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MIKE STOCKSDALE

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  1. One Way Ticket

From the recording Five Stories

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Lyrics

That child doesn’t know much. He’s brand new. You were like that too.
Someone will tell him or show him the way. Or wont do enough of that kinda stuff.

So who do we blame?
If everyone’s looking through some sort of stricture
we ain’t raised the same
we might paint a picture
But someone else chooses our frame

this child doesn't know much. more or less, it's all my best guess.
don't get me wrong I think I'm pretty wise, but truth is my truth could be nothin but lies

so where does that leave me?
if anything I could be kinder to you
when you don't believe me
what else can I do
we only give what we receive see
we only give what we receive

--

I left the radio blasting 'cause they played a song I knew
opened all of the windows so you could hear it too
we only give what we get see, I thought I'd share with you
and I been lonely lately so any attention will do

feels like I been hanging out with ghosts and whispers
but all I really wanna do is find me a friend in need

--

baby if you want my love
I got more to give
and it's never enough

baby if you want my love
I got all there is
but it's never enough

baby if you want my love
I'll waiting here
till the sun comes up

baby if you want my love
I got more to give
to you

--

stranded at the airport on a cold November day
plans that we had planned on now faded all away
we need a one way ticket
one way ticket to the top

you asked me for the time and I stretched past everyone
a moment can be fleeting or everything you become
we got a one way ticket
one way ticket to the top

fly us away from here
if we get high enough the stars will heal us
on a night so clear
even the tiniest of looks reveal us
oh and it's plain you need a trip
so climb upon my ship
and let's ride til we drop
we never gonna stop
take a one way ticket
out of this thicket
a one way ticket...to the top

On the recording process: 
The basic tracks for these five songs, along with ten others for an upcoming full-length album, were recorded over four days in February 2022 at Station House studio in Los Angeles, CA. Mark Rains engineered, Anders Mouridsen played lead guitars and keyboards, and Ulf Mickael Wahlgren was on drums and percussion. I played acoustic and electric rhythm guitars and sang scratch vocals. We tracked everything live and then went back and did a few overdubs with our extra time. Anders and Ulf are old friends of mine, and I can’t stress enough what incredible players they are. These guys are responsible for making the record come alive. It was such a blast creating music with real human beings again after working alone on my previous two releases. I think I had forgotten how rewarding it can be to feel the ebb and flow of other players and to collaborate in the moment. We planned on tracking eight songs and ended up doing fifteen. That’s how you know the sessions went well! Afterward I took the songs to my home studio and over the next few months tracked bass, more guitars, lead vocals, and Kate Strand came by a few times to add her amazing vocal harmonies and textures. Jason Swift, the lead singer in my old band, Three Minute Mile, sent me the backing vocals for Matador all the way from Austin, Texas. Mark Rains mixed the songs superbly back at Station House, and Eric Conn mastered the EP at Independent Mastering in Nashville, TN. 

Bad Bad World 
“Bad Bad World” was the first song I wrote for this record. It’s laced with references to the pandemic and the general dark vibes of 2020 and 2021, but it has a hopeful tone. If you look too hard and too often at social media and news feeds an odd and untrue sense of reality can start to form. Things feel bleak, but the truth is there is so much good in this world, and it gets overshadowed, especially on local and personal levels. Every person you’ve ever passed by on the street has a story and it’s probably full of love and kindness and heartache. 
I wrote this song with my guitar tuned down a whole step because my voice was wrecked for almost a year during the height of COVID. I didn’t think it would ever come back. I thought maybe it was residual from when I was sick, but in retrospect it may have been more psychological than anything. Thankfully it’s back now and stronger than ever. 

Andersonville 
After I finished college at Indiana University my band, Three Minute Mile, moved to Chicago to give it a go in a major city. The five of us, seven if you count girlfriends, lived in a four-bedroom one bath apartment in Andersonville, a neighborhood in north Chicago. We’d rehearse in the living room. Even though it was a while back, I can still get there in my mind and the memories are vivid. I recall walking to Argyle station, passing by Vietnamese pho restaurants, and taking the red line to work like it was yesterday. Those were young days for me as a musician. I could make some hip sounds on guitar and was having a blast, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was writing songs and playing lead, but I hadn’t taught myself to sing yet. I wasn’t in a place where I was ready express myself as an artist, but it was coming. I think I could feel it deep down. Those were formative years for me, and without a doubt they shaped my musical identity. 

Matador 
I had the music for years before I could find lyrics to do this song justice, and I was thrilled when I discovered something that worked and resonated with me. At its heart, “Matador” is about the search for truth in this world, and it’s about how surprisingly difficult that can be. The lyrics are a conversation with a science denier who’s been tricked into believing things they have no evidence to support. The denier is the bull, and the tricker is the matador. But I think we’ve all chased matadors in our lives, and I hope the song is a bit of a reminder to everyone to check themselves a bit. Check their resources. Think twice about what they believe, why they believe it, and who’s telling them to believe it. I know I’ve been the bull to someone else’s matador many times, so the song is a reminder to me as well.  

Thunder 
“Thunder” is all about feeling isolated and alone and like you’re barely scraping by in the world, then posing the question, “am I the only one who’s like this?” Sometimes it can really seem that way, especially when you’re only seeing people post the best versions of themselves online. But we all know the answer to the question. We all know everyone sees the lighting and feels the thunder too. 

One Way Ticket 
I really can’t believe this became a song, let alone one of my favorites on the record. “One Way Ticket” is a combination of six different ideas that I really loved but couldn’t quite turn into standalone songs. I stole an old Beatles trick and slapped them together while tweaking a few lyrics and chords to give the whole thing a subtle through-line, and I think the result feels like a life-long journey from childhood to old age. I’m thrilled with how it all turned out. My favorite lyric is toward the end where I reference how my parents met. The story goes like this: they were both waiting in line at the airport and my mom randomly asked anyone for the time. My dad, who’s a tall and lanky dude, was further back in line but leaned over a bunch of people to make sure she heard it from him. They got to talking and decided to share a cab home because they lived near each other. Only thing is my dad lived nowhere near her and had lied as an excuse for them to ride together! The rest is history. Without that I would have never existed. It’s amazing how certain small moments and choices can be instrumental in shaping our lives forever.

© Mike Stocksdale
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