Rob Christensen: Free Downloads

(Rob Christensen )

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Opera Alley is my third home-studio album. As before, I wrote all the songs, played all the parts, and recorded it in my living room on a Tascam 488mkII PortaStudio. Musically it’s pretty much a guitar-based pop/rock album with some piano and keyboards thrown in. A variety of acoustic and electric guitars were used, along with a couple of cheap keyboards and assorted mics and amps. I listened to a lot of late-sixties Kinks, Beach Boys, and Beatles while making the album, which I think shows up in the arrangements more than on past records. Suggestions of R.E.M. and Neil Young show up as well, as I would certainly cite them as influences.

I’ll make an attempt to explain the songs to a certain degree…

Opera Alley, the title track, was started while watching Ray Davies on VH1’s “Storytellers.” I was consciously trying to write a Kinks-like song. I love it when songs are named after or describe places. “Penny Lane” and “Waterloo Sunset” are obvious examples. “Opera Alley” is pretty literal - it’s a solitary walk through a neighborhood filled with quaint shops and people from the past.

Opera Alley

I am walking down Opera Alley way
Somehow some things never seem to change.
Couples, hand in hand, stop to browse at shop displays
See who is out and who has come to play.

Across the street is some someone that I used to know.
We glance and look away, there's no "hello."
She slips on by, you know, she's just a piece of yesterday
You never do forget. I know she knows.

Opera Alley's seen the best of me, I know.
It's seen the worst. It knows my past.
Opera Alley, where did the good times go.
To the bottem of an hourglass.

Sunny afternoons are just the perfect thing for me.
I stroll alone and take in every scene.
Opera Alley knows what I think and feel.
Knows when I'm in and when I'm in between.

Opera Alley's seen the best of me, you know.
It knows that some things just can't last.
Opera Alley, where did the good times go?
Good times always go so fast.

I can't turn back time or summon any yesterdays.
If I could I'd surely have it made.
I would right my wrongs and honor all my promises.
Make up for mistakes made along the way.

repeat chorus one
repeat chorus two