{"id":7464,"date":"2021-01-31T11:39:02","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T17:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/?p=7464"},"modified":"2021-01-30T21:33:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T03:33:05","slug":"cant-win-for-losin-lyric-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/cant-win-for-losin-lyric-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Can&#8217;t Win for Losin&#8217; &#8211; Lyric Video"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ewV0nOFrim0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>Words and Music by Conrad Askland (ASCAP). &#8220;Can&#8217;t Win for Losing&#8221; \u00a9 1995 Conrad Askland.<\/p>\n<p>I wrote this song back in 1994 after returning from a 14 week tour of South Korea (and Japan). During the tour we spent most of our time in Tongduchon, South Korea (Hello Camp Casey!) and played different military bases 6 nights a week to entertain the troops. The band was a Southern Rock band called &#8220;The Hardriders&#8221; that was playing U.S. military bases for MWR (Morale, Welfare and Recreation). Every night we played a different base, sometimes with two hour bus rides each way. It was a tough tour.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>During that tour the nuclear threat escalation between North Korea and South Korea was at a peak. We were told that our location in Tongduchon, in the case of a North Korea attack, would be overrun within minutes.<\/p>\n<p>One night the base we were located at, Camp Casey, started a massive late night drill. Sirens were blaring and tanks were rolling all around me. Being a civilian, I had no idea it was a drill so I thought an attack was imminent.<\/p>\n<p>When I called back home there was a real disconnect, a total disinterest in anything I might be experiencing. The response was a feigned smile and &#8220;We&#8217;re sure everything will be okay.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When I got home after the tour, then I understood why. Life had gone on for the people back home while I was on tour. I had vanished from their lives and conversations and they had moved on. After just 14 weeks I was returning to the snapshot of a life that had been for me before. But in that time back home some people had died, new friendships were formed with people I didn&#8217;t know and my personal relationship had moved on as well.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s when I finished this song. A feeling of being alone, things not working and feeling lost as to how to fix any of it.<\/p>\n<p>When you&#8217;re feeling low, the last thing you want to hear is: &#8220;Smile, everything will be ok.&#8221; Sometimes you just don&#8217;t want to smile. And that&#8217;s where the lyric comes in: &#8220;And tell me why I got to smile, when happy is the last thing that I am.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In true blues form, the darkness of these lyrics have always picked up my spirits. It makes me remember that it&#8217;s okay to fully feel what your current emotions are. And it&#8217;s also a reminder of the eternal truth: &#8220;This too shall pass&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I originally envisioned a Travis Tritt type male focal for this song. I love the female vocals on this song. The lyric &#8220;why I got to be more than just a woman&#8221; was originally &#8220;why i got to be more than just a man&#8221;. I think &#8220;more than just a man&#8221; flows better and has a better feel to it. Somehow &#8220;more than just a woman&#8221; feels a little pejorative towards woman. But, that&#8217;s the lyric if a female sings the song. It&#8217;s always interesting to me how the small nuances of lyrics yield very different sub-texts depending on our upbringing and cultural background.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LYRICS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If this had been a real life<br \/>\nI would have been told what to do<br \/>\nAnd if it\u2019s just a test<br \/>\nWhy do I feel like such a fool?<\/p>\n<p>Well the only thing that I\u2019ve learned<br \/>\nIs that I don\u2019t know everything<br \/>\nThe only thing I know for sure<br \/>\nIs I don\u2019t have much room to complain<\/p>\n<p>Well they tell me to look on the bright side<br \/>\nAnd wait for what is meant to be<br \/>\nBut if it\u2019s all the same<br \/>\nWhen you can\u2019t win for losin\u2019<br \/>\nYou just don\u2019t even want to play the game<\/p>\n<p>Now why won\u2019t you tell me<br \/>\nWhy I got to be more than just a woman (man)<br \/>\nAnd tell me why I got to smile<br \/>\nWhen happy is the last thing that I am<\/p>\n<p>Well they tell me to look on the bright side<br \/>\nAnd wait for what is meant to be<br \/>\nBut if it\u2019s all the same<br \/>\nWhen you can\u2019t win for losin\u2019<br \/>\nYou just don\u2019t even want to play the game<\/p>\n<p>When you can\u2019t win for losin\u2019<br \/>\nYou just don\u2019t even want to play the game<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Words and Music by Conrad Askland (ASCAP). &#8220;Can&#8217;t Win for Losing&#8221; \u00a9 1995 Conrad Askland. I wrote this song back in 1994 after returning from a 14 week tour of South Korea (and Japan). During the tour we spent most of our time in Tongduchon, South Korea (Hello Camp Casey!) and played different military bases [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3C0LX-1Wo","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7464"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7523,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7464\/revisions\/7523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}