From the recording THE MARIONETTE: This & That from Hither & Yon
Bryant Turnage is an immensely talented fellow. He is something of a local celebrity in the Springfield theater scene and a very dear friend. I had heard his name spoken with reverence long before we ever met. His ongoing contribution to the community and his craft as an actor and playwright are quite deserving of that reverence. Aside from all that, he’s just a dang nice guy. This is the second song I’ve had the privilege of writing to accompany his work. Anything Behind Me is Bryant’s autobiographical one-man play about life as an “age and weight guesser” on the traveling carnival circuit. It is a beautifully revealing portrait of a young man making his way in a life on the fringe and it spoke to me on multiple levels. In the play, the title is a reference to the assortment of prizes displayed on the shelves behind him, available to those who manage to “fool the guesser.”
Lyrics
Anything behind me’s up for grabs
Anything I give away is less I have to pack
Many things define this life I’ve had
And memories remind me the bad days aren’t that bad
Anything behind me’s not to last
The lot’s not worth a lot, just markers in the past
Many’s been the time a sober heart has downed a draught
To dispose of sorrow with a laugh
Fires rage, consuming but refining
It strengthens steel, anneals the trying
Hope and fear, forever, intertwining
Love is blind. But love is binding.
We, the living lost and found, leave these cliché sights and sounds
To steep in dreams where the sleepless wallow
And scheme escape from a false and hollow compromise
Sold by reason to the heart’s desire
Anything behind me’s up for grabs
From the top shelf to the bottom, it’s all yours to be had
If I underestimate the trips around the sun you’ve made
Or miscalculate the resting place the balance of the scales will take
Please step down ma’am, my mistake. Take anything behind me
You’re very welcome. Thank you, kindly
People come and go and leave a mark
The jester and the king, each must play a part
Each concedes the other as the master of his art
Interchanging teacher and the taught
All these hard-earned scars of mine remind me
Life is sweet, but time is flying
Fear will not compel me or deny me
And tomorrow’s not confined by
Anything behind me
Music & Lyrics by David Greathouse
© 2018, Sourdough Music, ASCAP