Episode 45-Skinny Arms Can Hold You Too

https://ia801003.us.archive.org/7/items/CeskyLivesEpisode45-skinnyArmsCanHoldYouToo/Clep45-skinnyArmsCanHoldYouToo.mp3

 

Here's episode 45, a song about buff guys as opposed to not buff guys, and how it feels sometimes to be a not buff guy when buffness is apparently preferable. This song comes from a chat I had with a couple friends who are of the female persuasion and their views on the importance of arms in a man, he's gotta have strong arms cause they can hold and protect you etc. My argument is that big strong arms don't require much brain power to be created, just exercise, which anyone can do. Personality and intelligence and such are way more difficult to come by, they take real work. Of course there's plenty of buff dudes with brains and personality I imagine but the point is there's also plenty of not buff dudes with brains and personality who feel a little overlooked in the world because appearances matter too much sometimes it seems. Anyways, this song is not overly serious, sound wise I think it needs some distortion and to be a little crazier, but in the spirit of simplicity this is a really straight cut uke version, cause that's what I wrote it on.

Episode 44-Thief

https://ia601006.us.archive.org/30/items/CeskyLivesEpisode44-thief/CLEP44-Thief.mp3

 

This weeks tune is part automatic writing, therefore I have no clue what a lot of it is about, but feelings wise it comes from my recent semi-diagnosis of a mental illness, (my psych doesn't like to put labels on people, because they don't ever fit 100%), which when reading up on I definitely connected with the recorded experience of symptoms and such. This is good and bad, good because I can look at it as an outside thing, separate myself from it, bad because I know exactly when I'm heading into it and that it won't be fun and at times is incredibly difficult. Life has improved vastly for me I have to say, getting help and the like, but every now and then there's a kind of attack I guess you'd say, a falling back into something dark and nasty, but I'm an optimistic person underneath any of that and I think that's been essential. Anyways, there's a hefty bit of oversharing for you.

I keep forgetting to mention also, I have an album out here:
http://cesky.bandcamp.com/album/stone-september

you can have it for free if you like, or throw me a few dollars if you're feeling generous.

Episode 43-All My Kin

https://ia601002.us.archive.org/5/items/CeskyLivesEpisode43-allMyKin/Clep43-allMyKin.mp3

This weeks tune is unashamedly spiritual I guess. I always seem to apologise for singing about my beliefs because I know such things are attached to a lot of dodgyness in this world, folks who believe in Jesus supposedly but who Jesus is possibly quite embarrassed by or even super incredibly mad at.Anyways, this is a song about the God that I believe in, and about humanity, and the two for me being linked. If for me there was no God, I wouldn't be alive, that's the truth, and not in some creation way, I mean that the support and meaning that God provides has saved me from death, literally, life is still a bloody great big mess, as it is for most, but I have a support, someplace to turn to, and I'm glad. I'll apologise again anyway though, or at least add a disclaimer that if you're not into spiritual things this is still just a song, and I don't want to Bible bash anybody, or alienate anyone either.

Episode 42-Swimming In The Dark

https://ia601001.us.archive.org/24/items/CeskyLivesEpisode42-swimmingInTheDark/Clep42-swimmingInTheDark.mp3

 

This weeks tune is a bit of a soul meef, real simple Banjo tune, 3 chords and some super basic lead stuff. I don't think it needs explaining too much. I've been up and down of late, when I wrote this I was down. But it's not all negatives, it's about honesty with God, (I feel wary using religious terms, I'm not religious, I have a faith, a belief in the "Christian" God I guess, but not in religious ridiculousness, and I don't want to cut anyone off, songs are songs whatever they're about), about telling God you feel a bit crap and you want to offload it on him, to blame him, which is not right, but I think he can take the honesty, we need to be honest, it's kind of important.

Episode 41-Cosmic Treason

 

https://ia601004.us.archive.org/21/items/CeskyLivesEpisode41-cosmicTreason/Clep41-cosmicTreason.mp3

This weeks tune is about humanity, imperfection, cosmic treason. If you believe what Genesis says, (literally or otherwise), then we're all made to be perfect; "in the image of God", but we screwed up pretty bad and now were perpetually bound to doing this over and over again. This song is about that, and about making excuses for ourselves when we screw up, (if you're religious, or have some kind of faith or not, we all do this I think), and how picking at each other over faults is fruitless. This song is kind of saying that the way we are around our flaws and mistakes should probably be taken more seriously, we need to admit our faults or we're playing with fire. Agree or disagree, either way, it's also just a song.

Episode 40-I Thought You'd Gone & Died

 

https://ia601003.us.archive.org/25/items/CeskyLivesEpisode40-iThoughtYoudGoneDied/Clep40-iThoughtYoudGoneDied.mp3

 

This weeks tune is based on a book I read about "pleading the blood" of Jesus, which some people it would seem have historically used as a heretical bit of brain washing "God is a vending machine" kind of thing, but some have just used as something they add to their prayers to remind themselves that they believe Jesus died for them and that that matters and is powerful. I borrowed a book about it from a friend of mine that seemed fairly non-crazy and straight down the line for the most part, (the book I mean, not my friend).This song about it is just a super minimal absolutely simple two chord tune about how remembering what you believe in is a good thing, and not relying on yourself on your lonesome to carry all the garbage that you do is also good. I'm a little worried after learning the opposing view on this pleading the blood thing that I may have been led down some random unhelpful path, but I don't think I have, I certainly trust the source that lent me the book, but I don't trust repetitious meaningless verbalising of chanty stuff, which I can see people could easily fall into using this idea, i.e. say "x" enough times with feeling and "y" will happen, that's just dodgy.

Episode 39-Where The Monsters Are Angels

https://ia601005.us.archive.org/13/items/CeskyLivesEpisode39-whereTheMonstersAreAngels/Clep39-whereTheMonstersAreAngels.mp3

 

This weeks tune is based on a Proverb I read a couple days ago, Proverbs 14:10, about how nobody can really know the joy or bitterness of a persons heart save for them. This is true I think, everybody has their own stuff going on and their own way of looking at things. The song is taking that idea and framing it in my own experience I guess, I feel kind of alien a lot of the time but I still think its incredibly important to try to understand people whether you can do so fully or not.