FIGURE IT OUT — Shavon Bonnie Legion × Brian / Improv Guitar Jams
A blues guitar improvisation becomes an original song about the noise we live inside—and the quiet kindness that cuts through it.
I’m a regular listener to Brian’s Improv Guitar Jams channel. His blues pieces always catch my ear, taking me back to high school blues circles, where we would make up verses over a groove while the musicians played.
This song began with one of his improvisations. I asked Brian if I could build something around it, and with his permission, I wrote and recorded the lyrics and vocals, adding three layers of harmony to create a full vocal sound over his electric guitar.
My husband, Brian Grass, then added bass guitar and an additional drum layer, shaping the final mix with EQ and compression. I mastered the track through BandLab.
The lyrics move through consumer culture, division, surveillance, and the business of belief before finding something worth holding onto: a simple act of generosity, done without a camera or an audience.
Please visit Brian’s channel and explore his electric guitar improvisations. His playing sparked this collaboration, and there’s plenty more to discover:
https://www.youtube.com/@ImprovGuitarJams
CREDITS
Original electric guitar improvisation: Brian — Improv Guitar Jams
Lyrics, lead vocals, and layered harmonies: Shavon Bonnie Legion
Bass guitar, additional drum layer, EQ, compression, and final mix: Brian Grass
Mastering: Shavon Bonnie Legion through BandLab
Video creation and editing: Shavon Bonnie Legion
Visuals combine artist performance footage with AI-generated imagery and a neon pop-art color treatment.
LYRICS
Sittin’ on the side, watchin’ on the street
My tiny little mind going beep beep beep
Folly’s got a gun, see him on the beat
Birdies on the phone going tweet tweet tweet
I am not my mother, I am not my dad
Everything behind me got me so damn sad
Tell me ’bout the structure, tell me how to live
How many dollars to a rich man give
Figure it out
We gotta figure it out
When we gonna figure it out?
Figure it out
Smiling at the screen, grinding up my teeth
Pretty little pictures of a life for lease
Everybody selling, everybody sold
Tell me what to fear before the story’s ever told
Preacher’s on the screen talking ’bout the poor
Gold around his wrist while he’s asking for more
Heaven’s got a password, someone’s got the key
Funny how salvation needs a monthly fee
Go on, figure it out
When we gonna figure it out?
Figure it out
Cameras on the corner, cameras at the till
Everybody watching, nobody standing still
Sign another paper, can I see your face?
How’d we get so lonely in a crowded place?
Everybody shouting, nothing getting through
We all got the enemies to pin it to
Brother hate brother, red hate blue
The man with the microphone owns the two
Go on and figure it out
Figure it out
When we gonna figure it out?
Figure it out
Sitting on the side, watching on the street
A man sets a coffee by a man asleep
Doesn’t take a picture, doesn’t leave a name
And for a little moment, I believe again
I think he figured it out.