Smile and Wave
Musically, this is the simplest song we wrote together. Up at the mountain cabin one night, I was messing with the riff on acoustic guitar and Adele liked the bounciness of it. The lyric is about men who can't seem to grow up and somehow come to terms (or don't) with Peter Pan and/or imposter syndrome as real life passes them by.
It was originally titled "Big Parade," but one night the kids were watching Madagascar and we realized "Smile and Wave" worked better.
This is Turntable Graveyard live in the basement in 2016. I think we did a great job at taking a repetitive chord progession and making it feel like a full-fledged jaunty reggae-pop song.
Lyrics
You got a cap gun in your pocket
You got shoeshine on your soul
Feeding quarters to the rocking horse outside
Out of change before its time to go
Cartoon
Balloon
In the big parade
You got it made
You smile
And wave
And hold on
Down
Below
You fall in line
Or get left behind
And you try
To find
You lost inside
The shadow of you
The fates have finally called you
On the corner pay phone
They sure do take their time
But you don’t mind
Pick up on the next ring
Finger in the coin return
She says, “Go ahead son – it’s your dime”
The fates are calling you again
On your new iPhone
They do it all the time
You don’t really mind
When you finally pick up
Thinkin’ . . . .
She says, “Nothing changes, boy – still your dime”