I wrote this song on the flight home from San Francisco and was inspired by a couple of things.
Firstly, it was watching the very talented Lana Baugus singing on Santa Monica pier. You can check out her music and story here www.hellomynameislana.com. Just to be clear, Lana is extremely talented and this song isn't actually about her specifically - please check out and buy her music!
Unfortunately, LA is full of talented people who didn't make it and there are plenty of buskers with guitars sleeping rough in the city.
The song is about the ones that fall short, the difference between the successes and failures in LA was pretty hard to distinguish
lyrics
Hey there my name's Lana,
Is what she said when she arrived,
If I recall correctly, she was eighteen at the time,
She wore a dress with flowers on,
It matched the hair bow she had tied,
Hey there my name's Lana,
Is what she said when she arrived,
At first she played for crowds who didn't care,
For what she sang just what she'd wear,
But she smiled and said this all was to be expected,
Yes all the stars are tried of course,
But it won't be me who falls too short,
Hey Lana can you leave through the back exit,
Hey Lana where'd you go?
We missed you at the movie show and its been going straight to voicemail when I call,
Hey Lana where've you been?
It's been a while since we've seen you,
Lana are you still out there at all
Hey there my name's Lana,
Is what she said just right before,
She handed me her application,
To sweep the restaurant floor,
She was a little over qualified for the role I had in mind,
I think she was nineteen at the time,
I'd sometimes see her stand on tabletops,
When she thought no-one was around,
I think that she imagined that she was singing to the sound,
To raucous crowds of adoring fans to the ripple of applause,
Instead of collecting waste that younger girls dropped on the floor,
Hey there my name's Lana,
Is what she said to me before,
She dropped her grease marked dress onto the bloodstained bedroom floor,
She said something 'bout some bad auditions, it was two or three or four,
I couldn't hear too clearly, through the closing motel door,
And no I'm sorry I haven't seen her since,
And I haven't heard a thing,
But understand it isn't her who's normally pulling at the strings,
Yes last time she whispered something like,
It's been harder than you know,
In fact she left quite abruptly, she said it's time for me to go
credits
from Notes From The Pacific Coast,
released October 7, 2017
Written and recorded by Ray Zimmerman
Lyrics by Ray Zimmerman
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