Please Reblog! We are posting our songs with notes from the the band members to spread the word about our music. Please support and reblog this post and encourage other people to reblog as well. There will be more songs with notes to come. -Mike
“Wooden Hands” by The Motel Life (band camp)
Let every child be born with wooden hands and wooden arms
so they can rebuild their lives
The worlds of poets are so beautiful, but those poets never lived in California
We thought we were changing the world,
but it turns out these hands were wooden all along
And I know that I’ve been on my own
Notes:
Mike – “Wooden Hands” lyrics were literally written on a piece of wood. I came up with the piano part on a small kids piano that I found in garage. In the beginning the song was mostly about that feeling when you’re growing up that you want make difference in the world. As a band you always strive to do something different, but then something happens and you lose that hope. That’s where the lyric, “We thought we were changing the world, but it turns out these hands were wooden all along” comes from. The song’s lyrics were morphed a little when writing Retreat so that it would fit the theme of the album a little better.
Judcody - What’s fun about being in a band is that the writing process is so unpredictable sometimes. This song used to be just a piano and vocal track that mike wrote back before We All Left Something Behind was ever recorded. I remember opening up the set very awkwardly with playing this song at our first show being “The Motel Life”. Back then I believe we had a horrible habit of playing songs live that weren’t finished. Later on during the Retreat writing sessions, I was a taking a bathroom break and overheard Nick and Al jamming in my living room, which sounded lovely. I ran out to ask them to repeat what they had just done and the song came together within a few minutes. I’ve always loved this track because it reminds me of At the Drive-In’s “Invalid Litter Dept.”.
Al - “Wooden Hands” was another one of those songs that just naturally happened. I know it was one of the first songs written before I joined The Motel Life, but we never played it. Then during a demoing session at Judcody’s, Mike began playing this song on his own on the piano and Nick and I wrote out parts sort of in a jam. It’s funny because Judcody was in the bathroom at time and when he came back into the room he said, “that sounds amazing.”
Ray - This is probably my favorite song on Retreat. I love the build up and the simplicity of this song.
Nick – “Wooden Hands” wasn’t one of those songs that took time and patience to be written, it just sort of happened from what I remember. We are big fans of having an intro song for albums and this one did the job. I also feel it really set the tone for the rest of what is “Retreat”. I wish I had more to say about this song but it’s really just short simple and sweet, just like this paragraph.
