Under my Skin

Under my Skin

In the fall of '96, I was in Louisville trying to make money to go to New York.  I was working three jobs.  Two of the jobs were waiting tables, and the third was delivering newspapers.  This meant that I wasn't sleeping a full night sleep on any day, except maybe once or twice a week.  Like any other time I was creatively unproductive, I felt like I was failing my calling.  If I had given some thought to it, I would have had to acknowledge that I simply didn't have much time to write anything down. 

Around October, I began to adjust to my peculiar rhythm, and I wrote the first of several songs- "Under my skin." I think the pent-up creative energy resulted in this epic song.  I was in an on again off again relationship, which was currently off. She lived in New York, and I lived in Louisville. The song probably used that as a leaping off point, but morphed into its own idea.  This song was kind of unusual for me, because it cycles through a lot of different musical ideas.  There's a verse, pre-chorus, chorus and a bridge, and yet it's not trying to be an experimental song. I really was just trying to express an emotion that I was feeling.

When I re-examine the song I find it hard to follow a story, but somehow the song moves forward through a succession of strong imagery.  Clearly I was trying to be free of someone, but no matter how hard I try I was always almost getting over her.  And then just when you think the form couldn't twist and turn any more, I come to the last verse, which extends in a weird way that I've always had problems explaining to musicians, who aren't following the lyrics.  Which is why I don't play it out much.

I remember one of the first times I played it, about a month after I wrote it.  I was with a small gathering of fellow waiters and waitresses (why do we need two different words for it?) Despite the confusing nature of the song, one of the women said that it made her cry.  

This was not an easy song to record.  I had done a 4-track recording, and I kept that guitar interplay on the Lost and Found version, and Colin and Dave were solid as always in the rhythm section.  Myron Koch really helped flesh out the chorus with harmonized saxophone parts.  Meredith Noel played Viola on it and Dan Africk sang back up.  Getting it just right was never about massive over-hauls, but of endless tweaking.  A little bit hear, and a little bit there over many months and it finally came to fruition.