Published 6 months ago in Americana / Indie Rock, in album: TINGLE
Pops
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Pops – (3:25) 76 bpm
Contact: Mark Lightcap
(530) 801-1216 mlightcap3@gmail.com
Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap - ASCAP
Publishing: Chester Street Publishing - ASCAP
ISRC: QZYFK2300008
Recorded at: Bad Daddy Studios
“Pops” was one of a couple songs on this album that I wrote about a real person. The person they called Pops made the front-page headlines of the Enterprise Record around 2004 when a judge released him from prison and provided him with cab fare. The 92-year-old Pops had spent most of his life incarcerated at the Butte County Jail and was well respected by inmates and jailers alike. He begged the judge not to release him because he had nowhere else to go, claiming that the Butte County Jail was his home. His plea fell on deaf ears, so Pops had the cabby drive him straight to the bridge over Lake Oroville. It was there he jumped off the bridge, taking his own life.
It didn’t take long for my Country Western musician buddies and I to develop the song’s instrumentation. I wrote the song on acoustic guitar and that remained the instrument around which all the others played. Adding Steve Valine’s pedal steel was the frosting on the cake. I think we got the finished tracks done in one or two takes. Although the song’s story was a tragedy, it was an honor bringing Pop’s story to life through music.
Lead vocal: Lightcap Acoustic guitar: Lightcap Pedal steel: Valine Piano: Bones Johnson Fiddle: Renee Drums: Carini Bass guitar Hilke Backing vocals: Carini/Darlene Marie
Lyrics
Pops - (3:25) 76 bpm
Contact: Mark Lightcap
530-801-1216 mlightcap3@gmail.com
Songwriter: Mark R. Lightcap – ASCAP
Publishing: Chester Street Publishing – ASCAP
ISRC: QZYFK2300008
Pops was 92 and fadin’ fast, weary, bent, and frail
He was an enigma at the Butte County Jail
Cause he found life on the inside beat life out on the street
Pops figured he’d live his last days there but he was forced to leave
So Pops told the cabby as they drove on to the bridge
My rheumatism pains me and my health is on the skids
Now nobody cares if I am dead or I’m alive
Today seems just as good as any other day to die
Jail to Pops was an improvement over livin’ life alone
The inmates were his family the cell block was his home
But when “His Honor” rapped that gavel down and said, “You can go free”
Pops had no where else to go and no one else to see
So Pops told the cabby as they drove on to the bridge
My freedom’s killin’ me I’ve no where else to live
Now nobody cares if I am dead or I’m alive
Today seems just as good as any other day to die
When Pops took that last step did his life go flashing by
Did he have regrets or did relief show in his eyes
In the newspaper the headlines screamed and shouted out his name
The editor shook his fists and pointed his finger of blame
Said the system must have broken down and slipped on out of gear
But no matter whose fault it was there was no one there to hear
When Pops told the cabby as they drove on to the bridge
I’m tired to the bone and I’ve got nothing left to give
Now nobody cares if I am dead or I’m alive
Today seems just as good as any other day to die
Today seems just as good as any other day to die
