Better Days by John O'Brien

My Best Songs Recorded Before 2015
Short description of the songs on “My Revelation – Remastered”
Not Enough - I was wandering through a flea market in Jamaica when I came across three Jamaican musicians with acoustic guitars drinking rum and laughing a lot. They were complaining about Americans that never seem to have enough and always want more. I began writing this song then and finished it when I got back to my hotel. It’s one of my favorite songs.
Give Up Trying - I was in a relationship with a woman who was wonderful to be with, but every once in a while, would say something really demeaning and critical to me. The emotion I always had when that happened was that I wanted to walk away, but she was so damn nice all of the rest of the time and my internal conflict was intense. I wrote this song about her.
I Miss You - I think this song’s emotions are familiar to many people who after a long time in a relationship find that the intense romance has somehow gotten away from both of them. It causes heart ache and a desire to go back to the days when the emotion would rise up and the feeling of love becomes overwhelming and intense. This song is about wanting back.
Summer Sun - I lived in the world-famous Hamptons on the East End of Long Island for about 10 years. It was startling how in the summer it became an international vacation spot with people from all over the world and rich culture was there for the experience. Then, a week after Labor Day weekend we were just in a lonely little beach community – all of us locals. The song is about those feelings of abandonment.
Innocence - I wrote this song because I wanted to say what all those people out for a night on the town seeking a rendezvous and a sexual experience would say to each other if they were telling the truth.
Where Are You Now - In going through a divorce I began to question myself and the feelings that my own children had for me. The song is about the uncertainty of not knowing what your future holds with your children and how much you absolutely love them.
Better Days - Everyone has had times in their life when everything seems to be falling in place and going well, but that haunting feeling that things could still go wrong hovers over your head.
Oklahoma Cowboy - This is about a true story. I was in Austin Texas and decided that I wanted to hear some real Western music so I took a cab about 40 miles into West Texas and was listening to a fabulous real Western (not country) act. All of a sudden, the place filled up with rowdy cowboys because the rodeo had been in town and all of the athletes were out to start drinking. A young man from Oklahoma who was in the rodeo and was the champion that night sat next to me and in a very somber manner told me the story about missing his girlfriend and not fitting in in Texas. It was heart rendering. This song is about that young man and his feelings.
Rock In The Sun - Everyone has their times when they just need to throw their hands up and walk away from everything and just sit and contemplate what’s going on inside of themselves and in their lives. I was feeling like that and I was on a hotel balcony looking around and saw a large white rock in the middle of a field. I went down an elevator and sat on that rock and thought about myself and my future and that brought this song into my mind and I wrote it.
Hey Sweet - I lived with a woman who I ended up having an on-again off-again relationship with for about 10 years. After living with her for several years, I moved from upstate New York down to Long Island and lived on the beach there. After a while she came and joined me, but it was not going to work out-we had grown apart.