From the recording There's Time Between the Bridge and the Water
About The Song…
♫♫ I’ve been with me a long time…This is a script I would have loved to have sent to Alfred Hitchcock. This is one of our first alternate tuning songs and the one where Marc debuts on the 5-string electric bass. Modestly, we recorded the basic tracks for this one on the first take during the “Happy Friday” sessions. Title inspired by Amy Cleary.
*definity - A (Don) made-up word meaning to be able to totally know one’s self and one’s role in this life.
Marc Arot: 5-string Electric Bass Guitar
Joe Mattis: Egg Shakers, Loops and Sound Effects
Steve Bauer: Keyboards
Don McAvoy: 5-string Acoustic Guitar (DAGDAD tuning), Keyboard Sound Effects and Vocals
Joe McAvoy: Lead and Rhythm Nylon String and Acoustic Guitars
Mike McAvoy: Drums
Basic Tracks recorded at: Digital Dog Studios, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA – Engineer: Joe Stout
Overdubs by: Red Phone Studios, Norristown, PA - Engineer: Rob Vigg and Slugfest Studios, Pottstown, PA - Engineer: Joe Mattis
Mixed by: Joe Mattis and Don McAvoy in consultation with Joe McAvoy, Mike McAvoy,
Jim Walsh and Marc Arot
Produced by: Don and Joe McAvoy
Mastered by: Tom Volpicelli, The Mastering House Inc., Pottstown, PA
©1998, Don McAvoy
Published by McAvoy Music Productions, Inc. (ASCAP)
Administered by The Harry Fox Agency, Inc.
Lyrics printed by permission. All rights reserved.
Lyrics
Last night I went walking and I saw myself
Actually, it was a much younger me
So I asked myself "Oh, how are you?"
I said "funny you should know"
Oh I, Oh I, am a student of life
I walked with me while, don't remember myself thin
Then again, I didn't think I'd get heavy and gray
So I asked myself why I wasn't warned of trouble ahead
But I had younger eyes, I wasn't as wise
And the future was where I was lead
Oh I, Oh I, am a student of life
We hit a crossroad, me returned to memory
Said the past is my tapestry (tapestry, tapestry…)
So I walked a little further, tapped a stranger on the shoulder
Surprisingly...it was me a little older (a little older…)
So I asked myself how things had turned out
I said "stick to the autumn path"
Your life...Goes on, no doubt
Oh I, Oh I, am a student of life
Sometimes it’s as if I'm in my own movie
For now, I'm calling it "Life" (Life, Life...)
It's just as if I’m letting this film play out
I'm an inquisitive actor in search of definity *
Oh I, Oh I, am a student of life
Surface is surface (surface is surface...)
Things are what they are
Don't read into things, possibilities remain
While the future's on its way, the past is late in leaving
People are who they are
Imagination works overtime…
[SOLO]