CORLEY ROBERTS
the stories that wrote the songs
Every song begins with a moment. These are the stories that inspired them.
I Didn’t See It Coming
The song opens with:
‘I didn’t see it coming
But I knew what to expect
It seemed so very sudden
As I held onto her last breath
Quiet, unassuming
How she lived is how she left
Oh, I didn’t see it coming
But I knew it when she left’
I never really liked the taste of scotch, but I couldn’t give a song its justice by writing An O’Doul’s Away. I quit drinking in 2008, as part of a challenge with each of my happy hour friends. We would meet at the bar for happy hour at our favorite local cantina most days of the week.
A Scotch Away
Emily
I had visited my grandmother in the nursing home where she lived out her last several years of life. She had developed dementia later in life and lived to be 93 years old. However, it was my grandfather and eventually my mom who had Alzheimer’s earlier in life.
As a believer in heaven, as well as earthly heaven-like things, I’m also a believer in begging for forgiveness on my knees all the way to heaven!
Heaven On My Knees
Melt Like That
Every Valentine’s Day I am reminded of the story that prompted this song. It was in 2009 and the movie ‘He’s Just Not That into You’ was just released in theaters. The movie is a romantic comedy that navigates around relationships. I loved going to matinees by myself in the middle of the afternoon. So, I decided to go see this movie in said fashion.
This song was ‘inspired’ by the ‘mean girls’ I worked with at the time. You know the kind. We went to high school with them and they grew up to be ‘professional’ mean girls.
I needed to find peace, a place of rest, in my mind. Somewhere I could ‘go’ when my heart just hurt from the environment I had to endure at this particular job.
Get There From Here
Fifty
It’s my birthday, again. Said with hesitant glee.
I remember approaching ‘the big 5-0’ and I had a doctor appointment. To begin the appointment, the assistant had me step on the scale. Never a pleasant activity as my scale at home likes me better. The doctor’s scale is ALWAYS wrong, I believed.
‘Fake it till you make it’ real, think it till you feel it, make believe till you believe in yourself is what I Pretend is all about. A life strategy I apparently picked up along the way to adulting.
At work, sitting in a board meeting with top executives, I was scared of asking a stupid question, fearful to even speak up.
I Pretend
Ask Me Then
Would you rather have love lost or have never loved at all? A tortured songwriter I am and I need my misery to write songs…do I not?!
‘I’ve tasted love before
The sweet on my tongue leaves me wanting more….
Once upon a time there was a pretty girl. She knew she was pretty because the world told her so. Doors opened for her. People stared at her beauty. Other girls wanted to be her. The cameras loved her.
‘She reads the latest magazine, movie stars in skinny jeans. She wants to be that cover girl…
Pretty Girl
The Kiss
Would you rather have love lost or have never loved at all?
A tortured songwriter I am and I need my misery to write songs…do I not?!
‘I’ve tasted love before
The sweet on my tongue leaves me wanting more….
I finally settled on the realization that I might be paying for my own wedding with my social security money. I’m at that age now where I’M looking for my Suddenly Sixteen!
Suddenly Sixteen
Walk a Little Slower Daddy
Song crafted from a poem written by Rosalie Holder, born and raised in Harlem NY. My dear friend now in Nashville! Her story is one of growing up with a positive daddy influence that she says is so rare, and so she followed in his footsteps in the way she loves her own!