SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
NPR's Tiny Desk Contest has had a good number of submissions this year, all hoping for a chance at Tiny Desk fame. Here's one of them.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOT NO MORE TEARS LEFT TO CRY")
SAL GELOSO: (Singing) I got no more tears left to cry. Ain't nobody's fool but my own.
SIMON: Sal Geloso was the creative force behind Sally Baby's Silver Dollars. Singing, writing and playing guitar, the band is thoroughly New Orleans. But Geloso told us that he came up with this song in New York City. He was there during the pandemic, visiting family and performing to small crowds.
GELOSO: And so I was just kind of scribing away in my book, and I really wrote the lyrics then because I was feeling a little bit down and just thinking just about the overall sentiment of the times. It wouldn't be till later in 2022 that I would write the music and kind of put the lyrics with the chords.
SIMON: The result - "I Got No More Tears Left To Cry," and it sounds like a New Orleans classic.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOT NO MORE TEARS LEFT TO CRY")
GELOSO: (Singing) I got no more tears left to cry.
I had some lover issues at the time and feeling kind of regretful about things. But also, I keep tripping myself up, allowing myself to go through these losses or, you know, be frustrated at things, and I kept hearing that line. Like, I have no more tears left to cry. Ain't nobody's fool but my own, and then I had to, like, it felt like it was, like, is this a song? Like, this just seems like this is something that is just kind of eternal.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOT NO MORE TEARS LEFT TO CRY")
GELOSO: (Singing) Oh, Minotaur waits behind this open door.
You know, I'm a cryer. I love to cry. I feel like it's good. You've got to let it out one way or another. But I kind of wanted to put it on me instead of other people because, you know, we've all got the power to dig ourselves out of whatever bad situation it - may befall on us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOT NO MORE TEARS LEFT TO CRY")
GELOSO: (Singing) His legs wrapped around a hollow life.
SIMON: Sal Geloso has lived in New Orleans for 16 years and knows the city's music has influenced his own sound.
GELOSO: Having the horns and piano, it lays, like, such a - almost like a bed of roses for you to just kind of wail and sing over. This song is definitely inspired by a lot of '50s and '60s New Orleans rhythm and blues. That melody, that horn line - it was etched into my head, so I was like, I've got to write something that is kind of just reminiscent of these old tunes. And, you know, they all deal with heartbreak and tears on my pillow and pining over a lover.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOT NO MORE TEARS LEFT TO CRY")
GELOSO: (Singing) Oh, you left me hanging on.
SIMON: Now, when it came time to film his Tiny Desk Contest submission, Sal Geloso decided to play this song on the sidewalk right in front of his house.
GELOSO: And I didn't realize that we were, like, potentially disqualifying ourselves for the competition 'cause I forgot to read in the fine print there that you can't have any bystanders here, but we - I swear to you, we did not plan that at all. Literally, 'cause it's New Orleans, you know, you literally step outside and start getting something together, and then everybody starts popping out of their house. So, literally, everybody came out of their house. And all of a sudden, before I knew it, it was literally we had a block party going on (laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOT NO MORE TEARS LEFT TO CRY")
GELOSO: Ooh, I've got no more tears left to cry. Cry.
People get chosen by New Orleans. I feel like, you know, this city has a way of just expelling people, destroy your life, sometimes, or it will bless you (laughter). So I feel grateful to be one of the people that have gotten blessed even through the hardships that this place can impose upon some. I feel like I've been lucky to really come into my own here and be able to play this incredible New Orleans music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOT NO MORE TEARS LEFT TO CRY")
GELOSO: (Singing) Ain't nobody's fool but my own. Ooh, and I can't be a clown no more and wonder why. Oh, I got no more tears left to cry.
SIMON: Sal Geloso and the band Sally Baby's Silver Dollars. Their Tiny Desk Contest submission is called "I Got No More Tears Left To Cry."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOT NO MORE TEARS LEFT TO CRY")
GELOSO: (Singing) Behind this open door. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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