coastal alt/indie rock

​​Field Notes​​

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“Deep Down” is one of my darker songs, and intentionally so. In life, I think of myself as an optimist, but I’ve always been drawn to darkness in music, film, and art. I love Nick Cave. I love New Orleans. I love Día de los Muertos. I love the 1st season of "True Detective" and all of David Lynch's catelog. I love Nirvana and Metallica. I love Tiki art.

 

I think everyone has darkness in them, so why wouldn’t I explore that in song?

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Without darkness, there is no light.

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At the surface, the lyric is simple: “I’ve got a place where everything goes deep down.”

 

So does everyone... But the song keeps descending.

 

It starts with a hidden place, a place I go to hide, a place no one knows or finds. Then it turns into a warning: “I’ve got a place you don’t want me to take you.”

 

From there, each verse gets darker — into pain, self-hatred, dirt, and eventually a place so deep that no one can save me.

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In the context of the album, I think of “Deep Down” as a balance point. Albums may not matter the way they used to, but I still think in albums. This song sits at the opposite end from something like “Smiling at Strangers.” That one reaches toward light and connection. This one goes underground.

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I wrote it in the mountains of Carmel Valley, because that's where it belongs. I live between city, ocean, forest, and desert and each location impacts my songwriting. My mountain songs tend to be rawer; my voice drops; guitar parts become simpler.

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Musically, I think it has a New Orleans vibe — swampy, dirty, low, and dark. It has resonator guitar, ambient electric guitars, rain stick texture, and an electric fretless bass that I used for the low, raspy, dirty low-end.

 

It’s a get-down, get-low song about life, love, self-hatred, and the hidden places inside us.​​​​​

And it makes me happy...

Lyrics

 

VERSE 1:

i’ve got a place where everything goes (DEEP DOWN)

i’ve got a place that no one knows (DEEP DOWN)

i’ve got a place i go to hide (DEEP DOWN)

i’ve got a place that no one finds (DEEP DOWN)

i got a place you don’t want me to take you (DEEP DOWN)

 

VERSE 2:

i’m in a place where everything’s stark (DEEP DOWN)

i’m in a place where i go dark (DEEP DOWN) 

i need a place where i can’t hurt (DEEP DOWN)

i need a place down in the dirt (DEEP DOWN)

i got a place you don’t want me to take you (DEEP DOWN)

i got a place you don’t want me to take you (DEEP DOWN)

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VERSE 3:

i’m down so deep that no one can save me (DEEP DOWN)

i’m in a place you don’t want me to take you (DEEP DOWN)

it’s a place that god will forsake you (DEEP DOWN)

i’ve fallen so far that no one can save me (DEEP DOWN)

 

(DEEP DOWN)

Details

• key: Dm

• tempo: 118

• time: 4/4

• year: 2025

• location(s): Carmel Valley, California

• mood: dark, loathing, Americana 

• theme: self-hatred

• instruments: resonator guitar, electric guitar, fretless bass, rainstick

• recording status: released

• registered: ℗ 2025, glenn cash hughes

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Related Songs

• by place: You're There was also written in the Santa Lucia Mountains

• by mood: Everybody Wins opens with a swampy guitar part

• by theme: