Hope you guys like it. I literally just finished this up last night. Feel free to download and pass the link around, okay?

Alright, folks, it’s a new year, and with your help I’m going to record one hell of a good album. Agreed?

The details are all at johnvoorhees.com/awesomeyear. Cheers!

So in a nutshell, this is the schedule for the next few weeks:

Friday, December 10, 2010 – Acoustic Song Circle at Mockingbird Cafe in Bay St. Louis, MS
7-10 pm
110 South Street, Bay St. Louis, MS
Tips only

Friday, December 17, 2010 – John and Tanya at Mockingbird Cafe in Bay St. Louis, MS
8-10 pm (Poetry featured at 7 pm)
110 South Street, Bay St. Louis, MS
Tips only

Thursday, December 30, 2010 – John and Tanya at the Neutral Ground Coffeehouse in New Orleans
8-9 pm
5110 Danneel Street, New Orleans, LA
Tips only

Here, in a nutshell, is what’s going on:

Friday, October 22, 2010 – MS Songwriters Festival in Ocean Springs, MS
8-9 pm (part of Songwriter Circle)
The Julep Room
(in cellar of Aunt Jenney’s Catfish Restaurant)
1217 Washington Ave, Ocean Springs, MS
$10 Cover (artists performing from 6 to 10pm)

Saturday, October 23, 2010 – John and Tanya at the MS Songwriters Festival in Ocean Springs, MS
8-9 pm (part of Songwriter Circle)
The Julep Room
(in cellar of Aunt Jenney’s Catfish Restaurant)
1217 Washington Ave, Ocean Springs, MS
$10 Cover (artists performing from 6 to 10pm)

Friday, November 12, 2010 – John and Tanya at the Neutral Ground Coffeehouse in New Orleans
9-10 pm
5110 Danneel Street, New Orleans, LA
Tips only

Saturday, November 13, 2010 – New Orleans Songwriters Festival
8-9 pm
Turtle Bay Food & Spirits (across from the French Market)
1119 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA
Tips only

So this weekend, my lovely wife Tanya shot a few awesome videos of me doing a few of my favorite tunes in front of our sparkly fireplace. Hope you enjoy them!

We’re bound to do more of this sort of thing, so if you’d like to keep up, please subscribe to my new YouTube account, JohnVoorheesSings.

This song was originally released in 1996 on The Swing. Whenever I play it, I introduce it thusly:

“This is a song about someone who can’t find anything in life to be good at, so he learns to be good at being bad at things.”

That sums it up pretty well.

I was once the sorest of sore losers
Faced defeat with anger and with shame
Then one day I woke to my good senses
Thankfully I’ve never been the same
I’ve learned to smile with wild abandon
When I shake the consolation hand
I can say “Good game!” with heartfelt pleasure
As if losing was the very thing I’d planned

I’m the king of all good sports
It’s a victory of sorts to say that
I’m a magnificent loser
And I can take embarrassment with glee
I’m a magnificent loser
And now everybody wants to play with me
Play with me
Everybody wants to play with me

Before I came to my conversion
Life was never like I thought it should
Couldn’t bear the smallest of small failures
And on top of that, I wasn’t very good
Now that I’ve learned to be a loser
I have no fear of better men
I can look the victor in the eyeball
And ask him ” Do you want to play again?”

I’m the king of all good sports
It’s a victory of sorts to say that
I’m a magnificent loser
And no one has more grace in their defeat
I’m a magnificent loser
I guess I’ve got a knack for getting beat
Getting beat
I guess I’ve got a knack for getting beat

If he makes you happier, of course you have to go
On that point I know we both agree
I can think of nothing that would bring a warmer glow
Than to think of you as happier than me
Happier than me

So when life brings its disappointments
No one will know I feel a thing
I’ll just keep laughing like a madman
I’ll throw my shoulders back and then I’ll sing

I’m the king of all good sports
It’s a victory of sorts to say that
I’m a magnificent loser
And I can take embarrassment with glee
I’m a magnificent loser
And now everybody wants to play with me
A magnificent loser
And I can take my downfalls with a grin
I’m a magnificent loster
And I don’t know what I’d do if I should win
I won’t win
But I don’t know what I’d do
I don’t know what I’d do if I should win

April Snow originally appeared on Asking For Trouble (2000), and it’s a pretty straightforward description of my mindset as a Vermont winter stretched on and on. But you don’t have to live in a cold climate to appreciate the sentiment at work here. It’s a song about anything you desperately want, and you know it’s coming, probably pretty soon, but it’s still not here and it hasn’t been here for a long time. It’s an unanswered prayer for patience.

Peeking through the blinds again
Another Monday morning dressed in white and gray
It’s preying on my mind again
It’s not supposed to still be this way
But the time is coming ’round again
When green grass is gonna push on through
And it should’ve happened weeks ago now
But who am I to tell this planet what to do?

We are born again in Springtime
Mother Nature rolls the stone away
But not today
And I can hear you say
“Oh no! Not another April snow!”

So I put on my boots again
And I’m headed out the door
There’s not enough snow to shovel this morning
There’s just enough to make me wonder what it’s here for
Is it a reminder to the world
To take things as they fall?
Will we all love the spring so much better now
Or maybe there’s just no good reason at all
No, not at all

I have reveled in the winter
I was making snow angels on the lawn
And now, I’m just waiting for it all to go
We are born again in Springtime
Mother Nature rolls the stone away
But not today
And I can hear you say
“Oh no! Not another April snow!”
An April snow

And who can you complain to
Except your passing friends and say
“Looks like another winner of a day, huh, Jane?”
And “When d’ya think this mother of ‘em all is gonna end?”
Cuz the time is coming ’round again
When green grass is gonna push on through
And it should’ve happened weeks ago now
But who am I to tell this planet what to do?

I have reveled in the winter
I was making snow angels on the lawn
And now, I’m just waiting for it all to go
We are born again in Springtime
Mother Nature rolls the stone away
But not today
And I can hear you say
“Oh no! Not another April snow!”
And you can hear me say
“Not another April snow!”
And it won’t let go

This is the first track on the “Walls” segment of Windows and Walls (1994) and boy, is it ever a shutdown. There’s the potential for a real relationship here, but our narrator will not let himself get dragged in. After all, he has to pick up the dry cleaning or something, right? Gee, look at the time.

I am not trying to avoid you
But I know it looks that way
I am not trying to cut off
What you’re trying to say
Don’t get discouraged, we’ll talk on another day
Okay?
It’s just that the rain is coming down
The rain is coming down
And I wanna go inside where it’s warm and dry

I don’t disparage you motives
I know your heart is good
You’ll make it out of the woods real soon
Knock on wood
Am I not paying attention as well as I could?
I should
It’s just that the pain is coming down
The pain is coming down
I can barely stand up when I feel you cry

I feel the pull of the life I have built
Out of comfort and cowardice, stiffness and guilt
And it stops me from staying too long

Your situation is bad
And I’m glad you reached out to me
Previous plans just prevent me
From being the key
Maybe you’ll find someone else
Who can set your soul free
We’ll see
But I feel my world is coming down
World is coming down
And it keeps me from making heartfelt try

Cuz I don’t believe in the future or past
Like a normal man
I just keep stretching the present
As far as I can
And when you say yesterday
Might as well be The Sudan
(Or Japan or Iran)
And I feel the time is coming down
Time is coming down
And tomorrow’s a good way to say goodbye

And I feel the pull of the life I have built
Out of comfort and cowardice, stiffness and guilt
And it stops me from staying too long
And it stops me from staying too long

This is not just an excuse
But I know it will sound that way
It’s hard enough for me to fight my way back
Through the gray
Don’t get discouraged, we’ll talk on another day
Okay?
It’s just that the rain is coming down
The rain is coming down
And I wanna go inside where it’s warm and dry

This Windows and Walls (1994) track sounds eerily like a leftover from Jim Croce. The narrator is hoping against hope that his lover might change her mind. After all, she hasn’t left yet, has she? He might be right, who knows? The song only lasts so long, but the story continues somewhere.

If you feel that you must go
Then how can I slow you down?
If the answer must be no
How can I make you come around?
Even though you’re sitting with me
It’s like you’re already gone
You’re on the highway zipping through Dallas
And the words I say too far away
If you feel that you must go
Then I’m just wasting both our times
I didn’t really want to know
But now I know there’s no denying
I might as well just kiss you goodbye
And wish you good luck and so and so
And you might as well get on the road
If you must go

If there’s nothing to decide
Then what am I supposed to do?
Yes it’s true, you never lied
That’s what I love so much about you
But I wish I had another chance
Before you start your life again
And if you don’t want to hear this
Then why’s your car still in our yard?
If there’s nothing to decide
Why should I even state my case?
All I can say is that I tried
And if I failed there’s no disgrace
I might as well just kiss you goodbye
And wish you good luck and so and so
And you might as well get on the road
If you must go

If you really go tonight
I hope you don’t forget my name
I hope you call, I hope you write
I know you won’t, cuz you’re still the same
I might as well just kiss you goodbye
And wish you good luck and so and so
And you might as well get on the road
If you must go