Selected Lyrics Ballad of Collin Dupree Breached Breathe' These Days

Joshua Jones: behind the words.

by Julian Esteban Torres, Staff Writer

Without knocking, or any formal introduction, his words -- carrying a conversation with themselves and the music accompanying it in the background -- walked into my concentration. Startled, I dropped the pen my right hand usually holds in day dreaming contemplation and allowed for my ears to silently shake hands with his voice.

This is how I felt the first time I saw Joshua Jones perform live. When he took stage I was drowning in trance, thinking about a poetic piece I was currently working on. Then, out of the silence arises this beautiful tapestry of sounds coming from the stage, weaving both the threads of words and acoustics into one, awoke me.

Not only are his lyrics a marriage between poetry and story telling, but the stories he tells to introduce every piece when he performs are as enjoyable as the songs themselves. This is one artist one cannot fully experience until going to see him live. With the CD, one can only listen to the pieces; during a live performance, one can also understand that which has nourished the roots of his artistic seeds. He allows the audience to not only know of him but also actually get to know him.

JET: Do you remember the first time you ever wrote a song or wrote a love poem to a girl? If so, what was your muse/inspiration? What was it about? How did it turn out?

JJ: I have been writing songs (or trying to write songs) ever since I learned my first few chords on the guitar when I was 11. I know there were a few songs I have written to try and impress a girl, but not being able to remember them from that far back I can be sure they were not all that good, so I will tell the story of the first songs I wrote that got a girls attention.

Back in high school one of my very best friends was a beautiful, blonde haired, blue eyed girl that just about everyone in school seemed to have an eye on. Being best friends with a beautiful girl can be a very difficult thing for a high school boy, especially when your feeling goes beyond friendship, but are not returned in that way. As beautiful girls always have boyfriends and for some reason their boyfriends are always jerks, and they always talk about their jerky boyfriends to their "best friend" to look for advice.

By this time as you know my songs, you may be thinking, "Blonde hair, blue eyes, ah he is talking about 'These Days'."Well you would be half right. The song I am talking about know was a prequel to 'These Days' called "Everyday Valentine (Just one kiss)" Written for the same girl These Days (and a few other songs) was written for.

Though I never play the song anymore live. Reason for this was the main part of the songs music sounds just like the Matchbox 20 song "Push" (even though I wrote it well before Push came on the air). Since they were getting popular and I like to try be somewhat original, I shelved it, and went back to write a more original sounding song. But if I remember correctly the first verse went a something like this:

If I could only save the kiss we shared the night our hearts ran wild.
In a little box marked with your name so I could always taste your smile
I'll keep it safe beneath my pillow, in the fingers I ran though your hair
and wiped away the tears you shed, as you told me you were scared

I had a four track recording machine, and wanted to get this on tape, since I never had a great place to record I used to doe it at a friends house. Well the day I was recording thins song who showed up to hang out. Yep, my best friend/girl of my dreams. So I let here know I was in the middle of something and we made plans to have dinner later hat night. She has always supported what I do, and has always been eager to hear new songs so she asked me if she could hear what I was working on. So when she came back for dinner before we left I let here listen to the tape.

She knew automatically I was talking about here, but with other friends around it was not the time or place for this type of conversation, so she rode with me out to dinner with out friends and we had a nice long talk about "Feelings". While good to get it off my chest, this was the starting point for the "Relationship that would never be" and it would haunt me for the rest of my days, as a what if in my life.

JET: Have you ever serenaded anyone?

JJ: Plenty. Old girlfriends, Girls I wanted as girlfriends. With both songs I have written as well as their favorite songs from the radio. The true fact is, Guitars get girls, if you know how to use "the power", but the power was lost on me for the most part cause back then I really only wanted a certain few girls, and did not put too much energy into "impressing" others. I had a buddy who shamefully used the power enough for both of us though, but he had a much better high school experience with girls than I did so maybe I should have used it more.

JET: Any one who goes to your shows knows the passion you obtain for music and your art form. How did this come about? Is it something you always wanted to do? Was it a record you once heard your parents play? Maybe a concert you went to see that once you came out of it you said to yourself, "That is what I am going to try to do for the rest of my life"?

JJ: Tough Question. But a good one. Ever since I was 11 and got my first guitar I knew I wanted to possess the talent to play and play well. My father played guitar and we talked about playing musical instrument and my first choice was the Saxophone actually but I changed to guitar later, I guess 'cause in a way I wanted to be like my dad. So I learned my chords notes and songs, and dabbled in pathetic attempts of songwriting for many years. Then when I moved from Florida back to New Hampshire, I worked with a great guitar instructor, who really opened my eyes to the instrument. So through out high school I never played much acoustic guitar, I was into the Heavy Metal scene, but Grunge was taking over at that time, and I went with the masses and listened to what the commotion was all about, but never really got into it. All the bands I was playing in were looking for this "Grunge Sound" and I just was not feeling it, I changed my writing to match this mold and it made me feel empty and uninspired, my first love of music will always be the 80's Power Ballads, and since no one wanted to play 80's Metal anymore, I was forced to change cause that's what I thought I had to do.

We had a good band going for a while but broke up due to a bad experience with our drummer, and we were going stale (or so I thought). Still all my band mates were my friends so we still hung out all the time. Our Bassist was into all sorts of alternative types music, and by alternative I mean he listened to just about anything. While hanging out one day he told me there was this female artist I just had to listen to, so he popped a CD in the player while we hung out. It was Ani Difranco. I was blown away, thinking of how she made these sounds come out of an acoustic guitar. Her lyrics though a bit "extreme feminist" were excellent passionate lyrics, and I thought to myself, "that's the way to do it". Raw, and unplugged let the emotion speak not the volume. Play what you want to play, don't change, just do it. It was an eye opening (and ear opening) experience.

Me and my friend did a short run as an acoustic duo, but it was short lived as a girl (actually "the girl") got in the way. But, we are all still great friends and everyone is still very supportive of what I do so chalk it up to experience, and the proverbial bridge was built and we got over it. I went back to writing and performing and they both started to make the most of their lives as well. Okay so it wasn't that easy but in time that is what happened.

Months after this break I found my self in the company of a few new friends both musicians working on a new band. I had not played at all in the months after I split ways with my songwriting partner, and they cohered me to play for them. They liked what they had heard and really gave me the push I needed to go out and give the solo act a try. Letting me open for their band on many occasions, giving me the confidence to get out in front of the crowd again.

JET: Who (artists/family etc) have been the greatest influences on your songwriting?

JJ: Artist I really admire, are Shawn Mullins, David Wilcox, John Hiatt, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, I could go on as there are so many great songwriters out there, but these would be my top 5. Though I mentioned Ani Difranco, as the artist that inspired me to go acoustic, she is much too political in her songwriting, though great songs, it is more her style of guitar work that inspired me.

JET: What is your favorite song you have written and why? Is it because of the memory and sentimental value you attach to it or is it because you were really proud of the writing itself..etc.?

JJ: To this day my favorite song I have ever written is "These Days". The song was written in 10 minutes. The girl for whom it was written for had just left my house around midnight after being up all night talking. I walked her to the door, went back to my room, grabbed my guitar and pen and it all came out. I wish they all could be that easy, but when they happen that easy it means it was meant to be, the feelings in the song are true and pure, exactly how and what I was feeling at the moment. Plus I love the look if puts on her face when I get a chance to play it for her.

JET: Any specific memory you have about performing in front of an audience that you may want to share?

JJ: Every time I play is a unique experience, I cherish every time I am allowed to go on stage so no one time sticks out, all that much.

JET: Do you have any rituals you may do before you sit down to write or before you go to perform? Do you have a certain journal/notebook you do all of your writing in...or are you the kind that if an idea pops up...you will write it on the first thing you see (hand...napkin..toilet paper..etc)?

JJ: I have no specific rituals. back in high school, I never played much attention in classes but I did have my notebooks for each class, instead of Algebra, or History, my notebooks were full of stories and songs and thoughts, I did pretty good in English class but that was because literature and creative writing has always interested me.

I used to write everything down, but have gotten out of the habit, I used to carry at least a pen with me everywhere I go, but no longer, I have been in a bit of a writers slump as of the last year, and I contribute it directly to the fact I do not journal everything down, so I do have to get back in the habit of jotting the thought down before I lose it.

JET: What advice would you give to writers/performers like yourself that may be frustrated with their music and want to quit?

JJ: Examine what makes you happy, if writing makes you truly happy maybe all you need is a break, stop writing, live life, see what is out there, and then write about what you have seen once you have a chance to clear your head from the frustration, of not being able to write. If you're in a slump and you keep forcing yourself to write it will be bad. The more awful stuff you write the more into the slump you go. Give yourself time away from the pen to find things worth writing about. Always lead with your heart and do what your heart tells you, the mind it logical, and an artist is never logical, the mind does not give good creative advice, the heart does. My father gave me some great advice once. "Do what you love and everything else will fall into place." Those are words to live by.

JET: What would you consider your 'style' of music to be?

JJ: I would like to consider myself a singer/songwriter. If I want to write a pop song, rock song, hip-hop, love song, country song, so be it. Styles, genres, and labels are to constricting.

JET: Have you ever hic-cupped while in the middle of a song?

JJ: Never an actual hic-cup, I have played so bad some nights I wonder why I even get on the stage at all, but no one is perfect. We all make mistakes, I think audiences appreciate a mess up every now and again, makes them realizes that performers are just like them, I use mistakes as a way to communicate with the audience, I will stop in the middle of a song and regroup if I have to, explain why I messed up. " I was just laughing about a joke I heard today and it made me forget the last verse, you want to hear it." Even if I did not hear a joke but am just covering, I will tell the funniest joke I know, get the crowd laughing and regain my composure and finish the song. I am a performer and entertainer, I just have to entertain.

JET: What was your worst/best live performing experience?

JJ: I have had too many great live performances to name just one. My first time at The Stone Church in New Market was a blast. Some of my best performances have been at open mics, like one of the UNH events I attended last year. Three songs, attentive audience and everyone was so nice. The cleaned me out of CD's it was a great night, plus I love performing with a lot of other people, watching others play fuels me up for a good show.

My worst would have to be at a bar Crofter's Pub in Manchester, NH. A local booking agent gave me two nights a month to do what I wanted. So I would bring some friends down and we would play. It was $.75 draught night and only the dregs of Manchester would come out. This one night I went on first and played to a very empty room. The person I brought with me, got up on stage as the man walked in and sat down, for the next 30 minutes, as my friend played, the man did nothing but heckle him, to the point were we called the night early and left. There was nearly a fist fight, and things turned bad very quickly. I never went back, 'cause when you want to play acoustic music, and a fight almost breaks out, you know you are out of your element.

JET: Are you fueled more about the process of creating a new piece or about performing the new piece?

JJ: Definitely performing. I like having the ability to write, but being able to tell someone a story, play them a song, get them as into it as I was when I was writing it. That is where the passion and emotion is. The best part of any song is the live performance, I have never gotten the same feeling by reading my favorite artist lyrics on the sleeve of a CD, as I have hearing them play it live with the passion they felt while creating it, that can send shivers through out my body, I try to do the same when I perform.
 

Joshua Jones will be performing around the Durham area throughout the year. He may make a "surprise" appearance at the WET PAINT CAFÉ's 1st open mic of the semester. This venue will be held at the UNH MUB Entertainment Center on Friday, Sept. 12th, 2003. Doors open at 8pm. Free of charge. Sponsored by the NH Artists' Circle.

To find out more about this local artist you can check out his website at: www.joshua-jones.com.

And if you, too, want to allow your ears to shake hands with his voice, you can download some MP3s of his work at: http://www.joshua-jones.com/Music.htm

Ballad of Collin Dupree
(Burning Bridges)

His tires hit the pavement, as he howls off to the highway
Faster than a Carolina hurricane, in the middle of July
There's a young girl at the alter, and her daddy's got a gun
She crying as he waves it, yelling, "Boy you'd better run"

This is the first time 
God has entered his mind
As, a reason to believe

With just the clothes on his back, and a flat top over his shoulder
He's running form a shotgun wedding to a girl named Dakota
And every time he looks back, he knows exactly why he had to leave. 

He only lets you know his name, so he lies about where he's from
Once he was an Indiana banker, and once a Texas oil riggers son
Every thing he touches turns to gold, but we know nothing gold can stay

So when you turn around 
He'll be as far gone 
As Yesterday

Drinking Papt's Blue Ribbon, thinking he's a bad mother fucker
His trailer's full of trash, hooked to his Chevy's rear bumper
And to him love is just a two-minute thing, to pass the time when there is nothing on TV

But he can still 
Look at him self in a mirror 
And say this world belongs to me

These days on one stops, to say hello to a stranger
They have all seen, his kind before
He walks himself, into a restaurant
And they politely, show him to the door

Is been a long day
A long, lonely day
Out burning bridges

Breached

Once in a lifetime, you'll see hate
Over come everything that's good
And even our comic book super heroes couldn't save the day
Even though we wish they could

So where were you when the sky came crashing down
And all of our dreams were trapped beneath
Where were you when the dust settled and the smoke cleared?
And we learned our freedom had been breached

Did you feel the hate?
Did you feel the rage?
Did you ask God to take away the pain?
Or did you lose your belief wondering how he could act that way.

Honor and valor took on a whole new meaning today
Just minutes after the attack
Sirens sounded, brave soles reacted
Knowing that they weren't coming back.

So where were you when the sky came crashing down?
And all of our dreams came tumbling after. 
Where were you when the dust settled and the smoke cleared?
Around the lost heroes of this disaster

Did you feel the hate?
Did you feel the rage?
Did you ask God to take away the pain?
Or did you shed a tear for all those who lost their lives today?

I pledge allegiance to, the red what and blue
And everything that she stands for
To live free or die, with the freedom to decide
That we still believe in what were fighting for

Did you feel the hate?
Did you feel the rage?
Did you ask god to take away the pain?
Or did you lose your belief wondering how he could act that way?

Once in a life time, you'll see hate
Over come everything thing that's good
And, even our comic book super heroes couldn't save the day
Even though we wish that could

So where were you when the sky came crashing down
And all of our dreams were trapped beneath
Where were you when the dust settled and the smoke cleared?
And we learned our freedom had been breached

Breathe'

I can still taste the salt in the air 
From the night we swam out past the breakers 
And named every star the caught our eye 
And our distorted reflections in the water 
Reflect the moonlight and our attention back up to the sky. 

That's where 
I found the star that would hold your name 
And I will see it every in the corner of my eye 
As I dream 

Chorus: 
When I dream I dream of you 
And when I wake up I lose something in me 
When I breathe' I taste you 
And when I breathe' out 
I feel it all float away with the breeze. 

How do you describe perfection? 
Is it a vision in a dream of a long lost memory? 
Of the day we learned to fly with out our wings. 
High above the tree line 
That when I look to my right opened up my eyes 
And I knew I had everything 

(Chorus) 

No one's ever gonna tell me 
That nothing fall from the sky 
How else do you explain 
The way the stars ended up in your eyes 

(Chorus)

These Days

Is it your blonde hair, your blue eyes? 
Or the way you look right before you cry
That makes me want to reach out for your hand
Can you recall everything that we said? 
Cause we talked for hours in my bed
Cause you always looked at me like you understand.
There's a time and a place
For me to look upon your face
But tonight the moon and the star, they aren't quite aligned.
No one else could get me here
Past my repressions and my fears
Until that picture perfect night I got to taste your smile.

Chorus:

When I'm old, and I'm gray
And I, look upon these days
And I realize you never let me go it alone
Through the tears that we shed
As we lie in my bed
And I never wanted you to go home.

Are we right side up? 
Or are we upside down,
Late at night painted red by this holy town
But can we go back to the way it used to be.
Tomorrow may be a year
But, I'll still think about my dear
As the best thing that's ever happened to me. 

(Chorus)