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Dave

from Shaker Chair by Rob Siegel

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about

For my high school friend Dave Gelineau. Written in the early 90s while my rock and roll days were winding down, and an early indicator that I would return to singer-songwriter music. This is one of four tracks originally recorded at Wellspring Sound with Erik Kilburn. I hear it as derivative in a number of ways, mostly the chordal and tonal similarity to Springsteen's "Cautious Man" off "Tunnel of Love," and the similarity of the ending to Paul Simon's "Kathy's Song," even though I was trying to make an agnostic statement.

lyrics

Dave was wild and crazy
of that there is no doubt
he partied hard and talked too loud
and threw his weight about
of all my friends from high school
Dave was voted most likely to die young
in a car crash
or a drug deal
or with a gun

but it wasn’t speed that killed him
it was cancer’s harsh unbroken glare
that stopped him cold and bony
god knows it just wasn’t fair
he’d just pulled his life together
gotten married and went back to school
found his peace
and laid aside the dual

he could be loud and obnoxious
he could be sweet and kind
he was often full of bullshit
but I never heard him lie
he lived his life so full it sometimes
spilled back out on the ground
there was never any doubt
when Dave was around

when I think what happened to him
he was just one year older than me
the wheels turn and the highway burns
the black crow in the tree
he died with grace
and spirt
and strength
but he died just the same
I doubt I’d do as well
if cancer came

but oh you swear
it ain’t fair it ain’t fair it ain’t fair
well who ever said it was fair
and oh you do what you can
to get by to get by to get by
and you hope that you survive

well I think about him often
my old friend who is not here
when I’m fixing cars
or throwing darts
or sitting round drinking beer
in a way it makes me grateful
for each new day that comes
but it’s like looking down a loaded gun

well I don’t believe in Jesus
and I don’t believe in sin
and I don’t believe that he paid a price
for the wild life that he lived
but if there’s a god who cuts these deals
and decides who lives and dies
then there but for the grace of god go I

credits

from Shaker Chair, released June 1, 1999

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Rob Siegel Boston, Massachusetts

Rob Siegel is well-known in Boston folk music circles as an innovative songwriter who draws from his idyllic yet stressed- out middle-class suburban existence and produces memorable, intelligent, well-crafted songs.

His first new CD in 14 years, "A Landscape of Ghosts," will be out in April, with a CD release show at Club Passim on Monday April 30th. ... more

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