Jordan Cooper, Sidewalk Cafe 9-3-2004: New Song Spectacular

At this time me and my friends were in a comedy troupe. The day before this show I was upstate in New Paltz, NY, putting on shows with my friends. I had booked this show earlier in advance and the timing was very stressful. I had planned to make this a show where I debut all new songs. So I remember being at New Paltz and rehearsing with my guitar while everyone else would go get food or in any spare moment I could. Even with all these difficulties this is one of my favorite shows I've done.

The One Who's Dumb is a mean song about a girl (but it's also about the narrator really) and I love it! I forget the lyrics in the last verse which I remember being like my worst nightmare coming true. I recovered ok but then forgot some chords too. That's what happens when you do a show of all new songs and also a comedy show in two days.

Icepick The Oracle is one of my most strange songs musically, but the lyrics are all based on a real encounter I had on the subway. In fact I would say this may be the most true song I've ever written with no fictional elements in it. This song is really hard to play so I rarely did. Sorry for more mess-ups.

This is the debut of I Won't Be There, a very strong power pop song that will be on my next album. The song is about your girlfriend not wanting you around and how sad that feels, and the narrator is overly accommodating and denying that it's a signal of any sort of relationship problem. It is based on my life and I think I wrote it with some subconscious feelings about my relationship at that time.

In this next bit I rant about hating John Mayer's lyrics (yes, I pronounce his name wrong.) I am mainly reacting to an article (brought on stage) I saw that praised his terrible lyrics so much that it shocked me. Enjoy my little angry stand up comedy set here. I still stand by everything I said here.

Swish is a song I had for a few years that I never felt was finished, but I remember at that time suddenly loving it and wanting everyone to hear it. It's not as melodic as my normal songs which makes me immediately put it in a lower tier, but I do love the lyrics, which I worked really hard on, and ultimately I am proud of the song as a whole too. Swish is about trying to get over a crush but thinking you see the girl across the street and having an anxiety attack. "I hate this bridge I'm on" is not an original musical pun but I still think it works really well here and the triple meaning of it (bridge of a song, bridge as life metaphor, literal bridge the narrator is on) is very sad to me.

Crashing The Ball is the most complex and ambitious song I've ever written for guitar. The chord changes in the chorus (and the bridge) are fast and elaborate and something that made me never play this song live. The singing is also very high above my normal register too. Enjoy the John Mayer imitation in the bridge...it gets a laugh!

I'm Stumped, wow, this is a rare one. I think I played it twice ever. It's about dealing with a girlfriend with anxiety. It's not meant to be sweet, affectionate or sensitive to the issue. That's the point though. Because you get numb to this stuff after years and it becomes more a practical problem to solve, like fixing your sink. Well anyway, I don't need to explain myself to you!

Will You Marry Me is a good example of how weird my songs are in regards to fiction and truth. The song was about my girlfriend and completely an honest love song. I am still touched by it today. The song was not a sincere marriage proposal though. It's about a lazy couple getting married. One of my sweetest songs melodically. I love the line "for every dollar bill I save my staying home for dinner, we get thinner." This song features a rare guitar solo from me. Hope it rocked your face off. I never knew how to end this song, and what you see here is me improvising.

Uh oh, I'm going to the piano next. I perform (way too fast) my song Honest Guy, which is on my debut EP here: https://troublesafoot.bandcamp.com/album/tom-dead

All Over The World I'll Be Mad is another rare and weird song but I did record a rocking version of it years later. This was one of those strange inspirations where a completely imaginary story popped in my head in one moment. It's not based on anything in my life at that time. This song absolutely kills my wrists so I never played it much.

Next I tell a confusing anecdote to an unamused audience. I was told by a friend later that night that the guy in the anecdote was doing an Obama joke. I had no idea. To me it seemed like nonsense.

Next is my song Every Day I Say, a short and simple song that is one of my all time favorites. After that I debut I Care About You, which became a live staple of mine and became a really rocking band song that you could hear on my first album.

Setlist:

The One Who's Dumb
Icepick the Oracle
I Won't Be There
Swish
Crashing the Ball
Stumped
Will You Marry Me
Honest Guy
All Over the World I'll Be Mad
Every Day I Say
I Care About You

Видео Jordan Cooper, Sidewalk Cafe 9-3-2004: New Song Spectacular канала Jordan Cooper Stuff