My latest songwriting project tells the story of a man who must come to grips with the price he has paid for being far too clever for his own good. In a dream he learns the brutal truth and it isn’t pretty, though in the end he’ll find hope and the will and courage to change with patience and perseverance until he finally has what he’s really needed all along: Love, acceptance, gratitude, a sense of purpose and value, and inner peace. In other words, the kinds of things we all need and may sometimess forget or take for granted.

The project is still at a very early stage, is only partly done, and isn’t even in a song format yet, so may look a bit more like a disjointed preachy poem than a song at this point, but I thought some of you might appreciate a brief peek of a part of the rough draft anyway. Please remember that these are merely possible pieces of a puzzle for which the ultimate picture has only been partially developed:

The Wrong Kind Of Clever

You’ve spent your life chasing fame and fortune
And grabbed both by the neck
But it’s you who has been choking
As your life’s become a wreck.

Alone in the darkness, your latest conquest asleep next to you
But the game has lost all pleasure and something isn’t right
You won her with lies about what she meant to you
She’ll learn the truth tomorrow but its haunting you tonight.

You’ve had no one to count on—-not even yourself.
But what happens if your money runs out?
That’s when you’ll find what false friends
And lovers really care about.

You’ve been The Wrong Kind Of Clever
But it’s not too late to change
A lifetime of habits that brought you
Short-term pleasure and long-term pain.

Your past is just a story
That’s been keeping you down
But you can write a new one
And turn yourself around

You’ve used your brain so much that you forgot you had a heart
Learned how to work the system instead of on yourself
But life is so much richer when shared with those you love
And lasting joy can be had with this kind of wealth.

You need the kind of people
Who’ll love you for who you are
Not the size of your bank account
Or the value of your car