Cold and Lonely Soul (Lyrics and Explanation)

Cold and Lonely Soul (a blues song)

by

Brandon Dues

He's a cold and lonely soul

Only thing he knows

"One day it will get better"

but today he walks alone

His gaze hangs low

an he drags his bones

Family and Friends

just leave him to sulk

He's a cold a lonely soul

Only thing he knows

"One day it will be better

but today I walk alone"

A great big bushy beard

Shirt ain't been washed in weeks

Goes all day

Without even brushin' his teeth

Cold and Lonely soul

Only thing he knows

"Things will never get better

and I'll always walk alone"

Rooms' like a hurricane

Whiskey bottles at peace

His whole damn abode

smells like

spoiled meat

A cold and lonely soul

Only thing he knows

"Things need to get better

because I'm tired of walking alone"

At the picture show

He shows up solo

No longer sad

and he's finally let it go

He was a

Cold and Lonely soul

Only thing he knows

"Today it gets better

and it's okay to walk alone"

"Cold and Lonely Soul" is about a guy going through a rough patch in his life. I wanted to illustrate sort of the mind set one goes through when feeling depressed. There's a period where he's content with how he's feeling because he knows he won't feel this way forever. The sadness just needs to get it out of his system. There is hope for the future. However, when things don't get any better, our central character looses patience and slips further into his depression. There is a point where feeling low becomes sort of old and hope starts to slip in. At this point, the depression is replaced with a sense of doing. He wants to take back his life and actively make things better instead of sitting around and hoping things get better. He wants to make things better and that is where the song ends. I wanted to end the song on that note. The song isn't just about depression and sadness. It's about hope, promise, and self-empowerment as well.

In all honesty, I'm not exactly sure why I wrote these lyrics. The chorus of the song sort of just popped into my head last night and I thought it would be an interesting concept for a story. So, I went to my notebook, brainstormed a few ideas, and came up with the central character and idea. Originally, I was just going to write a story but I was listening to The Black Keys and noticed some similarities. I thought "This would make an interesting blues song" and I re-wrote the story to sort of sound like a blues song.

I am by no means a songwriter or poet or anything like that. I like to write stories. I just thought it would be something fun to try. It was more like a "Yeah I can do that if I wanted to" thing. I had fun writing it. Maybe one day I'll pick up my dust-ridden guitar and create a song out of it.