Meserole

“Meserole” is a song that never made a record, but people still ask me about. This recording is the audio version from a performance in McGolrick Park in Greenpoint Brooklyn, one of my favorite places. You can find the interview we did to accompany it here. There’s a really nice cover version of the song by Canadian artist Northcote that can be found on YouTube as well.

I wrote this song after the touring for Heaven Is Whenever. Probably 2010 or early 2011. The Hold Steady had been going hard since Separation Sunday and there was a sense of coming up for air. “Meserole” was part of a huge batch of songs that became my first solo album Clear Heart Full Eyes, but it didn’t get recorded in the Clear Heart sessions in Austin TX.

My personal life had gotten ragged in some of these heavy touring years, as had my living situations. I had bounced around places for a few years before moving in with my girlfriend in Greenpoint. When I did so, there was a feeling of relief and relaxation - I finally had a home after a few years of transition. I didn’t know exactly how important that was until we were there.

It was at this apartment that I began writing in the morning, and punching the clock as a songwriter. I started to value different things in songs - I often shifted my focus to smaller stories, which have been prominent on all five of the solo records that followed Clear Heart.

“Meserole” is possibly my first song that attempts to capture some beauty in the absolute mundane. I remember enjoying those little moments in the neighborhood in the morning - walking around and getting coffee, watching people on their errands, making small talk with the shopkeepers, etc. I was finding wonder in tiny things within a few blocks of my house. It was also probably the first song I’d written in a long while that featured me as the narrator. I am, in fact, half Irish and a quarter Polish.

The corner of Manhattan and Meserole has changed since then, but somehow that shoe repair shop is still there. From what I can tell, they do not lack for business. “Meserole” holds up pretty well too, I think. And I’m often still nearby too, writing in the morning, walking the streets, looking for the little strands and stories that amuse and excite.