Staring Contest – 2010/11 Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music | Tidal

11 all original tracks featuring Samantha Parton (Be Good Tanyas), Anne Lindsay (Blue Rodeo) and fellow Vinyl Cafe bandmate John Sheard on piano. Includes John Lennon Songwriting Contest winner RAIL, and no less than 3 proposals! Completely self funded and collected over some pretty change-filled years of his life, this record should help Reid make his mark on the world stage as not only a show stopping performer but as a composer of compelling songs in the tradition of Neil Finn and Roy Orbison.

TRACK LISTING

Rail
Summer School Of Blue
Hard To Swallow
Don’t Forget
My Green Thumb
The Combination
By Your Side
Under The Bed
Staring Contest
Love Worth Making
Guarantee

CREDITS

All songs written by Reid Jamieson except tracks 1, 3, 6, 7, 8 written by Reid Jamieson & Carolyn Victoria Mill. All rights Reid Jamieson Socan 2010. Produced with affection by Michael Frost. Recorded, Engineered & mixed by Michael Frost, Blackfish Sound, Vancouver, BC . Remastered with care by Michael Holland. Executive producer, Management, Design & Photography Carolyn V. Mill. Drawings by Reid Jamieson. Lovebirds charm by Kurt Morrison.

LYRICS

RAIL
Lyrics Carolyn V. Mill, music Reid Jamieson

Put your ear to the rail,
you can hear my love come down
Where hearts and heroes fail,
I won’t be turned around
Sleepwalking these rails,
I let the grass grow long.
Oh my memory fails, and I forgot my song.
Blackberries grow wild,
smell of pitch in the sun.
Weeds roll over my mind,
and they almost won.
But I said no more…
Put your ear to the rail,
you can hear my love come down
Where hearts and heroes fail,
I won’t be turned around
Tearing up these weeds,
blow the smoke in my stack.
The sound of steel on steel,
and there’s no going back.
I got a head full of coal, hear the lightning crack.
Light a fire in my soul, and get me back on track.
Put your ear to the rail,
you can hear my love come down
Where hearts and heroes fail,
I won’t be turned around
No more driving this blind,
time to throw that switch.
Drives a spike in my mind,
and makes my fingers itch.
You better get on board,
or get out of my way.
Hauling heavy
and slow, but I’m leaving today.
And I said no more…
And I know that I’ve been here before,
And it’s taken its toll on me.
But I’m not giving up anymore,
No I’m not giving up on me…
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, Guitar. John Sheard: Piano.
Mark Beaty: Bass. Michael Frost: Drums.

TURN ON A DIME
Written by Reid Jamieson & Carolyn V. Mill

I fell in love when you said goodbye.
Fell in the dark and discovered light
That’s the hopeful eye that never closes.
I lost control when I found my heart
The leading man with a minor part.
How the wheels turned, and ran me over
And in my head tonight, A million thoughts go by
Can’t turn them off, can’t turn them on a dime
The manic waves pull me in and out.
The tide is high for this sinking boat
If I dive right in, will I stop drowning?
The white noise ends when I start to try.
Living the truth, killing all my lies.
When the day is done, have I begun,
to open up? It’s so hard to do
And in my head tonight, A million thoughts collide
Can’t turn them off, can’t turn them on a dime
Until I learn to speak, these thoughts are mountain peaks
Maybe I’ll meet you on the other side, of dreams tonight
I lost control, and fell in love, I learned to speak
And from my mouth tonight, A million words decide
The future, past and present all at once
And in my head tonight. The sweetest thoughts go by
Can’t turn them off, Don’t even want to try
They suit me fine, Can’t turn my love on a dime
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, BG Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Percussion.
Michael Frost : Drums

SUMMER SCHOOL OF BLUE
Written by Reid Jamieson

Wait for me on the swings in the park
Behind your house before it gets deathly cold outside.
I hear this winter is gonna be a bad one
I barely knew you in the last one
But I went to the summer school of blue.
I have grade four secrets to give to your ears
The prettiest sculptures of flesh
Have you heard that I think you’re cool?
You unspool me and rule my mood
Attendance was high at the summer school of blue.
Let me propose a Koolaid toast to marriage in twenty years.
Who was that sandy haired boy with the glossy teeth at your party?
He looked like your cousin, I hope he’s your cousin
Or this winter, this winter will be a very bad winter.
Wait for me in the emergency room.
Accidents happen, I wrongly assumed
I could jump from that high in the air.
And the leaves on the tree were yellow and red
And falling for you, I’m falling for you.
All my answers were right in the final exam
At the summer school of blue
The summer school of blue
The summer school
of you.
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, BG Vocals, Guitar, Bass.
John Sheard: Piano.

THE COMBINATION
Written by Reid Jamieson & Carolyn V. Mill

Mother Nature turn your eyes
The planet is in deep denial
Waiting for your loving arms to save the day again.
Mother Nature, flap your wings
Cause the tide to swallow villages
Whole and leave an empty space
Where the blood will feed the flowers.
Change the nature of the core
Change the nature at the heart of things.
Change the nature of the core
Change the nature at the heart of things.
Holy Father, where have you been?
Drowning in great pools of alcohol
Knee deep tears will bleach your fears
And leave the job for someone else.
Come on school boy, pull up your socks
The future’s heavy and padlocked
It’s stainless steel, the combination is lost.
Change the nature of the core
Change the nature at the heart of things.
Change the nature of the core
Change the nature at the heart of things.
The heart of things…
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, BG Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drums, Percussion.

STARING CONTEST
Written by Reid Jamieson

Oh I long for the touch of your hand in mine.
Oh I long for the touch of your hand in mine.
Yes I’ve been waiting for you.
Yes I can wait just a little longer.
Now that I’m facing the truth.
It’s a staring contest between your heart and mine…
I can move past things.
I can learn language that no one else will learn for you.
If there are secrets at all,
They will be small enough to evaporate
like tiny evening tears.
You open your baby eyes.
Watching the moon rise
From the window of our bedroom.
Another day with you.
It’s a staring contest, between your heart and mine.
It’s a staring contest, between your heart and mine.
Oh I long for the touch of your hand in mine.
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, BG Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Percussion.
Michael Frost: Percussion.

HARD TO SWALLOW
Written by Reid Jamieson & Carolyn V. Mill

Oh sunny day you came too late. Oh sunny day, you came too late.
We drilled a hole into the middle of the earth.
The blackness spilled out like a blossom, like a birth.
The message had to make it through the tangle first.
The lines went down. Our happiness is in the lost and found.
I know it’s hard to swallow. It’s for sure we won’t survive.
Oh sunny day, you came too late. Unhealthy love is on my plate.
I drilled a hole into the middle of my head.
I found a city with its citizens half dead.
The big exhaustion comes from all the big regret.
Hope breaks through the ground.
It looks around for clues, it listens for the sounds.
But the blossom, it dies.
My pride is hard to swallow, how does anything survive?
Oh sunny day, you came too late.
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, BG Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drums, Percussion.

MY GREEN THUMB
Written by Reid Jamieson

My green thumb, I hate to think of what I would become
Without your hands to guide me through the mud and rain
It’s a sorry, sorry sight.
I’ll plant a kiss upon the forehead of the girl
Whose mysteries unfold like blossoms on a day in spring
It’s a beauty, beauty sight.
You shovel hard, the golden rule and it sometimes smarts
To peel away the layers of my throbbing heart
It’s a gory, gory sight.
Let me be your garden gnome, I’ll clean your knees, I’ll clean our home
Anything to keep you turning, tilling soil, till we turn to dust.
Put on your gloves, and pull my weeds out with your gentle touch
I’ll use my seed to grow a song to save the world
Or at least make you stay mine.
My green thumb, I dare not think of what I would become
Without your love to guide me through the mud and rain
You’re a pretty, pretty sight. A compliment that fits just right
What are you doing for the rest of your life? My green thumb
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, Ukulele.

GERALD
Written by Reid Jamieson & Carolyn V. Mill

Carbon monoxide martini – are you shaken or stirred?
Licensed to kill in your Camaro, with the radio on, everybody’s heard…
Were you planning on opening that bottle?
Or keeping the lid on tighter than the lid
can be. The Salvation Army has your wardrobe.
You spend your good money on hash.
Working construction and destruction.
Under the table and paid in cash. Good to go
and the night was getting late.
Could’ve used your head, but instead you tempted fate.
And I’m not leaving out the part where maybe you have murdered.
Shake your weary head, and tell us why you did it.
Gerald you have let down, Gerald you have let down.
All the family wishes that girl was alive.
You have a son, I have a cousin.
And I know that he smokes and drinks
Making some small talk in a small town.
Throwing up in the legion’s bathroom sink.
Have you found somebody else to drive?
I raise a glass that the both of you survive.
And I’m not leaving out the part
where maybe you have murdered
Her eyes are closed for good.
Don’t tell us why you did it.
Gerald you have let down, Gerald you have let down.
All the family hates you’re the one who survived.
You should find another who could drive…
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, BG Vocals, Guitars, Bass.
John Sheard: Piano. Michael Frost: Drums.

BY YOUR SIDE
Lyrics Carolyn V. Mill, music Reid Jamieson

I hear that music again.
Must have come in through your window
This love somehow found its way in.
Asked it to leave but it won’t go
But if you decide this little verse can stay
I’ll play along and make it last all day.
When I see you again,
Songbirds fly into windows
The right words might find a way in
So I’ll tell you everything I know.
And if you can help me get the story right
I’ll sing that song and make it last all night.
And when you open up your eyes,
I’ll be by your side.
I heard that songbirds never die,
It’s true, I wouldn’t lie.
When I see you again
All my senses crowd to the windows.
Try, but I can’t hold it all in
You know it’s hard to hide how my love grows.
And if you will let this feeling come again,
I’ll write a song with you that never ends.
And when you open up your eyes, I’ll be by your side
I heard that songbirds never die, It’s true, I wouldn’t lie,
I couldn’t lie to you, Even if they do…
And when I see you again (I’ll be by your side)…
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Ukulele.
Samantha Parton: BG Vocals. John Sheard: Piano. Michael Frost: Drums.

PRETTY PICTURES
Written by Reid Jamieson

I’ve got pretty pictures of you, on the walls of my living room
You are watching me as I dance naked on the rug
We met at your favorite grocery store,
The one that closed its automatic doors
I got my foot stuck time and again, pushing past your cart
Can you spell my name? Do you know what it begins with?
I can spell your name, cause I checked your mail
While you were not home.
You have no reason to be afraid,
I’ve been clean since the Labour Day parade
I gave my film and camera to a homeless guy I know
But lock your door at night just the same,
in case I start sleepwalking again.
That dream is such a beauty,
the one where I have you in my arms.
Can you spell my name? Do you know what it begins with?
I can spell your name, cause I checked your mail
While you were not home.
That handsome man with the handsome car,
He came on Friday and took you somewhere
I have never been, your golden skin, your golden hair
And I’ve got pretty pictures of you, getting down with that man in a room
Where the patterns on the bed
Don’t match the wallpaper on the wall.
Can you spell my name? Do you know what it begins with?
I can spell your name, cause I checked your mail while you were not home…
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, BG Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Percussion.
Michael Frost: Drums.

UNDER THE BED
Written by Reid Jamieson & Carolyn V. Mill

Afraid to turn the light out
And race across the floor
For fear of what’s been hiding
Hidden waiting, under the bed
It’s here we place possessions
Shoeboxes filled with fear
Words from the past are waiting
To be thrown out,
under the bed,
under the bed
And then
we moved ourselves
Across the room
Exposing feelings long ignored
A world so new to me,
still unexplored
We fall asleep on our past
And dream of days to come
The weight of all these memories
Pressing down
and under the bed…
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, Guitar.

DON’T FORGET
Written by Reid Jamieson

You know how much it’s gonna hurt,
‘til that needle is inserted in your vein again.
You try to pretend there is no pain.
But I see it in the stains under your fingernails.
Hold on tight, keep looking for an answer.
Hold on tight, remember younger days,
when dreams were something you could say you had.
Don’t forget because the world forgot you.
When night falls is the newspaper your bed?
Does it have you seeing red what the
people with money complain about?
You’re drunk on a can of aerosol. And your
tales are getting taller than the will to make it work.
Hold on tight, keep looking for an
answer. Hold on tight, remember younger days when dreams were something you
could say you had.
Don’t forget because the world forgot you.
You spoil yourself while
asleep, with sweet precious dreams,
held in the arms of your mother.
It’s gone the fire
in your eyes.
The face you recognize is just another sad memory.
Hold on tight, keep looking for an answer.
Hold on tight, remember younger days.
Hold on tight, keep looking for an answer.
Hold on tight, remember younger days,
when dreams were something you could say you had.
Don’t forget because the world forgot you.
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, Guitars, Organ, Harmonica.
Harmony Trowbridge: BG Vocals. Michael Frost: Drums.

LOVE WORTH MAKING
Written by Reid Jamieson

Explode, Into a billion pieces we will
One day, You and I will not be here
Love, Is the only thing worth making
Oh this wondrous life
Oh this wondrous life
Oh this precious life
I, I will fight your pain away
Try, Make the romance always stay
Oh this wondrous life
Oh this wondrous life
Oh this precious life
Oh this wondrous life (take my heart forever)
Oh this precious life (take my heart forever)
Oh this wondrous life (take my heart forever)
Oh this precious life (take my heart forever)
Oh this wondrous life (take my heart forever)
Oh this precious life
Love, Is the only thing worth making
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, BG Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Drums, Percussion.
Michael Frost: Drums, Percussion.

GUARANTEE
Written by Reid Jamieson

People like to say
they have somewhere to go
People like to feel they are needed
People like to do what they can to ease the pain
Have you become a person like me?
In the first year of our life
We learn to use our eyes
Following the smiles of the giants
In the last years of our life
We learn we are afraid to die
But are you afraid to live like me?
Are you afraid to live like me?
Are you afraid of the changes
That are racing through your body?
Pushing you towards the end of all you know
Are you afraid to be alone
And left with no one there to hold you
And tell you that it’s ok to go…
People like to stay in one place for a while
Change may be the hardest thing to do
Would you like a guarantee
That I will never leave your side?
Cause I would like that guarantee from you
Yes I would like that guarantee from you
Oh yeah, I would like that guarantee from you…
*
Reid Jamieson: Vocals, Guitar.
Anne Lindsay: Violin. Michael Frost: Percussion.

REVIEWS

No Depression Doug Heselgrave May 2021

I’ve been completely sideswiped by Reid Jamieson and the songs on his new record and I’m trying to figure out why.  I’m pretty crusty when it comes to music and songs that are sung as beautifully as he sings them are often enough to send me running in the opposite direction.  But, I keep coming back to listen again to the Vancouver native’s third album and frankly, it sounds better every time I hear it.  Whether it’s the John Lennon songwriting contest winner, ‘Rail’ that proves there’s always room for another train song, ‘By Your Side’ with supporting vocals from Sam Parton of ‘The Be Good Tanyas’ or ‘Staring Contest’, the gorgeous title track, Jamieson puts heart and soul into everything he sings and sounds completely natural and effortless as he does it.  Easy comparisons include Harry Nilsson, Roy Orbison without the vibrato, and a young Elvis Presley, but – not surprisingly -each of these fails to capture what’s so unique and compelling about Jamieson’s music.  Fans of CBC’s Vinyl Café radio show (a kind of Canadian Prairie Home Companion) are already familiar with his easy songs and warm delivery, and he’s become a favourite in the Canadian heartland. But, a record as good as ‘Staring Contest’ shouldn’t be held back by radio frequencies, regional borders or time zones.  Its simple songs are endearing and unforgettable and should expand his audience to a size that reflects his undeniable talent.  ‘Staring Contest’ is an unexpected pleasure.
==

Exclaim Magazine Kerry Doole Aug 31, 2010

Formerly a popular member of Toronto, ON’s music community, Jamieson now calls Vancouver, BC home. He has undeservedly flown a little under the industry radar, but has earned fans across the country as a regular participant in Vinyl Café tours. His strengths as a writer and a honey-voiced singer are encapsulated nicely on this, his third full-length album. Less is more is Jamieson’s mantra, and most of the tracks feature him playing solo (on a number of instruments, including ukulele) or with a single accompanist. Violinist Anne Lindsay, pianist John Sheard and backing singers Harmony Trowbridge and Samantha Parton (Be Good Tanyas) make tasteful contributions, with producer Michael Frost often doubling on drums. There’s never a trace of irony in Jamieson’s openhearted songs (many co-written with partner Carolyn V. Mill) and voice. Numbers like “By Your Side” and the title track (“it’s a staring contest between your heart and mine”) flirt with, but never succumb to, sentimentality, while darker terrain is explored on the jaunty “Gerald” and “Don’t Forget.” This is a charming effort. (Independent)
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Vancouver Province Tom Harrison Sep 09, 2010

Jamieson’s third LP reverts to singer-writer mode after previously issuing a selection of Elvis Presley songs. So, you expect him to be a good singer, which he is, but his voice is sweeter and lighter while his own songs tend to be quietly reflective. The album as a whole is intimate, even sad in the case of “Don’t Forget.” Jamieson plays most of the instruments himself but the arrangements tend to be sparse and are sparingly built around his voice and acoustic guitar. He favours a laid back folk style that makes you wish for more of the uptempo energy of “Pretty Pictures,” which might have been appropriate as the opening track as opposed to the 10th. As it is, the album starts with the pushy “Rail” and that likewise is an effective introduction.
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	2010CD	Staring ContestReid Jamieson – RAJ006
	2011CD	Staring Contest [Remastered]CD Baby / Reid Jamieson – 5637867591

SYNC/RADIO DOWNLOAD via DISCO https://s.disco.ac/beehgcizkxbj