Long Slow Spring

[Verse 1]
Shadowboxed for 30 minutes today
Then I walked to the San Francisco bay
Took a photo of a seagull on the Golden Gate
Came back and shadowboxed another few rounds with 3-pound weights

[Verse 2]
I got on the phone with my dad
I want to see my dad so so bad
But I can’t see him, I can’t this time
‘Cause getting up there and visiting him would be viewed as a heinous crime
During this holding pattern spring time

[Verse 3]
So yeah, we got, we got on the phone
Talked about what was happening in, in Ohio
His favorite Chinese restaurant was closed
And of the latest news, he grabbed Simone

[Chorus]
Long slow spring
I know it’s gonna bring us together soon
(Long slow spring)
Long slow spring
I know it’s gonna bring us together soon
(Long slow spring)

[Verse 4]
He asked, “When are you touring again?”
I said, “Fuck if I know.”
He said, “Well what are you doing now with your time?”
I said, “I’m recording some music at the studio
Watering my agaves and my aloes
Calling up my friends and saying hello.”

[Verse 5]
Yesterday we went to Point Rayes
The beach was closed but we stuck in anyway
We went fishing for perch and used prawns as bait
Others were fishing for stripers and manta rays
People were surfing and the sunbathers were lying supine on their beach blankets
Girls in bikinis sporting their Gucci shades

[Chorus]
Long slow spring
I know it’s gonna bring us together soon
(Long slow spring)
Long slow spring
I know it’s gonna bring us together soon
(Long slow spring)

[Instrumental bridge]

[Verse 6]
In Inverness I took a photo of a shipwrecked boat
Mark it up on my dad a postcard, and I wrote
That I loved him and missed him, and that I hoped
To see him before too long in Ohio

[Verse 7]
One day I got back and watered my succulents
On the back porch, and I smoked a couple cigarettes
And watched one of my favorite comfort films, About Schmidt
My favorite line, “Life is short, Ndugu, I can’t afford to waste another minute.”
That’s how I feel in this life every minute that I’m in it

[Verse 8]
This morning I hear the morning doves cooing
And I’m lying in bed flipping between De-Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period
And looking up at the ceiling’s
When the sun’s coming up that this anxious feeling
Dissipates and I can focus on reading
It’s at this time that my heart’s not beating
As fast as it does in the evening
It’s at this time of the day that I’m calmly breathing
When the sun’s coming up everything feels okay

[Verse 9]
When the sun’s coming up I know the world has made it to another day
I’m going to meet Caroline in Chinatown
We’re gonna get some dim sum takeout
And go to Washington Square and sit down on a bench
And through the city wander around

[Chorus 2]
Long slow spring
Things will be changing, bringing us closer soon
(Long slow spring)
Long slow spring
Things will be changing, bringing us closer soon
(Long slow spring)

[Instrumental bridge]

[Verse 10]
Before we went to sleep last night after watching Saturday Night Live we listened to some music by Egyptian Guitarist Omar Khorshid
Omar picks single strings with blazing speed that you hear from surfer guitars, but the music is more exotic
It made me think of being in restaurants in places like Israel and Greece
I fell asleep and dreamed that I was on tour with Ben, Phil and Jim
We were playing what may have been the final show of a tour because our soundcheck was short
The venue was small with a low ceiling, it may have been Switzerland
And maybe it was the soundcheck and not the actual show because there were only 3 people in the crowd
I remember we were playing very fast and there was so much room out on the floor
That they were using the space dancing from one end of the room to the other
They were dancing very fast, the way that Omar Khorshid plays

[Outro]
We got off stage and my energy was spent from the show
Backstage was a table with a white tablecloth
Ben and I went over there and he asked me, “How are you doing?”