatever it is you do, do it as best you can. Press that pen good and hard into the page of life and leave a good impression into the paper and in the memory of others who know you.
The mark that you make is your eternal receipt
Take care what it is you choose to write in the margins of life
Take care what it is you choose to write in the margins of life
BD: Whatever it is you decide to do or not to do is your mark on life. People will permanently remember you by what you've done. Your mark will be made in permanent marker, your receipt for the breath that you've taken in and exhaled in life is written between the margins of your life's journal. So take some time, some care in what you do, think about what you want to live and then go ahead and live it.
My shortest song to date clocking in at just under two minutes minus any instrumentals. When I wrote this song it wasn't so much groove based. It has a very simple country bluegrass feel to it. Really nothing special musically… I wanted focus to be on the metaphorical lyrics.
When I sat down and came up with this music motif I got to thinking about the different life styles folks live. As I began to muse on that, as most songwriters do, I began to think of references to my own life and those around me.
Ever since I married my wife of 25 years, there has been a difference in our parent's lifestyle.
One set of parents is very conservative having been offspring of folks that came through the Great Depression. A lot of frugality and doing without or doing with little became a very comfortable lifestyle. The mentality of "pay as you go and we don't live on credit" was the belief structure they saw; they grew up in and also raised their kids with that mentality.
The other set of parents grew up with meager beginnings as well, but took a different approach to life, growing into the lifestyle of "I never had much for Christmas and I'll be danged if my kids will have that experience". Not that they went totally hog wild but they utilized the credit system, bought past their means and figured out how to pay for it later. A lifestyle of "If we just go for it, we'll find a way to make it work" ensued.
One set of parents very reserved and conservative, the other challenging themselves, hanging it out there and making it work in the end despite it all. One very much at peace with day to day life, the other more stressed when things got close to the edge. One living with less material things, treasuring the simpler things in life, and the other pushing the limits a bit more with toys and experiences they’d not otherwise have enjoyed. One making a garden to save money and the other with cans of store bought goods in the pantry.
As I began to think about these polar opposite lifestyles, I naturally began to question which one is right. In the end I came up with my answer that is reflected in the lyrics to the song "In The Margins Of Life" which by the way, happens to be my wife's fav at this point. She has a blog with "Journal Of Existence" as her focus, based off one of the lines in this song. So what more can a writer ask for but to have influence on another's direction. Her blog if interested is at: http://www.fiberbinder.wordpress.com.
Below is a breakdown of the lyrics and a summary of the thoughts that inspired them. You can stream a dirt roads version of the current month's Story Behind The Song at: http://www.braddunsemusic.com/files/sbts.m3u
In The Margins Of Life
©2009 Brad Dunse
All Rights Reserved
Stream: http://www.braddunsemusic.com/files/sbts.m3u
We journal our existence through the life that we lead
Each page is a day we fail or succeed
BD: No matter what happens in life, time clicks along and how we live it is permanently marked down by our time lines in how we are viewed by others, what we write, what we do, and etc. Our failings and our successes will be there for anyone to see if they so wish to look for them.
Sentences exhale the hopes we breathe
Decisions that we make are what we write
In the margins of life
BD: What we say to others and specifically to ourselves is so very important. Our hopes and dreams are driven by our words whether spoken or thought. Our words ultimately drive our decisions and direction. Those decisions we make are permanently marked down in our sentences, paragraphs, pages, chapters and ultimately our book of our life through public records, memories of others, and any other form that proves we existed here on Earth after we're gone.
Some double space the lines and narrow the page
Leave little ink despite their golden age
BD: Some will get by with less, some will take short cuts, and some will just not leave much of a mark. They go on through life minding their own business, reserved, quiet, conservative, happy, peaceful and secure in their lifestyle with nothing to prove. Even though they are older now, they've left very little ink of life on their page.
Others see the lines as the bars of their cage
Impatiently pace left to right
In the margins of life
BD: Others look at the lines on a page as restrictions, they feel cage. They'd like the freedom to write and do whatever they want their own way. They don't want anyone telling them how to live and even though they don't have the guide of a blue line across the page, they feel most at ease with that freedom.
It don't really matter the length or the breadth
As long as you can live within your depth
BD: Does it really matter what you've done in life? Does it matter how wide the page is? If the lines are single or double spaced? How deep you live or if you live on the shallow end of the pool? Who does it matter to anyway? As long as you can live with what you do, that is all that matters. We don't have to prove anything to anyone else but ourselves.
It's not up to me to judge the means to your end
"cause its your end
BD: How can I be the judge of the quality of your life? I don't live it, it is yours. In the end it is your life. Most folks get the fact that "it is your life's end so you're the one to answer for your actions" but some miss the fact I was really thinking "Buddy? I can't tell you what to do… in the end it is your rear end that's on the line and I can't be responsible for it".
So pick up the pen - lay the point on the sheet
Leave a good impression and no dream incomplete
BD: Basically this is a call to pick up whatever beliefs you have and just do it, just live them. Whatever it is you do, do it as best you can. Press that pen good and hard into the page of life and leave a good impression into the paper and in the memory of others who know you.
The mark that you make is your eternal receipt
Take care what it is you choose to write in the margins of life
Take care what it is you choose to write in the margins of life
BD: Whatever it is you decide to do or not to do is your mark on life. People will permanently remember you by what you've done. Your mark will be made in permanent marker, your receipt for the breath that you've taken in and exhaled in life is written between the margins of your life's journal. So take some time, some care in what you do, think about what you want to live and then go ahead and live it.