Idiot Box (1981)
I wrote this song on the 25-mile drive to my parents house. I had spent the evening at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, where I heard four kick-ass songwriters perform in a circle. I was inspired.
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The Ballad of Me and Josie (1982) (NSFW)
When a girl works at the Chicken Ranch, there’s a price tag on her bed.
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The Great American Getaway (1978)
In 1976 both my marriage and doctoral programs were falling apart. Between quarters I left my home near Knoxville, headed for California in my 1954 Chevrolet. The 22-year-old car (now it would be 59 years old!) made the 7500-mile trip without incident, but I often thought, “What if it hadn’t?”
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Ghost in a Machine (2009)
This song is about the virtual world Second Life. If you are unfamiliar with that 3-D world, it won’t make a lot of sense; if you are familiar, it will make perfect sense.
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No One Lives it For You (1983)
I stay the hell away from pawnshops with my silver-string guitar
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My Big Award (1995)
In 1995 the International Foundation for Gender Education gave me their Trinity Award. It was a distinction I didn’t particularly want, because IFGE was fond of giving the award to its inner circle. I certainly wasn’t a part of that circle (nor did I want to be), so when I was notified I would receive the award I had mixed feelings about getting. That’s where this song came from.
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The Love’s Already Gone (1995)
I’m used to poor accommodations / Boxcar floors and Greyhound stations
Anywhere I hang my hat / I’m happy to call home
Perfectly Modular Male (1995) (NSFW)
This song, is of course, about packing—using a prosthetic device as a phallus. It’s something every FTM knows about. The song is influenced by a book by science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein—The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. In it, the protagonist uses a variety of prosthetic arms, depending upon need. He has a social arm with fingers and simulated a skin, an arm for manipulation of small objects, and an arm designed for brute power. So—why limit oneself to a single packie?
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I Recognize the Body (1981)
I was impressed when I learned Jimmy Buffett had written a song called “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw?” Everyone, I thought, should write a song like that.
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Time Isn’t Easing the Pain (1984)
When I wrote this song I was living in a basement in Nashville. No, I wasn’t there to break into country music. I was in grad school at Vanderbilt University.
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Don’t Take No Wooden Nickels (In the Jukebox of Your Life ) (1978)
No free lunch, no free ride…
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Resting Place (2003)
I love gospel music— not that I’m particularly religious. I just like the music, and, often, the message.
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One Half of the Song (2002)
I’ve collaborated on songs only rarely, but I often think about the amazing music that comes out of lyricist/composer teams like Elton John and Bernie Taupin or George and Ira Gershwin or John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Out of those thoughts, somehow, came this song.
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Drunk on the Beach (1994)
That song has no redeeming social value. In my defense, I have been only drunk once in my life, and it wasn’t on a beach.
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Something Unfinished (1987)
Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne” was an influence on this song. Here, too, old flames meet in a grocery store.
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Grands (1992)
I never knew my grandfathers, so I indulge in a bit of wishful thinking here, perhaps.
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Tonight She’s Got Some Plans of Her Own (1988)
Just another song of loneliness and despair.
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Townes (1986)
The late Townes Van Zandt was a terrific storyteller. In the 1980s I saw him perform many times, often with fellow singer-songwriter Guy Clark. More often than not, Townes would be so messed up he couldn’t remember the words to his songs. He would tell long rambling tales, start to play, stop, and then talk some more. He thought all the audience was his friend, and indeed it was. No one was ever rude. Except me, perhaps, for writing this song.
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Sherman (1998)
I’ve often wondered what Sherman might have privately thought about his march to the sea. Here, I speculate about that.
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An American in Paris (1993)
Jimmy Buffett once wrote a song about an American who went to Paris. His protagonist made little of the experience. Mine did.
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All You Have to Do is Say Goodbye (1995)
I don’t know how this song came about. I just picked up my guitar one day and there it was.
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Once a Year (Gender Conference) (2000)
I wrote this song about the trans conference Southern Comfort, which takes place every fall in Atlanta. It was a transformative event for me and continues to be for others. I’m happy to have been a part in its formation in 1990.
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The Pine Lake Song (1999)
Atlanta long ago grew around Pine Lake, making the once far-out community enviably close in. The lake and its wetlands are federally-protected wetlands and the lake, which was dredged in 2011, is healthy and beautiful. The land and wetlands are all public park land. The city retains its girl scout camp look and feel, and residents know and are friends with one another.
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Second Life Song (2006)
My Second Life led me in directions I didn’t anticipate– for instance, I met the love of my real life there– but when I was new in Second Life I thought I might try performing live. I never got around to it, but using my avatar name as a pen name, I did write two songs about my experiences. This is the first. I wrote it my first week in world.
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Tootsie’s Bar (1996)
Since 1960, Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge has been a favorite of country music entertainers, including Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Faron Young, Charlie Pride, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Tom T. Hall, Roger Miller, Tex Ritter, Mel Tillis, Hank Cochran, and Webb Pierce. Located in Nashville at 422 Broadway, there was a well-worn path to Tootsie’s from the back door of the Ryman Auditorium, home to the Grand Ole Opry
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Gender Bender (1989)
I wrote Gender Bender shortly after I transitioned gender roles. The whole thing spilled out of my head in about thirty minutes– and then I spent days making up additional verses, just for fun. I performed the song frequently at transgender conferences and even won a talent contest at Southern Comfort. A lot of people have asked me to put it online, and now, at long last, here it is, with just me and my classical Yamaha guitar.
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Down in the Night (1982)
This is my only rock song. I sing backup vocals in this performance by the band Off the Wall. Off the Wall was a garage band formed in East Tennessee in 1981. I was a founding member even though my guitar playing was rudimentary and I had no electric pickup on my classical Yamaha. I was playing unamplified rhythm here, but I can’t be heard.
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