I have my friend the very funny and very talented Joe Lavelle to thank for reminding about this song about a year ago. I wrote the song back when Joe and I were in high school, and it was originally just a refrain: “You stepped on my head, she said.” I added verses a little bit later and played the song in a band I formed with some friends of mine. In any case, when I started recording music again, it was Joe who suggested that I should record this one. The only problem was that I’d forgotten the last verse and had no record (or recordings!) of it, so I had to write a new one.
I recorded and released a slightly different version of this song last year at Joe’s request, and I was going to include it on my EP Garden Variety, but I thought it sounded somewhat thin so I dropped it from the lineup. Even so, I still liked the song, so I added a jazzy electric piano part to beef it up and included it on Thank You for Holding.
In addition to the electric piano, I also like the sound of the rhythm guitar. It’s an Epiphone Dot Studio semi-hollow guitar that I borrowed from my friend Tim Simmons. Tim and I have been borrowing instruments from each other for a few years now. In fact, he’s largely responsible for my return to music after many years of not playing much at all. But the guitar has a nice, warm sound to it, and if you listen carefully, you can also hear the faint crackle of static, which I think gives the track a live feel.
One last thing I’ll point out about the track is that I love the instrumental break in the middle. Belle and Sebastian is one of my favorite bands, and their songs make great use of brass instruments, and that’s the kind of sound I was going for with the French horn and trumpet in the middle of “My Head.” Unlike Belle and Sebastian, though, my brass section is entirely synthetic. Turns out that Tim Simmons didn’t have a trumpet to loan me.
My Head
Keep on, keep on, keep on coming.
Soon we’ll all be gone.
Live your life while it’s worth living
‘Cause it won’t last long.
“You stepped on my head,” she said.
“You stepped on my head,” she said.
“You stepped on my head,” she said.
Housework, housework keeps on coming.
Where does free time go?
Stop an hour, watch the opera,
The only life you know.
“You stepped on my head,” she said.
“You stepped on my head,” she said.
“You stepped on my head,” she said.
Keep on, keep on, keep on dreaming.
Leave the world behind.
Somewhere you know your life waits
Beyond the daily grind.
“You stepped on my head,” she said.
“You stepped on my head,” she said.
“You stepped on my head,” she said.
Abominations 