Red Rum - Conquerin Man - Lyrics

Tweet

I lived 6 months in southern California then I moved to Florida. More specifically I lived in the town of Palmdale before it was built up. The year was 1986 and you could see desert all around. There were Joshua trees off to the side in the desert when you drove the lonely road between Palmdale and Lancaster. Joshua trees originally came from Israel. I used to have a big poster of U2's album "The Joshua Treee" hanging on the living room wall in my apartment. This poster was the exact image of this place. During my short time living there; I did quite a bit of writing. I wrote a book on roulette; and I also filled a notebook full of lyrics. I had a small keyboard with me; but I didn't put any original music to the lyrics. I played songs on the keyboard to get me in the frame of mind to write. The songs I wrote were not about real experiences; but an account of my emotional state of being.

It was now 1987 in Miami Springs, Florida where I showed Deniz my notebook of lyrics. Deniz liked one of the songs called "Conquerin Man". Deniz introduced me to his friend Mark (Mark Funk); he was 18 and played guitar. Mark came from an average middle class family. We drove to Mark's home where he lived with his parents. In the garage, Mark took out his guitar; and said, "Kenny I have a perfect riff to your lyrics". Mark played it for us; instantly Deniz and I thought it sounded great.

We now had to put a band together. Mark knew a drummer also named Kenny. He also had a friend Rich who played bass guitar. Kenny kept a steady beat and was fast on the drums. Rich was just a natural bass player; and Deniz was the lead singer. I will expand on each member of the band in a future blog entry. Deniz already had a name picked out for the band long before it ever existed. The band was to be called "Red Rum". For the purpose of staying on point of the story, I won't get into the origins of the band's name for now.

The band rehearsed the song several times and then was ready to go into the studio to record. We all chipped in to pay for the recording. Deniz cut up my lyrics "shortened" to fit the music; see the final lyrics below. The engineer in the studio recommended we do a track where all of us would sing the chorus together. We stood around a big black boon Mike and sang the track. Mark then overlaid a track with a guitar solo. In the last verse, we added a sound effect of "wind blowing" to provide the right impact for the words.

Red Rum would record one more song in the studio before an unusual event ended the group. Please listen to Conquerin Man and type your comments.

Conquerin Man - Lyrics
In a boat on a river
There’s a chill in the air
Surrounded by nature
Alone in despair
Exiled from my family
Abandoned my career
With no place to go
And no one who cared

Yes I’m a drifter
Like a leaf in the wind
If I had my choice
I do it again

So here I am
I’m walking tall
In a world all alone
I’ve got it all

Traveling shore to shore
I’m moving on
Continuing to explore
Not knowing where I’ve gone
I move forward
I never look back
The faster I move
The stronger my attack

Yes I’m a drifter
Like a leaf in the wind
If I had my choice
I do it again

So here I am
I’m walking tall
In a world all alone
I’ve got it all

I just kept traveling
Going place to place
Keeping myself hidden
Alone without a trace
Then one day
My luck ran out
I died a drifter
Without a doubt

But alone and peaceful
I lie in the sand
Knowing that I lived
A Conquerin Man

Yes I’m a drifter
Like a leaf in the wind
If I had my choice
I do it again

So here I am
I’m walking tall
In a world all alone
I’ve got it all