On Writing: "Beaumont"

Real writing -- the kind that gets down into your chest and makes you breathe heavy -- takes place between the lines on the page. Great songwriting does it so effortlessly that it can be terrifying, like realizing someone has been watching you in supposedly private moments for years.

In the little song below, every single line calls to mind a deeper fuller scene not explicitly shared in the words being sung, and you're left at once both aching for more details yet also feeling somewhat ashamed of overhearing someone's deepest thoughts.

Learn to do this for a hundred pages or more, and they'll drive truckloads of cash to your door and hail you as a genius, kids.

Me -- I'm still learning.


BEAUMONT
(by Hayes Carll)

I saw you leanin' on a memory
With your back turned to the crowd
In that little bar on Murphy
Where they play guitar too loud
There were people drinkin' whiskey
There were hearts about to leave
It was cold as hell for Houston
It was almost New Years Eve

All the way from Beaumont
With a white rose in my hand
I could not wait forever babe
I hope you understand

The night was feelin' lucky
So I asked you to dance
And the way you looked up at me
Made me think I had a chance
But when I put my arms around you
I knew you weren't givin' in
I hope it will be different
If I pass this way again

All the way from Beaumont
With a white rose in my hand
I could not wait forever babe
I hope you understand

I walked the road to get here
With a guitar and a case
I'd have stopped in Pasadena
If I'd known about this place
But you looked like forever
Where the water meets the shore
I've been thinkin about you, baby
I can't do that anymore

I saw you leanin' on a memory
With your back turned to the crowd
In that little bar on Murphy
Where they play guitar too loud
There were people drinkin' whiskey
There were hearts about to leave
It was cold as hell for Houston
It was almost New Years Eve

All the way from Beaumont
With a white rose in my hand
I could not wait forever babe
I hope you understand

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