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Ray Isn't Drinking

by Erik Bleich

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Written for the Streams & Variations Podcast: Episode II - The Garden, this track was inspired by a monologue, written by Barb Sheffler, called "The Guardian" in a game of broken telephone between a series of writers.

Barb's piece had some great descriptions of night shifts at a diner, and I liked the idea of a bartender as the guardian, watching over her flock.

Please check out the podcast on your favourite podcast app to hear the whole thing, including Barb's piece, and the monologue inspired by this tune!

lyrics

The Queen is in the bathroom
Smearing shit around the stall
And Neil's long gone
He's shuffled down the hall
And who knows when
We'll be seeing him again.
But he bought a pint for Karl
He bought a pint for Ray
But Ray isn't drinking
So he gave his pint away
I watch over my regulars
They call me their friend.
And when the night is over
It's easy to pretend
It's not worth getting sober
If all this has to end...

These past few months I'm noticing
Down on the open stage
A new kid making ripples
While she's lost inside a page
I think that she's got something
It's obvious to me.
The hosts they brag and banter
But they're clearly full of shit
As they seek love and affection
With their tired and worn out bits
The booker he ignores her
Somehow he cannot see
The stranger sitting next to him
Someday is gonna be
Telling all our stories
When we're just a memory..

There's a fella in the mensroom
Doing lines of speed
He thinks he's being clever but
No, nothing gets past me
It takes ones to know one
But I've been squeaky clean.
Heather swears this is the last
Of our indentured servitude
The owner, what a tyrant
The customers, so rude
They skipped out on their bill again
It'll come out of my pay.
I'd fly across the ocean
If I could ever know the way.

credits

released January 20, 2021
I played everything, except the drums, which I programmed to get drunker and looser over the course of the song.

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Erik Bleich Toronto, Ontario

Seeking to find a place between what can sometimes feel like opposing worlds, singer/songwriter Erik Bleich creates street-lit lullabies & manic, rambling romps that wander the side streets between rural isolation and metropolitan congestion.

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