Saturday 4/12, Full Band rock show at Pino’s, Highland Park, NJ w/ The Make Three and The Melancholy Kings, 8:00 (SF on 2nd, check out the show poster below)
Hey there and happy Friday. Do you remember me writing about a workshop I gave on songwriting back in December? I really enjoyed it and as you can see in this picture I’m quite in my element—it’s like I’m back teaching class but with a guitar in my hand.
Well I’ve got another one scheduled for Thursday 4/24, this time at The Pennsauken Free Public Library (5605 N. Crescent Blvd., Pennsauken, NJ 08109). I’m really looking forward to it. There is no pre-registration so you just show up. I’m mentioning it here to ask for your help. If you know anyone in the area who would be interested please help spread the word by sharing this link: The Mick Chorba Songwriting Workshop at The Pennsauken Free Public Library. Also, here’s the link to the Facebook Event I just set up.
Thanks!
One of the first things I talk about in my songwriting workshop is "voice”. Meaning what voice or point of view are you taking on in this song? What’s your attitude? Sometimes it’s liberating to pretend you are someone else. I do that a lot.
Yesterday I was listening to some new records I bought at Princeton Record Exchange on Wednesday—an album by the folk singer Mary Gauthier and a collaboration album between Kurt Vile and the Australian singer Courtney Barnett. After a few listens to the Vile/Burnett album I picked up my electric guitar and randomly started playing a little melody—probably influenced by what I was listening to. I added some nonsense words. One of the lines—“put me in a mirror”—kind of attracted my attention so I kept jamming on the song for about an hour.
For the verses I was singing something like: ”What did I do when I turned you away”. For some reason it wasn’t working and I had a hard time coming up with more words. Then I decided that “I” was the one who was turned away. It became a song of self pity. Woe is me. And strangely enough that worked great. I found my voice—the guy who always makes mistakes. In fact he’s gotten quite good at them. He’s a relationship blunderer. This might be the same guy who is in my songs “O Diane” and “Adelaide” and a few others. The rest of the song flowed. The “put me in a mirror” line reminds me of the Roald Dahl book The Witches where missing little children show up captured in paintings (creepy young adult literature…I’m not really going for that vibe here but it just reminded me of it).
I hear this as a potential new song for the full band. We’re starting to work on new originals for upcoming recording projects.
Here are the lyrics. Read along while you listen and thanks for doing that. Hope you have a peaceful weekend - Mick
Put Me In a Mirror
By Mick Chorba ©2025 Dinner Time Music ASCAP
I could not talk for the rest of the day
You broke my heart in the usual way
Just put me in a mirror
Put my picture in a frame
Lay me down in the water
Let it carry me away
What did I do to deserve such a fate?
I've gotten good at the same old mistakes
Just put me in a mirror
Put my picture in a frame
Lay me down in the water
Let it carry me away
Share this post