2. IRA MARLOWE: BROTHER TIME
(Ira Marlowe)
Brother time
won't you slow down?
won't you slow down?
and give me a minute
to get back in it
catch my breath
I'm still goin'
but I could use a little rest
Brother time
you know you used to be my friend
a big blue sky
that went on without end
a slow-rolling boxcar
on a steady uphill climb
I could see where I was going
I could hop off any time
But now
everything's changed
Now
You got yourself an aeroplane
and you fly, you fly, you fly
Brother time
Brother time
Brother time
Now, I'm not asking
for some machine
to take me back
take me back
I'm still strong
I'm strong and I'm ready
And I'll take on this world
if this world'll just hold steady
But now
everything's changed
Now
it's not the same, not the same
you fly, you fly, you fly
Brother time
won't you slow down
slow down
and give me a minute
give me a minute
to catch my breath
I'll be fine
you go on ahead
Brother time
Brother time
Brother time
© 2015 Slow Reveal Music (BMI)
Produced by Ira Marlowe
Recorded at Silvertone Recording, Nashville, engineered by Jack Irwin
Additional recording, mixing: Monkey House Recording
Ira Marlowe: vocals, additional guitar and organ
Tommy Banks, Susie Davis, Leslie Jackson: backing vocals
___________________________________
 IRA MARLOWE:
Ira Marlowe's songs have been described as "four-minute movies", known for their lyrical wit and emotional impact. Marlowe grew up listening to his parents' jazz and showtunes, then experienced a high school conversion from folkie to rocker. At eighteen he joined his first band and started penning songs that landed somewhere between Daltrey and Townsend and Lerner and Loewe. While the label "folk-rock" is a useful description, his writing swings from funny to sad to poignant to political--often within a single song. Marlowe's range as a writer and the sheer entertainment value of his shows make him a delight to audiences wherever he goes. www.iramarlowe.com
Burnt out after a series of fizzled major-label record deals, he was approached at a gig in 2005 by the director of The Learning Company, the world's largest producer of education software for kids. Hired on the spot to write a series of songs for their new release, Marlowe took an anything-goes approach to his task and started having fun again. Soon after, he founded his own BrainyTunes label for kids. www.brainytunes.com
In 2012 Marlowe opened The Monkey House, an intimate Berkeley home for songwriters, comedians, storytellers, and other thoughtful and entertaining performers. While he has always loved performing in cafes, in conceiving his own venue he added some some elements usually missing from the that curcuit: a stage, a sound system, lights, even a black velvet curtain. He wanted a room that felt more like...show biz. Behind the curtain he build a cozy pro quality recording studio. www.themonkeyhouse.org
In 2014, Marlowe was named composer/lyricist for the Tony award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe, a political theater company, founded in 1959, that is anything but silent. He's now penned the songs for two acclaimed productions: RIpple Effect and Freedmomland.
When Marlowe was fourteen, his father scoffed at his plans for a career in music. “Son,” he cautioned, “many are called, but few are chosen.” Now, after twenty plus years in the business, after strolling with his guitar between the tables of a Howard Johnson’s, after singing at a circumcision, after being spit at by a spoiled-rotten four-year-old, he’s finds, to his great surprise, that he's more excited about music than ever before. These days he’s no longer that concerned with being chosen. He knows he's lucky to still feel called. |
