All songs and videos on this site © Jonathan Ochshorn

Maybe

Listen on Soundcloud | Watch on YouTube page

As I get older, getting older seems to be a theme that appears in my song lyrics. Not that I am comparing myself in any way to the genius Donald Fagen, but his predicament, as described in this NY Times review may be similar: "'Eminent Hipsters' is as bleakly funny about the aging rocker's plight — What's he going to write songs about? His kidney stones?"

I am also a fan of rhyming (see this manifesto by A.E. Stallings) and attempt some serious rhyming in the three different (but related) choruses. Each has the same A-B-C A-B-C rhyme structure using the same rhyming sounds in each chorus: confusing-turning-keep her and losing-yearning-cheaper in chorus 1; refusing-squirming-sleeper and defusing-churning-(mine)sweeper in chorus 2; and bruising-burning-deeper and choosing-learning-steeper in chorus 3.

Maybe
Words and music © 2008 J. Ochshorn

1. Maybe I'm just climbing this mountain
Maybe I'm just over the hill
I can't see very well
Getting harder to tell
If I'm still
Getting higher or lower

2. Maybe it's this car I've been driving
Maybe there's no race to be won
I could run out of gas
Or fall flat on my ass
When I'm done
Whether going faster or slower

[chorus 1] I find it confusing
Tables are turning
I can't seem to keep her
I'm tired of losing
The price of this yearning
Just ain't getting cheaper

3. Maybe I'll just tell her I'm sorry
Maybe I'll just rewind and play
Doesn't matter at all
This one's too close to call
Either way
It would take a lot more to show her

[chorus 2] I'm always refusing
Lying here squirming
Alone in this sleeper
I keep on defusing
Everything churning
Below this minesweeper

[instrumental verse]

[bridge] Sometimes the music
Helps me forget
Lost in the rhymes
And the rhythm it's bringing
I guess this opera
Ain't over yet
Not till the fat lady's singing

4. Maybe I'll just tell her I'm sorry
If I could just rewind and play
Wouldn't matter at all
This one's too close to call
Anyway

[chorus 3] I've taken some bruising
Bridges are burning
This hole's getting deeper
I'm tired of choosing
Seems like this learning
Curve keeps getting steeper
To me

Production notes:
Song was arranged, produced, and recorded on Garageband software by J. Ochshorn. All instruments and vocals by J. Ochshorn. Instruments include some software instruments (e.g., drums and bass) played live on a midi keyboard by J. Ochshorn.
Recorded at home in Ithaca, NY, January 2009.
Remixed with Logic Pro X in 2018.

First posted 1 September 2014. Last updated: 24 August 2019.