SONG: ‘”Champagne in a Mason Jar”

It’s not often I write songs in the voice of a gender other than my one. Like, um, never. But here’s one called “Champagne in a Mason Jar.” Listen to it here. As often happens in the birth of a song, I noted a nice turn of phrase in  a notebook, then promptly forgot about it. Performer Ann Magnuson was host of the debut ceremony of the West Virginia Hall of Fame in Charleston, W.Va., in Fall 2007. (Here’s an audio web slideshow I concocted on the event for the Charleston Gazette). As it drew to a close, she flounced her poofy dress, planted her fists on her hips and exclaimed to the crowd: “Let’s go drink champagne out of Mason jars!” Nice line. Then, along comes this year’s Mountain Stage NewSong Contest finals, held earlier this month on the same stage, in the state Cultural Center theater. I happened to have the same notebook with me and scanned the line while looking for something else.

Then, I got juiced by several of the performers on the NewSong stage, including a “Japanese gypsy rock” band out of NYC called Kagero. Next day, we all hung out together at Kanawha State Forest and had a picnic jam under a forest shelter. I can’t say there is much of any gypsy rock in “Champagne,” but there’s a smidgen of the jaunt and village folk vibe of the group in there somewhere. I’m a poorly self-taught musician who picks up things not so much by learning as by osmosis and intuition (which is why, young musicians buddies, it’s important to always hang out with musicians who are better than you.) In any case, I also enjoyed the challenge of writing a story song, compressing a short story into three quatrains and a couple choruses. Let me know what you think — and, yes, I am hunting someone with estrogen to sing the song. It just went out via e-mail to dear bandmate and estrogenically equipped musician Casi Null, a fellow Clementine. (Catch us Friday, Oct. 31, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Taylor Books in Charleston, where the “Champagne” song gets its first airing at a gig.)

Here are the lyrics (since the lyrics function at my Myspace site looks whacked):

Champagne in a Mason Jar

by douglas imbrogno
copyright 2008 © MediaWerks of West Virginia

Gonna leave this godforsaken bar,
Someday they’ll say ‘She’s become a star…’
Oh, my, my, I’ll go so far (I’ll)
drink champagne! Drink champagne…. from a Mason jar.

Bob at the bar, he lets me sing.
When he gets a tip there’s a bell he’ll ring.
He gives me half when I really swing.
Oh, I love to hear — that ‘Ding-a-ling!’

CHORUS: Where I live the train won’t stop.
I know my mom, but I don’t know my pop.
Used to date the town’s only cop…
I sing hits songs — to my restaurant mop.

Guy comes in, says: “Love your sound!
“What we gotta do is shop it around…”
Got me in the sack, here’s what I found,
You can pour a thousand bucks –
in a hole in the ground.

Gonna drive right outa’ this dead-end town.
Sing my tunes in Nashville in an old prom gown.
Tell everybody what’s going down!
I found my life — found my life! — at the Lost and Found.

CHORUS: instrumental over chorus chords

Had a sorta hit on the charts for awhile. (Got to)
… number 93, but it sure made me smile!
Heard it one night on the radio dial.
Drivin’ through my life — it was the happiest mile.

The money ran out, so I pointed my car
Back to that town and back to that bar.
Married that cop, he thinks I’m a star…
they toasted us with champagne — champagne… in a Mason Jar.

Where I live the train don’t stop.
I know my mom, but I don’t know my pop.
I’m married to the town’s only cop…
I sing hits songs — to my restaurant mop
I sing hit songs to my restaurant mop…