DAY 3 - NOSTALGIA

INTRODUCTION
If you’ve read the intro you can just skip it…
I’m so glad you’re here and haven’t been turned off by Magic School Bus quotes or dad jokes.
This EP is a dream come true for me.
As a kid, I was very sheltered and rarely left the house. I don’t say this for pity, but I didn’t really have friends. So I had to make my own fun with creativity, drawing, art, video and music.
From the website, video blurbs and marketing, to lyric videos, branding, graphic design and even a lot of the recording and mixing, I’ve learned a lot of this by myself on the fly.
I’m a business student, so none of this was really learned from school. There are a lot of things I didn’t learn from school – including some incredibly important, universal life lessons.
As I’ve mentioned, I’m a bit of a nerd. I like learning – So I’ve elaborated on these stories in the “School of Nerd Rock” – You’ll get useful life lessons by email each day.
WELCOME TO THE
SCHOOL OF NERD ROCK!
SONG
LYRIC VIDEO
"GIVING UP THE PRESENT FOR ANOTHER CHANCE TO BE UNSURE"
“How Does It Feel?” is a sort of sarcastic tune asking how it feels to make it - how it feels to get exactly what you want out of life and be happy as we understand happiness.
STORY
As a kid, I wore a satchel and a bandana around my neck every day because it made me feel like an adventurer.
In my teen years, I put them away and worried that nobody took me seriously – Until I realized that nobody had to.
This is for the kid who talks too much about his favorite game.
The kid with a katana in the back of her hoodie.
The kid who wears his Spider-man shirt more than normal to help get through the day.
Nostalgia may mean more to me than any other song I’ve ever written. I feel like it has some of the best most heartfelt poetry I’ve ever written, even though it’s comprised of the most basic chord progression you could ever ask for.
I was sitting alone in my brother’s apartment (where I lived) when I wrote this. I happened to have a day off when he and his (now ex) wife were both at work or school. I sat down at her keyboard and started plunking – without really knowing anything about playing piano whatsoever (I grew up playing guitar).
The song had one main question:
If I asked 10 year old Chandler: “Where was I supposed to be by now?”
What would his response be? Would he like it? Would he like my friends and decisions?
At the time I had made a lot of really great connections after starting college, but it had been a few years since, and some connections had come and gone. I finally had the ability to connect with friends whenever I wanted on my own schedule. But that ability eventually becomes old as you have to evaluate the value of each of these relationships in your life.
In this particular moment, I had just finished a big video project with my best friends. The project was personal and emotionally involved for him. And since it involved so many people, it created a lot of tension between many friends.
I found myself asking where I was going, what my priorities were, and who I wanted to spend my time with.
I think I’ve made some healthy decisions since. I’ve disconnected from some people and reconnected to others, including my best friend – who I realized was an incredibly constructive, driven and passionate friend to have – and those are rare. He’s now doing super well and starting his own business in video.
I guess from this I learned – Ask your 10 year old self if he/she likes where you are. If not, ask where to go next.
One of the lines of the song is “perspectives dress me to the nines,” because perspective means EVERYTHING to how you see yourself and how you see yourself means everything to the next steps you take in life.
Keep going.
Make healthy choices.
Check your progress.
LYRICS
Recount every line of dialogue
With narratives of a happy home,
Not long ago,
Bliss is telling of a life that could never die,
Life is greener at another time,
A world that rhymed,
Sights and sounds and lights and colors,
Giving up the present for another chance to be unsure,
Let it go, let it go
A window into happiness is sometimes just a step into the past,
But I never asked,
Who is that and who’s to know if every traitor’s just a regular Joe?
Is it just for show? – The pressure to let it go
Whispers like a fortress while words cut like a knife,
I’ll trade you piece of mind for an hour of your time,
The time is right.
It’s so sublime, drops of nostalgia robbing blind,
I’ll feed you blue skies,
As you paint pictures of blinding light,
Don’t close your eyes,
You’ll color in the lines,
Connect the dots inside our mind,
And turn back time,
Perspectives dress me to the nines,
Photographs and flashbacks looking fine,
It’s all all right,
Set me up for failure,
Knowing that the setup is all I care for,
Call me an amateur,
Hand me off and hand me down
Don’t let me go and watch me drown,
It’s all over now,
It’s so sublime, drops of nostalgia robbing blind,
I’ll feed you blue skies,
As you paint pictures of blinding light,
Don’t close your eyes,
You’ll color in the lines,
Connect the dots inside our mind,
And turn back time,
Let it go, let it go,
Let it go, let it go,
I’ll feed you blue skies,
As you paint pictures of blinding light,
Don’t close your eyes,
You’ll color in the lines,
Connect the dots inside our mind,
And turn back time,
I’ll feed you blue skies,
As you paint pictures of blinding light,
Don’t close your eyes,
You’ll color in the lines,
Connect the dots inside our mind,
And turn back time,