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Vampire Song (Whatcha Gonna Do)

from The Reservoir by Kenny Roby

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about

Neal Casal and I were talking about the record and I had told him that after working some odd jobs here and there when I wasn’t touring that I was ready to jump back into music all the way again. Not do any other work if I could help it and just write, record and tour all the time. I’d gone in and out of doing that while raising my kids and being a family man. So anyway, I was supposed to send Neal some demos to hear. One day I get a text from him saying: ‘Where are my songs, FULL TIMER?!?’ I immediately sat down and finished ‘Vampire Song,’ made a quick acoustic demo and texted it to him. He texted me back, “This song is fucking great. Wow!” A little ribbing among friends.

This was the first song we recorded on the first day of tracking the record. We ran through it once, talked about a few slight changes then recorded the keeper take on take two. Everyone playing live in the room with a lead vocal. I love how Tony Leone and Jeff play on this track, so deep in the groove, and the interplay with Jesse Aycock’s lap steel and John Lee Shannon’s guitar.

We did overdub the silly choir style group vocal with all of us including Dave Schools (who took over as producer when Neal passed away) standing around a few mics. After a few passes of all of us singing terribly in falsetto, we got super punchy and couldn’t stop laughing. Probably the first time any of us had gut laughed since Neal passed away six weeks before. It sort of broke the ice I think for making the record. It was ok to laugh, cry and maybe be a little angry, confused and frustrated. We told a lot of Neal stories that week. It was a cathartic experience for me and I think for the other folks involved as well.

lyrics

I was all alone there
Waitin' on the porch
Wind whippin' the shirts
And the flame on the torch
Standin’ there swayin'
And I almost got scorched
Swoonin' there under the moon

I thought it was the rain
That was lickin' my neck
Sharp silver tongue
Couldn't keep her in check
How does a vampire self-reflect
A thousand years lookin’ for you
Whatcha gonna do
Whatcha gonna do
oh oh oh
Whatcha gonna do
Whatcha gonna do
When a man's got nothin' to lose
I gave it all away there
Late last night
Heart filled with ice
And chest got tight
Skin was a sizzlin’
When I woke up in the light
Weren't a damn thing I could do

I saw the truth
In your lipstick case
Love was a splattered
All over the place
I could live forever
Just lookin' at your face
Like all the other bloodbags do

CHORUS

All the broken hearts
In a big wicker basket
A tisket a tasket
A gift of a casket
The oldest question here
And no nerve to ask it
Ten thousand more years
To study every facet
And it's still more blood
That we choose

Whatcha gonna do
Whatcha gonna do
oh oh oh
Whatcha gonna do
Whatcha gonna do
When a man's got nothin' to lose
When that man's got nothin' to lose
When your man's got nothin' to lose

credits

from The Reservoir, released August 7, 2020
Kenny Roby - Vocals, Guitar
John Lee Shannon - Guitar, Vocals
Jesse Aycock - Guitar, Vocals
Jeff Hill - Bass, Vocals
Tony Leone - Drums, Vocals

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Kenny Roby North Carolina

Founding member of 6 String Drag. Their 1997 album “High Hat” was released to national critical acclaim. (co-produced by Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy and released on Earle’s Warner Brothers imprint label E-Squared)
In 1998, Roby went solo and released three excellent but vastly different solo records: Mercury’s Blues, Rather Not Know, and The Mercy Filter. His new album Memories & Birds out 4/2/13. ... more

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