Songwriting Diary: Halfway to Sanity vs Six Ways To Sunday
I was writing a new song and the line ‘halfway to Sunday’ popped out of my subconscious.
These unfamiliar lines often do that while I’m strumming a guitar.
So I wrote it down before it got away.
I'm fascinated by bits of songs that appear out of nowhere and get me thinking about what they might mean.
I had been sorting through my Ramones albums and putting them in order by release date. After the first four records, I never remember how the sequence goes for the rest of them. One might argue it doesn’t matter after those first four classics anyway.
I hadn’t looked at some of those Ramones LPs in years. I needed my glasses to read the release dates as I scoured the back covers. I grimaced realizing I probably didn’t need glasses the last time I looked at them. It had been so long I had forgotten about the album Halfway To Sanity, though I did remember some songs on it. ‘A Real Cool Time’ is the standout for me.
Halfway to Sanity. Maybe that’s where ‘Halfway to Sunday’ came from? Either way, there it was on paper in front of me.
I continued to strum, searching for more words, meanings and direction.
I don’t know how songs get conjured. I don’t think any songwriter does. They just happen for some reason.
If you let them happen, that is.
I enjoy letting bits of sentences and melodies flow through me without questioning how or why. The process entertains me. Maybe that’s why I keep doing this.
As I kept writing this particular song, I wondered about ‘halfway to Sunday’ and how it might have been used in the past. That led me to the idiom ‘six ways to Sunday’, which I’d definitely heard before. So I looked up its origin and meaning.
There's a description here, courtesy Atkin's bookshelf: “Lexicographers have surmised that since a calendar has six days before (or after) Sunday, the idiom underscores the certainty of reaching Sunday no matter where you begin.”
After reading that, and thinking about the religious undertones, I was reminded of ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’, by the great songwriter Kris Kristofferson.
My grandfather once told me it was among his favourite songs, and he was not a religious man at all. He said the lines ‘no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt’, finding a ‘cleanest dirty shirt’ and ‘there’s something in a Sunday that makes a body feel alone’ reminded him of visiting strange towns during the war. He said he distinctly remembered walking into ports and smelling ‘someone frying chicken’.
That’s when you experience the magic of songs. When you can see and feel yourself in them.
Those Kris Kristofferson lines always strike a strong chord with me now, as I remember listening to my grandfather tell me what they meant to him.
In that context, ‘six ways to Sunday’ takes on an entirely different meaning.
And now I’m thinking of ‘Halfway to Sunday’ in a different way as well.
Those who follow me know I have a healthy fascination with Saturday Night vs Sunday Morning in the way Sam Cooke’s preacher said to him, “You can either sing on Saturday night or Sunday morning. You can’t do both”. Of course the preacher wanted him in the church.
I think Sam must’ve been torn when he chose Saturday night. And even then, I figure he still could have been considered halfway to Sunday.
I’ve learned that songs evolve over time, even after they are let out into the world. They can be remixed, reimagined, re-recorded, covered, lyrically altered. It goes on and on. Some even have books written about them.
For now, I know this version of this song is just a moment in time.
Like they all are.
You can listen to Halfway to Sunday now on Bandcamp. Contributions are welcome there as well:
PS: For those interested in production, the recording choices for this version were greatly inspired by Mitski’s ‘Bug Like An Angel’, which I highly recommend you check out as well.
Halfway to Sunday lyrics:
I can wait a little longer
I can roll with my chances in gambling hell
To not break the spell
I could tell that you loved me
With all of your heart in a previous time
When our fortunes aligned
I promised you sunshine
But bailed on what I had in mind
So I wait
I’ll wait
I'll wait
I'll wait
I’ll wait til I know what I’m feeling will not rob me blind
If you’re halfway to Sunday
From your guardian angel showing you the ropes
With hope against hope
Then I can wait a little longer
I can wait until promises fall like the rain
On this beautiful place
I’ll wait til I know what I’m feeling will not go to waste
So I’ll wait
I'll wait
I'll wait
I'll wait
I’ll wait til I know what I’m feeling will not go away