rockyourlyricsWhat inspired the verses of “Sailing On”, first song released from your upcoming album?
Sailing On was inspired by Homer, and the enduring struggle and suffering of Odysseus in the Odyssey.
There’s one part in the Odyssey where Odysseus is being pounded by the waves, and he’s just holding onto a rock.
He has nothing to protect him from the elements. I wrote about that moment being battered by life, being far from home, and being lost.
I thought deeply about the things in life that are worth fighting for, and this song is about getting up to fight when life is pounding you.
Is passion for music something that runs in your family or you are the first one?
This is interesting, because for 90% of my life on this planet, I didn’t know I had any musical ability.
No one in my family played music, except I had a great grandmother who used to play piano in the silent films in the movie theatres, and maybe some organ at church.
I inherited her organ from my Grandmother, and right around this time – I started messing around with it and writing music on it. So maybe the organ was a magical key that unlocked my songwriting ability that I didn’t even know I had.
What are you planning for 2018?
I got a lot of Spring plans. We have a bunch of shows, and I’m getting my body ripped from gymnastics.
You should follow us on Instagram if you want to see my backflips and find out about upcoming shows. Instagram.Com/TyphoidRosieMusic
Can you tell us about the lyrics of “Belong to Somebody”?
Belong To Somebody is about temptation. I feel the struggle between the angel and demon on my shoulder.
When I turned 30 my body started to feel so hungry for a baby – so hungry that my husband had to sleep in the corner with a baseball bat.
Right around this time in my life, there were a few strapping men flirting with me. I felt like I was running through a chippendale, banana-hammock obstacle course – That’s how I wrote this song, and got really good at Parkour – running away from handsome men.
What is the best lyric ever written for a song?
I really love Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Are you ever scared of revealing aspects of your personal experience to strangers through your music?
Actually no – I’m sure there’s people I’ve written songs about who won’t like them, but I don’t wake up in the morning and think about how I can live my life to please them. The people who really love me forgive me in advance, because I don’t have a hurtful bone in my body.
I actually wrote a song about naysayers called “Run Along” – I cannot stand someone telling me to go against my heart.
I’m kind of from the school of thought that when you are so raw, vulnerable, and honest as an artist – that’s where the best songs are made. There’s a quote by Joseph Campbell that says, “Where you stumble there lies your treasure.” When you are hurt, write about it, because those are the songs that move people. I believe that even in our own suffering, there’s a greater universal struggle that everyone understands so deeply, because we all have highs and lows.
What is the best verse you ever wrote?
One of my favorite songs I’ve ever written is called Walk Of Shame.
It’s kind of about how women are sometimes treated like disposable objects. Sometimes women are willing participants. Sometimes the human heart has the tendency to go slumming.
Not everyone deserves a piece of your heart.
For those women if I could teach them anything it would be – to be vigilant guardians and keepers over their hearts, souls and bodies: “Listen little girl don’t sell yourself short – so you open like a flower to feel a vulture. It’s okay lil’ girl we’ve all been slumming. Just remember how you feel and never do it again.”
From the upcoming record, This Is Now, I really love this verse from Happiness: “Batting her lashes – The Girl With Dead Eyes – Look How Pretty She Is – Catches The Eye Of The Married Man -Look How Pretty She Is – Look with your eyes and down you go – down and down the rabbit hole – looked with his eyes and he was gone – a man I knew so long – Happiness At Last…”
I also really love the Bridge from “Diamonds In the Snow” – It’s the most badass part of the record: “Well, I Saw A Black Hole – Cause I Looked Into His Eyes – There are women on crutches and I heard all of their cries.
He’s Been Chasing Down Women – He Don’t Have The Heart To Love.”
If you had to use only one word to define your new album “This Is Now”, which one would it be?
Paradigm
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