Track #2 - Bottom Of The Barrel

Recorded - 

Basic Track - July 1, 5, 8, 10, 2013
Additional Percussion - August 6, 2013
Bass Guitar Replacement - October 2 and December 15, 2013
Intro Acoustic Guitars - November 16, 2013
Vocals - January 15 and February 6, 2015
Additional Electric Guitar - February 11, 2015

Backstory - 

"Bottom Of The Barrel" is another song that had a lengthy gestation period between its initial creation and eventual completion. Back when this four album project was intended to be only two albums, "Bottom Of The Barrel" was designated as the opening track. It was also one of the only songs that I had lyrically and musically fully written. As a result, I purposely waited until a year into the sessions to begin the song, as I saw this as my easy endcap of the project. Boy was I wrong!

As these two albums became four, and as "Bottom Of The Barrel" was removed from the Breaking Through The Glass project, progress on the song became a bit more cumbersome. I spent around a dozen sessions in 2014 recording vocals, to no avail. It wasn't until 2015 that I finally sought out the help of Cisco Barahona, my original lyrical collaborator for my debut album, 2010's Turn Back The Years. Cisco managed to bring out a lyrically darker and more symbolical tone to the song, and I'm quite proud of the end results.

Lyrics - 

I've sick and tired of being here, Stockholm Syndrome in an unlocked cage. 
I reach out but nothing seems to change. 
I calculate my great escape, but always find I play it safe. 
I know I've lost myself. 

So helpless!

Chorus: Anchors making mischief dragging down down down.
Quicksand disposition sinking underground. 
Call me Jack, and throw me back, fermented underground.
Watching from the bottom of the barrel.

I dig a plot and fill it up, with little bits of me. 
Dress it up with loneliness, and wallow in my grief.
The tide is high but I don't mind, I'm already asleep.
I know I've lost myself.

So helpless!

(Chorus)

The soothing air I long to breathe, hangs so smugly above me. 
But I'm Trapped like a rat, down down down.

(Chorus)