Buscando (Searching) was one of those songs that sat half finished (in my mental “clipboard” as I like to think of it) for many months and suddenly came together in an instant. I had been listening to a lot of Pedro Luis Ferrer and really wanted to write something with a lilting, uplifting tres line. I worked out the figure and general chord structure and played around with it for a long time looking for an indication of where the lyrics to the song would go. Then one day I left my apartment to go to the pharmacy a block away. It wasn’t a cold day but the wind was very blustery so I pulled the hood of my jacket up over my head, kind of looking down at the pavement as I made my way over to First Avenue. Watching the sidewalk pass under my feet made me feel like I was looking for something, looking for my song or at least a little piece of rhyme to get it started. By the time I got back home from Walgreens the lyrics were done and I recorded a rough version of the song on the spot.  -AFF

Se me perdio un pedazo de poesia
Por falta de atencion
En la traquimaña de la vida 

Sali pateando por las calles de Nueva York
Mirando al piso
Y no aparecio 

De alto Manhattan a la Batería
De rio a rio, Brooklyn y el Bronx 

Jure encontrarlo aunque me cueste la vida
Mi poesia, mi poesia perdida 

Y si me paso la vida buscando,
Que tu pensarias, que tu me dirias?

Y si me paso la vida buscando,
Y que? Y que? Entonces que? 

Y si me paso la vida buscando,
Buscando la rima que se perdio 

Y si me paso la vida buscando,
Tiene que estar aqui donde yo naci 

Y si me paso la vida buscando,
O no no no, seguire registrando 

Y si me paso la vida buscando,
Buscandolo, que escanadalo 

Y si me paso la vida buscando,
Un verso perdido es peor que un amor impossible 

Buscando

---

I lost a piece of poetry
Because I wasn't paying attention
To the machinations of life

I went out walking the streets of New York
Looking down at the ground
But it didn't turn up

From upper Manhattan to the Battery,
from river to river, Brooklyn and the Bronx
Day after day

I swore I'd find it
Or die trying
My poetry, my lost poetry

And if I spend my life searching,
what would you think, what would you say?

And if I spend my life searching,
And what? And then what?

And if I spend my life searching,
Searching for that lost rhyme

And if I spend my life searching,
It's got to be here somewhere,
here where I was born

And if I spend my life searching,
Oh no, no, no, I'll just keep on looking

And if I spend my life searching,
Searching for a rhyme, what a scandal

And if I spend my life searching,
A lost verse is worse than a star-crossed love

Searching