“Put It Away” – Official Release

Well friends – it’s a bittersweet song release, as I always knew it would be. I wrote this song, “Put It Away” with my dear, late friend, Bob Bishop.

Bob was one of the first people in Nashville to truly “get” the kind of music that I’m making, after he saw me perform at a songwriter showcase at the Commodore Grille. Bob performed there often as well, playing the piano 3 times a week in the hotel lobby.

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Shortly afterward we met again at The Row (the restaurant where I was bartending), and became friends. Over the next year and a half, we spent lots of time together talking music, eating Mexican food, exchanging stupid jokes, and writing two songs, one of which is this one.

We liked the concept of this song – a girl, lonely at a bar, spending time looking through her phone and wishing her life was different. A man, perhaps the bartender, realizing what was going on and the pain she’d been through, and asking her simply to put her phone away and realize there’s more to life – that there are better things to come.

Sadly, about a year after I met Bob, he started developing motor-skill impairment, affecting his ability to tie his tie or button his shirts. He soldiered on, however, continuing to play the piano in Nashville and up in his hometown of Peoria, IL, but as his condition worsened he finally received very difficult news – he had ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), of which he eventually passed away in the in the fall of 2017.

I miss Bob. Miss his smile and his laughter, and his enthusiasm for music and the subtle art of songwriting.

I hope this song inspires you to do two things.

Firstly, while our phones are integral to our lives these days, remember that what you see online are the best-selves that people put forward, and not the real entirety of what it is to be human. Remind yourself that comparison is the thief of joy. Call a friend, tell those you love how you feel, and enjoy looking at the real life that is all around you, rather than “dying inside, watching other people’s lives through the window of your phone.”

Secondly, consider donating to your local ALS non-profit. The disease still has no known cure, and the toll that it takes on the lives of those who battle with it, and their loved ones who care for them, is devastating.

I hope that this song resonates, and I’m honored to have written it with Bob Bishop, one of Nashville’s finest, and certainly one of the sweetest human beings I’ve ever know.

~ Cecil

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Thank you all, so incredibly much – this year has been an amazing journey and I can’t wait to share next month’s song with you!

“Put It Away,” by Cecil Charles and Bob Bishop

VERSE 1
Girl, I been looking at you, looking down,
wondering what’s up – who you been hanging ‘round?

and I know there’s someone bad out there who broke your heart.
Maybe this bar ain’t the place to make a new start.

PRE CHORUS
So if you ever feel like you’re dancing alone
when you’re dying inside watching other people’s lives
through the window of your phone

CHORUS
you put it away and come my way honey
put it away and come my way honey
won’t you put it away

VERSE 2

Well, I know it ain’t my business but I saw your tracks –
anyone can get addicted to looking back

and although it’d be a lie to say I know you well
we all could use a friend when we are walking through hell

PRECHORUS
CHORUS

BRIDGE
we won’t talk about forever
no that won’t be right
but we can start to make it better
tonight

VERSE 3
girl your phone ain’t gonna hold you when the night goes black
you can answer it but it won’t answer you back.
Lift your eyes up honey and see what’s at stake
instead of breaking it I’m giving your heart a break

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