New Song ‘Over The Line’
I’m releasing one song per month in case you are following along.
February 2024’s song is called “Over the Line”
You can watch a video of my first public performance of this song from my studio near Seattle.
I wrote this song for a songwriting group called Reel Songs, a group that designates a movie and then has each songwriter present their own work. This winter, we decided to write a song inspired by The Big Lebowski (one of my favorite movies of all time), thus the sweater!
How I wrote this song:
Here’s a video of me performing Over The Line shortly after I composed the song.
Watched the movie and wrote down things that stood out to me as themes or key phrases from The Dude and other amazing characters from the film. There are too many great lines to recount, but the scene where John Goodman’s (Walter in the film) shouts “Over the line” at the bowling alley felt like it needed to be addressed.
Other images from the film that stood out to me included the rolling tumbleweed at the beginning of the film. I grew up in Eastern Washington and saw a million of those weeds rolling through the Tri-Cities, WA. A rolling 6/8 triplet rhythm began to emerge.
The cowboy character was also a key figure in the film and is played by Sam Elliot who is such an enigma to me. His voice alone is just so commanding and deep. He was a great Yoda-esque figure to the Dude, admiring his gentle go-with-the-flow abiding, but also wondering “I’m not sure why he has to use so many cuss words.”
IDEA #1 - So my initial idea was a couple lyrics that “rolled” off my tongue and I sang them to my wife: “Over the Line and out of control. That’s how I roll, that’s how I roll.” She was happy and so I figured I was off. I was dead wrong! “Over the Line” became the chorus but I left the rest and went in a new direction as I jammed on the piano to the 6/8 groove in my head.
IDEA #2 - I kept feeling the longing of the bowling team just wanting to get on with their game. So I had an idea to play with that in this secondary lyric “Roll with me matey, pick any lane you like. They all me a cheat, kick me in the teeth. I’m just trying to find my strike.” Again, just didn’t fit. Felt like a different song to me. I pressed on.
At last I settled on merging The Dude with the Cowboy and coming up with a more well-rounded perspective. I also did something odd with the key center which I need to ask my piano teacher about. I started out the song in C and then somehow changed the key to F. It’s not a crazy key change but it is clearly in there somewhere. I decided not to let Doubt get the best of me and to just go with what felt like a great song to me. I’ll stop explaining there so you can have your own experience of the song. The full lyrics are pasted below.
This video was then compiled into a full show by Sherri Jerome to promote our small, yet mighty songwriting group. You can watch the full video of the show here.
Here’s the lyrics if you want to read along as you listen.
Over the Line
by Dave Hill Jr.
I’m a middle-aged cowboy, feeling uptight
Will you show me the light, will you show me tonight
Will you show me the light, will you show me…
How to roll through this town, like a dry tumbleweed
Will I take heed, as I’m picking up speed
I’m an upside-down gambler, way past my prime
They sold out my mind, for a lonely thin dime
over the line, how do I get back when I’m over the line?
I’m a wandering Gringo, looking for a strike
are we rolling tonight, or looking for a fight?
Are we rolling tonight, or looking for a
Tumbling weed that’s tired of being tossed
A rough wind is chasing me,
And I’m waking up lost
I don’t know the cost
For a beaten-down, loafer, who’s way past his prime
They sold out my soul for another man’s good time
Over the line
How do I get back when I’m over the line?
I don’t how to say sorry
cause I’m sorry all the time
I only know when I’m sliding
my heels drag over the line
Over the line
Over the line
Over the line, one more time,
Over the line, one last time,
Over the line
If you are looking for more music like this, I wrote a song last Fall called ‘Broken Down Bus’ inspired by the movie Little Miss Sunshine. Give it a listen and sign up for my newsletter if you want to hear new songs.
To learn more about my musical journey, check out My Year of Fearlessly Finding My Voice
