Pretty little weapon of mass distraction
The explosive truth about the Birds and Bees
Capo Chords in D (pdf) Chords in F (pdf) Lyrics (pdf)
Heart-broke grin on the face of my lover
“30 weeks left if you wanna run for cover”
We must have pulled the pin one Saturday night
But how can something so small wreck your whole life?
Nothing ever stays the same
Didn't know how much you'd change me
You're the best mistake I ever made
My sweet baby hand grenade
Sweet baby hand grenade
Sweet baby hand grenade
Look at all of the mess you made
My sweet baby hand grenade
My best friend said his wife is six months gone
Now her biological clock (tick tock!) - tickin' like a time bomb
She's calling last orders at the milky bar
Now it's time to show the world what kind of man you are
Nothing ever stays the same
You've no idea how much they'll change you
But the best mistake I ever made
Was my sweet baby hand grenade
Sweet baby hand grenade
Sweet baby hand grenade
Look at all the mess I made
With my sweet baby hand grenade
Pretty little weapon of mass distraction
So cute I can't resist this tiny terrorist
Though we got no guarantees and no instructions
There's nothing I would trade for my sweet baby hand grenade
Sweet baby hand grenade
Sweet baby hand grenade
Look at all of the mess you made
My sweet baby
Sweet baby hand grenade
You make me smile like an unexpected key change
Look at all of the mess we made
My sweet baby hand grenade
I wrote this song in 2013 and it instantly became one of my most popular songs, but that just made it harder to capturing on tape (well digital tape... OK ones and zeroes). Usually recording something tells you if it's any good but the warm live response created self imposed pressure to make the recording outstanding. As you can hear I finally managed to shake that off and produce this very ordinary demo.
The initial inspiration was the birth of my eldest daughter. She was sleeping when we first brought her home and as she snoozed in her car seat on the floor in front our sofa my wife and I stared at her in shock. What do we do NOW? The next few years turned our lives upside down. Three more children followed, each with their own challenges, but nothing matched that initial terror of having a little human invade your life. A few years later I overheard a guitarist in a local band say his partner was expecting their first child but he “wasn't going to let that change anything.” I laughed like the veteran on his fourth tour of 'Nam, listening to the bravado of a raw recruit.
A few years after that I heard Chris Robley of the CD Baby DIY Musicians Podcast had his first child. I said having a baby is like someone taking a hand grenade and throwing it into the middle of your life (in a good way). And then suddenly 'songwriting magic' and here we are. Musically I was thinking Elvis Costello goes a little country.