"Stones"
It's really a silly little song that won't warrant this much text, but here goes:
A lot of folks seem to write and perform songs about kicking ass and taking names... and I'm not just talking about Toby Keith. When I considered looking at that old maxim "people in glass houses should not throw stones" for a song, it would have been in keeping with this trend to write an independence day song of sorts and, you know... kick ass, take names, and break some glass.
But seeing as though I have some sort of aversion to writing what's chic (i.e. revenue generating, critically popular), I decided instead to turn the idiom on it's head and write from a perspective that when put in a shit situation, humility is best (stoic logic leftover from a Protestant upbringing).
The song tells three stories.... all true. The first is about a man who shines shoes at Nashville Airport whom I see every time I fly home. I think he shined my shoes once and now whenever I pass through Nashville I go over and chat him up. The second is about my sister, whose resilience in the wake of a tough divorce has been hugely inspirational. The third story is about me, and it further dissects the "throwing stones" notion by perhaps making a counter argument that if one continues to keep emotions/life/love bottled up and chooses not to break some glass every once in while... then he or she will never be truly happy. Zen balance found in sporadic stone throwing? In any case, all of this ponderous philosophizing couldn't be in a minor key, so I thought I'd make the music fun to boogie to.
Finally, the song was originally titled "Throwing Stones". But then one of my Deadhead friends told me (yes, I have more than one) that "Throwing Stones" was the name of a very popular and beloved Grateful Dead song. "Stones" is what I write on setlists anyway, so that's what I'm working with now.
Check out Ben's performance of stones here....
