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Better Days

from Orphans and Singles by John Pippus

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about

This song was written at the 4th Annual Steelbridge Festival in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. In June, 2008 I was one of twenty five invited songwriters to participate in this week-long songwriting camp. The week culminated with an all day outdoor festival headlined by Jackson Browne.

This was one of seven songs I co-wrote that week. The idea was to pair up in the morning with a fellow writer (or two), record what you've written that evening, and perform it at the end of the week in one of the venues around Sturgeon Bay, or on the main stage at the Saturday festival.


My two co-writers on this particular day were a young local guy, Chris Bishop, and Chris Simmons from London, England. I brought the first verse and the chorus to the writing session - in the motel room that Chris S. and I shared. The guys helped with the second verse, the bridge and the overall arrangement.

When we recorded it down the hall that evening, in the honeymoon suite, I was well into the hard liquor. After all, the week included an open bar and resistance, I found, was futile.

Time was tight, with other writers booked before and after us to record their day's work. So we did a couple of passes live off the floor. We had drums set up in the room next door. We had Victor De Lorenzo (of Violent Femmes fame) out in the hallway, sitting on the floor, banging on a cowbell. And the two Chris' and a young woman songwriter (whose name escapes me at the moment) in the main studio on guitars. Along with a bass player. I was in the bathroom on lead vocals. And that's how this song got recorded. Oh, and that's Chris Simmons and his London accent singing on the bridge.

lyrics

Don’t worry about her looks
Or the money she owes
Forget about her past
And the stains on her clothes
Don’t give a second thought
To the men that she’s known

Cause I’ve seen the real thing
I’ve seen her turn it all around
I’ve seen how she looks on her better days

She’s crawling on the floor
With a needle in her arm
She’s halfway out the door
Before you know she’s gone
She’s used up all her charms
But she’s still got one

Cause I’ve seen the real thing
I’ve seen her turn it on a dime
I’ve seen how she looks….

So far away in a southern clime
A sad attempt at Christmas
Where the sun always shines

Don’t worry about her looks
Or the money she owes
Forget about her past
And the stains on her clothes

Cause I’ve seen the real thing
I’ve seen her turn it all around
I’ve seen how she looks
On her better days
Her better days
Better days


© 2008 Chris Simmons, Chris Bishop, and John Pippus

credits

from Orphans and Singles, released October 1, 2010
Words and music: John Pippus, Chris Simmons, and Chris Bishop
Lead vocal: John Pippus
Guitars: Chris Simmons and Chris Bishop
Bass and Drums: Two session guys whose names escape me.
Cowbell: Victor De Lorenzo
BG vocals: Chris B. And Chris S. and a young woman from Colorado as I recall. I have her name somewhere.

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John Pippus Vancouver

"Reminiscent and harkening in spirit, in some ways, to Neil Young’s classic “Harvest,” Pippus and friends have made something much richer in tone and certainly more fitting for 2022.”

-Review of “Hermosa Star”, Great Dark Wonder
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