This was one of the very first Ballpoint Pens tracks, from around 2004. It took me until 2023 to pick up on the fact that it’s plainly told from the point of view of someone who is tired of playing music. “We rock a lot… I’ve had my fill,” he sings. This was four years before we broke up. Was he trying to tell me he was sick of the band way back then? Or just that we had played too many shows in succession and he needed a break? Or are the words not personal at all?
I asked Jamie Green from the band Greenland, who occasionally played with us in the Gaskets, to add to the arrangement. He emailed me a few thoughts about his contributions:
“I've loved playing guitarmonies w/ Ross all week. I tried to match his leads for the most part and filled in some stuff here and there. It's two 12-string electric parts, and then a little acoustic for rhythm / texture. The intro is probably where I took the most license. There's something about line-by-line getting into a performance like this, which is crazier than it sounds at first blush, that makes you feel close to a person. This really put me back in a place of connection with him that we had and I'd been missing. I bet he'd get a kick out of me (or anyone) analyzing his off-the-cuff licks from a laptop recording!”