the empty room
Release Date: 2000 and 6/02
Album: RARITIES VOL. 1 and 232 DAYS ON THE ROAD
Writer: ADAM MARSLAND
Lyrics:
Empty bottles and cigarette butts
The smell of piss and paint and I don't know what
10 people lined up at the back of the hall
Hey you!
Are you listening at all?
You've been jaded by the world that you live in
You've been screwed by the people that you see
You've been burned for every damn that you've given
But don't take it out on me
Because I've spent years face first in concrete walls
Waded through the aroma of toilet stalls
Trying to keep away the feeling of impending doom
Now here we are together
In the Empty Room
What are the odds that we'd both wind up here?
Sharing this exquisite atmosphere
Standing face to face in this crappy joint
Hey you!
Are you getting my point?
We've been jaded by the world that we live in
We've been screwed by the people that we see
We've been burned for every damn that we've given
Don't you see yourself when you see me?
We have so much in common
I think I love you
And I see the empty space that stands between
As a symbol of everything we hold pointless
Of the common ground that's much renowned but
Seldom seen
Adam sez:The third early Cockeyed Ghost song to finally be released on 232 DAYS ON THE ROAD, this was written specifically in anticipation of starting a new band and facing a lot of meagre crowds in crummy bars for awhile -- which turned out to be an astute prediction. It was a way to take the implied hostility and disrespect in that situation and just get it dealt with up front.
It was originally demo'ed when Eric Carmen was talking about managing me and the demo version (with some cool backup vocals that we didn't have time to cut in the studio version) was on the Cockeyed Ghost RARITIES VOL. 1 DIY compilation. On that version, Robert Ramos and I started singing Raspberries song titles on the fade out, which we excised - wisely I think - from this version.
The studio songs for 232 DAYS were cut in a fairly big hurry between tours -- I think we spent two days total on them -- and the final vocal on this track is actually the scratch vocal, hence the directions to the band that you can hear at various points in the song. Hey, I'm a professional.
My favorite part of this song is the triple tracked harmony lead vocal on the second verse, which is something I almost never do, according to the Elton John Rule. (The Elton John Rule states that if Elton John does something repeatedly that you really hate, don't do it yourself. It's served me well over the years. It's also one of the reasons I've tried very hard to keep my falsetto range intact as I've grown older...)