Singled Out: Fischer's Flicker

It often baffles me how some people can stab another behind the back and, at a quick glance, seem to be rewarded for their behavior. I felt like I was experiencing just that when I sat down to write "Souls". I felt as though someone I knew was sabotaging a musical relationship just to reap the benefits of all of the hard work I had put into the project. Rather than pulling myself down to their level and resorting to their antics, I poured the experience into songwriting. Most of the songs I write are the culmination of many different sittings with chords, riffs, lyrics and ideas twisted and turned into different shapes until they come together into a fine-tuned object. Other times, they pour out faster than you can put them on paper. "Souls" is one of those cases. Fueled by the emotions I was experiencing, I picked up my acoustic and in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, the song leapt into life! I took great satisfaction as a self-appointed karma gestapo singing almost directly to the culprit and calling them out on their ill intentions.

In the process of writing these verses, it dawned on me that we all have demons we must wrestle. No one is perfect and I began to think about faults of my own that made me feel the hypocrite as this song came to be. It was the coming to terms with this philosophy that brought on the chorus: "Never tell a soul what you become... truth hurts those we love" I really like the balance in the song between finger-pointing and the questioning of one's self. The bridge was another fun bit as well, as I was envisioning a large, crescendoing buildup and wanted to come up with a run-on sentence that would carry through the entire bridge in one l-o-o-o-n-g line: "Wading through the lies you feed the mouths of babes who nest in wombs of fabricated tales of souls who led the lives we could not lead ourselves." Ha - that's a true mouth full of venom!

It's interesting how time plays tricks on your songwriting though. It happens to me all of the time and this song is certainly no exception! It was written very specifically with someone in mind and served its purpose well at the time. Moving forward, you wind up in completely new situations in life and, all of the sudden, your own lyrics are haunting you as they mysteriously point directly to an entirely new situation and you wonder what dark alleyway you picked up the skill of clairvoyance from along the way!