Today we’re delighted to bring you a little note from our friend Steve Soboslai! You might know Steve as the singer of Punchline. Maybe you know him as the well-dressed guy from the short-lived reality program Mobbed. Maybe he held a door open for you once while you were carrying something with both hands. Anything is possible. Today, we recognize him for Blue of Colors.

A little while ago, Steve put out a solo record under the Blue Of Colors moniker called Small Little Pieces. It has 11 songs on it and it’s really great. Honestly. One of my favorites is “Watch Your Mouth.” It’s track number 2. Yesterday Steve asked me if I’d post a little something about the song for him. I said “sure!” So read up on “Watch Your Mouth” and get it on iTunes with the rest of Small Little Pieces.

“Watch Your Mouth” by Blue of Colors, from the album Small Little Pieces.

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“Watch Your Mouth” started out  as a guitar riff from which I wanted to build a song around.  I started playing it amidst a Blue of Colors jam session with Harrison and Josh and the song instantly came to life.  The way it came together is the dream- it wrote itself!  A beautiful stream of consciousness.  I sat down at a later date and turned the placeholder lyrics into a cohesive thought.  

What do I mean by placeholder lyrics?  Sure, I’ll ask myself the question.  Songs, in the way I think about them, consist of 1) the music (or chords, or bass), 2) the melody (the musical notes that the singer is singing or guitar solo is playing), and 3) the lyrics.  Many times when I am writing, I will develop an idea that is the music and the melody, without having words.  Sometimes I’ll fit words to the melodies that don’t make much sense at all, but they just feel syllabically natural.  However, I usually try keeping whatever I can from this natural lyric writing.  “I was in the back yard looking in the mirror” was one of these original lines.  What does that mean?  I don’t know, but someday when I have a backyard I’ll hang a mirror just to make it make sense.

I liked the idea of a couple who was too lazy to break up.  They feel like they’ve come too far to face their problems, because doing so could uproot them from what is a very comfortable life. “Looks like we’re stuck together.” I guess it’s not laziness, but unwillingness to face change.  

Upon recording new songs it’s very common to play it for friends one on one in their car or at the end of the night.  It’s the most exciting time for many- to have something to show for this thing you’ve created.  I remember playing this for friends and many of them commenting on the line “I hate you when you’re drunk and you hate me when you’re drinking.”  It’s somewhat rare for people to speak up when listening to songs in this setting (although there are some people who just talk over the whole song and don’t seem to really listen :/), but…. yeah, people spoke up about this line in the song quite frequently.  I put little to no thought into that line, because again, it wrote itself.   

This is one of the 5 songs that was recorded and produced by my close friend Harrison Wargo at Abby’s Lake House in West Lenox, PA.  John O’Hallaron was there and also a big contributor to the process.  Oh boy do I have some talented friends.  I remember using an SM-7 microphone for the vocals.  The synth in the beginning is Prophet 8, which is the most beautiful instrument my ears have ever heard. There’s a saxophone solo in the end of the song, which Harrison took from one of his songs he’d been working on.  It fit so damn well.   

This is most definitely my favorite upbeat song on the album.  I ended up making it the second track, although I will always consider it the opening track, which comes after the short intro “This Is a Story”.

Get Small Little Peices on iTunes, Bandcamp, or on a limited edition CD.

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Jacob Tender

Jacob is a freelance writer who calls curbside.audio home. He is also the co-host of the Bantha Fodder podcast and helps UTG with technical and financial nonsense.

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