2025 Competition Entry:
Personal, Lee by Claybrook
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Genre
Folk
Artist
Website
Co-writer(s)
no
Performer(s)
Stephen Claybrook – vocals, acoustic guitar, rubber bridge guitar, organ, piano arrangement
Brett Harris – engineer, bass guitar, synth, backing vocals
Dale Baker – drums, shaker, tambourine, triangle
Anne-Clair Niver – backing vocals
Eliot Krimsky – felt piano
Brett Harris – engineer, bass guitar, synth, backing vocals
Dale Baker – drums, shaker, tambourine, triangle
Anne-Clair Niver – backing vocals
Eliot Krimsky – felt piano
Description
“Personal, Lee” – beyond containing a dad joke in its title – is a novice Buddhist practitioner’s reflection on the idea of no-self in the context of commited intimate relationships.
Bio
Claybrook is “like a sad, acoustic Radiohead.” Stephen Claybrook is an independent singer songwriter and recording artist from Apex, NC. At home in folk, singer/songwriter, indie pop, Americana-ish genres, the live full band experience tends to veer outside traditional 4/4 rhythms and folk song forms into more experimental places a la Wilco, Radiohead and Sufjan Stevens. What started out in 2012 as a project for Claybrook to mine the murky feelings-suppressed interior of a weary mega-church worship leader, is steady developing into a freer and lighter celebration of a small band of humans receiving and transmitting both consonant and dissonant sound waves. Claybrook’s debut EP, On The Inside, charted on the iTunes singer/songwriter chart next to heroes like Foy Vance and Amos Lee. In 2017, Claybrook released Mind The Silverware, featuring kitchen-sink production from Dale Baker, as well as notable contributions from fellow NC musicians Chris Stamey of the DBs, Taylor Leonhardt, and David Wimbish of The Collection. Summer 2024 saw the release of Claybrook’s 3rd EP entitled Gone For The Weekend.
Lyrics
Personal, Lee
(Lyrics and music by Stephen Claybrook)
Don’t take it personally
I’m breaking up with everyone
The old me
With dad
With god
Don’t take it personally
This one hurts the most
So far I’ve still held them close
After the necessary tear
The terms are different, but the love
The love’s still there
Don’t take it personally
Don’t take it personally
I’m breaking up with everyone
The old me
With dad
With god
Don’t take it personally
Let’s dig down beneath
The you you think is you
Let’s dig down far underneath
The me I think is me
Babe, let’s go down to the sea
It swallows the you you think is you
Let’s drown in the love, vast as the sea
Swallowing me, I think it’s me
Lets drown in the love, vast as the sea
Swallowing you, swallowing me
Let’s dig the love, vast as the sea
It’s you, it’s me
Don’t take it personally
(Lyrics and music by Stephen Claybrook)
Don’t take it personally
I’m breaking up with everyone
The old me
With dad
With god
Don’t take it personally
This one hurts the most
So far I’ve still held them close
After the necessary tear
The terms are different, but the love
The love’s still there
Don’t take it personally
Don’t take it personally
I’m breaking up with everyone
The old me
With dad
With god
Don’t take it personally
Let’s dig down beneath
The you you think is you
Let’s dig down far underneath
The me I think is me
Babe, let’s go down to the sea
It swallows the you you think is you
Let’s drown in the love, vast as the sea
Swallowing me, I think it’s me
Lets drown in the love, vast as the sea
Swallowing you, swallowing me
Let’s dig the love, vast as the sea
It’s you, it’s me
Don’t take it personally
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