Recorded, mixed and mastered by Paul Fifield in Windsor, CA in 2023. Backing tracks created in Band-in-a-Box. Mixed and mastered in Logic Pro.
Vocals - Paul Fifield
Electric Bass - Byron House
Drums - Brian Fullen
Acoustic Rhythm Fingerpicking Guitar - Jason Roller
Acoustic Rhythm Fingerpicking Guitar - Brent Mason
Acoustic Soloist Guitar - Brent Mason
This song came out of a class assignment at CCMC back in around 2010. Cosy Sheridan had placed a bunch of slips of paper with short phrases on them in 3 baskets that she passed around to the class. We each picked one slip out of each basket. Two of the baskets had random phrases and one had random musical styles. The three slips I pulled out said: 1) I'm Afraid, 2) Too Early In The Morning, Too Late In Life, 3) Laid back country type style.
You can see how I put them together to come up with this song. I won a West Coast Songwriters songwriting contest with an earlier version of this song in 2012. I entered it again in a different contest with different judges a year later and got completely different feedback. This was more valuable than winning the contest. Basically the judges were confused about how the title related to the body of the song because I hadn't listed any examples of how she helped lift me up. It was all pretty self-centered. It took me a decade to finally get around to addressing that feedback and rewriting the lyrics, but I finally did, and this is the result. - Paul Fifield
That's What You Do
© 2011 Paul Fifield All Rights Reserved
Sun coming up, snow on the ground, it's getting harder to get around
This cold cuts through me like a knife
Crawl out of bed, put the coffee on, we hate getting up at dawn
Too early in the morning, too late in life
I'm afraid I'm growing old too soon
And I'm afraid that it's too late to reach the moon
And I'm afraid no one will like these tunes
I'd 'a' quit by now if it weren't for you
You lift me up, that's what you do
Grab my guitar, out to the shed
You’re makin’ breakfast when you could be in bed
I wanna finish this song, wanna get it right
I drive a truck, you teach art, few more hours our workdays start
Too early in the morning, too late in life
I'm afraid I'm growing old too soon
And I'm afraid that it's too late to reach the moon
And I'm afraid no one will like these tunes
I'd 'a' quit by now if it weren't for you
You lift me up, that's what you do
Must be true, I gotta pay my dues
Walk my own walk in my own shoes
That don't mean I gotta walk alone
You believe in me through every high and low
Get home late on a Tuesday night, three long hours at an open mic
You’re waiting up to hear if it went alright
'Fore we know it we'll be getting up, reaching for those coffee cups
Too early in the morning, too late in life
I'm afraid I'm growing old too soonS
And I'm afraid that it's too late to reach the moon
And I'm afraid no one will like these tunes
I'd 'a' quit by now if it weren't for you
You lift me up, that's what you do
You lift me up, that's what you do