Heartwork began as an attempt to counteract several situations that I found myself in during the end of 2013 and the first half of 2014. This period is well documented within the E.P’s I released in 2014, ‘Five’ & ‘Coloured Out’. When I started writing this album in 2015, I hadn’t long relocated from St Neots, Cambridgeshire to Heath, Cardiff with my buddy, Chris. ‘Every Thorn’ was the third or fourth song I wrote and it’s undergone several lyric changes since it first came to life. I always wanted this song to be the first track on the album as it represents change. Not just the positive change I’d taken in my life, but also a change musically. When I wrote the lyric “things went south, I headed west”, that kind of took the song in a whole new direction (no pun intended), and I think it suits as the spot as the album opener very well. There’s a Chris Carrabba quote on the Dashboard Confessional MTV Unplugged album where he introduces a song as “this one’s about feeling bad and feeling better”, and I think that describes this song perfectly.
lyrics
Lyrics:
The shit had hit the fan
Turns out I’m half the man I thought I would be
And the worst part is I think I liked it
I fixed myself and broke a heart
Raised a glass up to my health and smoked enough To choke the life right out of hiding
Serotonin and alcohol go hand in hand
Until you’ve had one too many and you’ve never felt anything like that
Nine months spent on the couch
Inside my parents’ house or on somebody’s floor
Comfort came and went with balance
When things went south I headed west
Learned not to open my big mouth and save my breath In the end it’s just something that happened
Time and time again I’ve told myself “no more”
But a kick to the senses and I’ll raise my defences like before
You’ve got to get lost at least just once before you’ve found
A bruise that’s worth the bluish mark
Cuz thicker skin is worth the scar
Once you’ve figured it all out
A year or three ago
I let some pieces go but still kept the ‘me’
I erased the photos but saved the old clothes
I wanted this
I needed that
Separated bits of good out from the bad
And I saw that every thorn still has it’s rose
Seeking counsel from sinking ships out in the storm
Makes as much sense as writing when you should’ve been fighting all along
Great album. Almost a blend of Old Style and New Style Gaz. Delighted to have seen him perform two of the tracks live at Glastonbury. His performance was better than ever, and the songs are right up there with his best. matsan66