Song Premiere: Jonny Two Bags, “The Way It Goes”

The Song: “The Way It Goes,” from Salvation Town, out April 1.
The Artist: Jonny Two Bags, guitarist for the legendary punk band Social Distortion.
Sounds Like: A set of melancholic vignettes set to bright, sunny California rock.
Songwriter Says: “Funny thing about this song is that it’s actually an idea I’d been kicking around for a long time.  I was fond of the hook but wasn’t really sure what I was trying to say… which means I really wasn’t saying anything!  I had a verse that didn’t make much sense, yet it kind of created a bit of a visual, a tag line that could’ve meant anything,  and that was it.  Musically everything was in place and all that was left was for me to find the story.  One morning on the road I woke up at dawn with the second verse in my head, then the last verse followed.  It’s still pretty much a situation in the abstract that describes something pretty bad that happened between a couple people.  That’s what I love about writing songs . . . you never really can tell what will turn out, and rarely can you control it.  The songs on the record that I feel best about I had nothing to do with. They seem to come out of thin air and go where they want to go.  Most are autobiographical, this one is not.  People can use their own imagination to decide what it means. I think it’s a good addition to a group of songs that are more literal.”