Slightly Aimless


I went down to Leo’s Lounge to look at the faces, listen to the sounds
Bartender Bernie, look my way, he say,
“Tell me, son, how do you feel today?”
And I say, “Aimless. Aimless. I am feeling slightly aimless.”

Yes, there was a bartender named Bernie. Yes, we talked. Probably about music. Later, when Gathering Field had gotten better known in Pittsburgh, I think he might have come to one of our shows though I don’t recall speaking with him. I just remembering knowing, somehow, that HE knew that I dropped his name in a song. The final note about Bernie is that we received word of his passing before a show on Martha’s Vineyard. We dedicated the set to him.

Sad Susan sips her wine. The boys all say she’s easy but she says she’s just kind
She sits beside me, rests her hand upon my thigh
She notice that I’m quiet and so she asks me why.
And I say, “Aimless. Aimless. I am feeling slightly aimless.”

There was no Sad Susan. No hands on thighs, no probing late-night questions between drunken patrons. It’s all just fiction that feels pretty real. At least to me.

The future is a word, don’t hold much meaning to me
Don’t ask me where I’m going, I don’t know
You see I got something inside me, I got to find a way to set it free
Where I’m going now that depends mostly on which way the wind blows

This bridge calls Scott Blasey and Liz Berlin to mind. I see them standing across from each other, with their headphones and their microphones, in Dave Brown’s Zelienople living room. Finding their parts together. The Clarks, Rusted Root and the Gathering Field all represented in Dave’s living room. How cool is that?

Walking home along Frankstown Road, thinking about a woman, she’s a girl I used to know
Car pulls beside me, old man driving, he ask me if I might be needing a ride
I say, “No thank you. Aimless, aimless, I am feeling slightly aimless…”

The woman/girl is now my wife. The old man is God, asking if I need some help. Brilliant young drunk fool that I was, I say, “No thanks. I got it.”If I knew then what I know now, I would have jumped in before the question was even fully out of his mouth.

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