One of the propositions in the All Your Days masthead is this one: “And a bit of culture to fight the darkness.”
As we approach the one-year anniversary of this newsletter’s post-2024 incarnation, it’s time to ensure that, among all the other ways this little missive has grown and prospered in the past eleven-point-five months—and among all the disappointing and terrible things there are to talk about in these sendings—a little bit of culture is, indeed, in the mix.
I started my creative life as a writer for the page, and in the middle of it (at least, I think and hope it’s the middle), I evolved into a songwriter and a singer. And other things too—film and photography, a little drawing, etc.—but the backdrop for all of it, since about 1996 or 1997, has consistently been a musical scenery.
And so, as with a small song offering a month ago in these pages, today’s offering is, in the way of all things All Your Days, a political offering but one that comes in the form of lyrics and chords. Please welcome “Reliable Sources.” The new video above is from America—an album released in April, which has just today been released on vinyl (and this new video helps mark that occasion).
I wrote “Reliable Sources” on an acoustic guitar, recording quickly into a laptop to capture the piece. I was sitting in a chair in the same room that serves as the starting point for all these words, and that was on November 7, 2024. The timestamp tells us the file was saved at 5:24 p.m. Eastern. So, before the outcomes were apparent.
It’s interesting that the lyrics are populated by thoughts and feelings that would be equally at home in a notebook entry of today. Clearly, that afternoon, it was not unclear what was happening. And then there’s the Perceval part. That’s another story.
Thank you for permitting me to share a bit of this work in this context. America is available everywhere you stream. The home base for the album, where you can get a signed, numbered, limited-edition vinyl copy of America, is Bandcamp.
Here’s the link:
Should you add a platter to your shelves, reply to this email (or write to me at james@jamesobrienhq.com) and say, “Hey, grabbed a copy.” A one-year paid subscription to the newsletter will be yours as a heartfelt thank-you.
And here are the lyrics:
I tried dime-store novels I tried beaten-up barstools I learned ancient ways to breathe I wrote encyclopedias of the occult I tried parapsychological research I got down on my two knees I need reliable sources I need protection from the law Baby, I need you Now come the wise men Now come custodial engineers Now come columns of black boots They will try to repossess you They will promise to caress you They will teach you all their theories I need reliable sources I need protection from the law Baby, I need you In the naked light of dawn Perceval was gone With emerald arms from his defeated And by the dying light, I saw Honored judges of the law Moving slow on silver crutches I need reliable sources I need protection from the law Baby, I need you I need reliable sources I need protection from the law Baby, I need you
