Art by Ryan Wilson
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Chapter 7 will hopefully be done by the end of August. (Hopefully!)
Part 2 of the Secret Music of Yesteryear!
I started messing around with a 4 track when I was 19 or so (a Yamaha MT1X). I probably used it for 10 years and even though I’m pretty useless with mechanical/electrical/real items, I got to where I could fix it when it broke – replace the bands and fix the gears or troubleshoot whatever.
After the Yamaha, I got a Roland VS-840 because I had started to write a very important musical that demanded new equipment. The musical, by the way, is called “The Pardon of Eden” and it’s about an island full of monks and nuns who are told that everyone on earth has perished in some apocalypse – and they have to decide whether to continue the human race, or stay true to their vows. Maybe I’ll post some of those songs in a later post, but it’s pretty embarassing. Eek.
Anyway, here are some more songs, recorded on the Roland, from 2002-2004.
Everything Has Got to Go!
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Bombs Away
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Everything That I Do
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On Your Own
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Old Music, Part 1
I wanted to put some music at the end of the The Unreliable News video, and I had just stumbled on a folder of old songs, so I put one in, kind of at random (Noonday Sun, which is the first song below). A couple people have asked about this older music and I thought I’d post some of it.
These songs were done probably around 2003 on my digital 8 track. All of them were recorded just behind the glass of the upper window of the pictured green house (in Rumney, NH). I don’t think they’ve ever been heard by human ears. Which, in my mind, makes them the audio equivalent of copper ingots from the Franklin Mint.
Noonday Sun
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UFO to Me
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Roof Breaks
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My Job My Heart
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Chapter 4: Meadowlark
“In which Kittery Embers wakes in the trembling dark, and soon finds herself delivered to a distressing new home.”
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As always, artists are welcome to submit drawings, sketches, paintings and watercolors. Such works would be placed on the website and in the final book when published. Please feel free to send any such work to Sherwin at “sleeves@radioghost.com”.
Also, any musicians or bands that want to try their hands at writing a song, please feel free to contact me.
Chapter 5 will hopefully be released on June 29th.
I guess I never put this up…but here’s the Special Delivery song for Sam & Dave:
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Here’s the Special Delivery website.
Chapter 4 of Kittery Embers will be posted tonight or tomorrow (I just have to finish up the second song).
In the meantime, here’s “Butterfly with a Bloodshot Eye”, one of the new songs for Chapter 4:
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Lyrics:
I take your heart, it’s a butterfly
Too fragile for the wind or sky
And away we go
Your suitcase packed, all the birds take flight
Goodnight moon and goodnight night
And away we go
You’re a butterfly with a bloodshot eye
With a rainbow needle you sew the sky
And shoot into Neverland
Now shoot into Neverland
If you want to fly free like a cut loose kite
Trip along alone till you trip the light
Sam is now our new ambient artist in residence.
He’s been asking me to bring my “piano” downstairs so last week I hooked up my little midi keyboard and Sam’s being really digging it. Today, while I was washing dishes, I heard him settle on this one sound and a little simple pattern of two or three keys played in slow alternation. So I snuck over and hit record on Fruity Loops.
He said he thought it sounded like two robots fixing each other. So Sam’s first song is called “Two Robots Fixing Each Other”:
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Afterwards, he did a little drawing of himself and the keyboard (while eating yogurt):
Sam and I hike up Welch Mountain every week or so during the summer. It’s just a couple miles down the road to the trailhead. We have lunch and sit on the ledge. Every time we go, Sam walks a bit more of it himself and then when I get him in the backpack he often falls asleep.
The opening wood cut of Welch Mountain was done by Herb Waters, who lived about a mile from Welch. I did a story on Herb for NHPR a little while back.
The music is just simple improv’d piano. On the previous couple videos I did with Sam (Sam Sleds and the Missing Yaktrax) some people thought the music was a little too sad sounding. It’s not sad on purpose and I think it’s more in tune with the idea of how transitory everything is.
The video was shot with a Creative Vado.
Somebody isn’t very good sync’ing audio with video. I’ll say no more.
The Smoke Song Lyrics:
There’s smoke in the forest
Where the forest ought to be
I ought to climb down this old burning tree
But I’m looking out the ocean
Looking out to sea
But there’s smoke in the water
where my boat used to be
Boat used to be
Boat used to be
Now sent my love a letter
said won’t you marry me
But she burned the letter up now the smoke is all I see
Always love my true love
But she don’t love me
Cause there’s smoke in her heart
In the place I ought to be
I ought to be
I ought to be
In the forest flows a river
Where the forest won’t grow
And the cloudy smoke above is the river burned below
Some will go to heaven
Some straight in the ground
Me, I choose the fire
So my smoke can walk around
Can walk around
Can walk around
If she ever find this forest
and climbs up in my tree
Sees smoke rising up from the forest and the sea
Maybe I’m the smoke from the boat or the tree
But the smoke in her heart
Is the smoke I want to be
I want to be
I want to be
There’s smoke in the forest
Where the forest ought to be
I ought to climb down this old burning tree
But I’m looking out the ocean
Looking out to sea
But there’s smoke in the water
where my boat used to be
Boat used to be
Boat used to be
This is another one I came up with while driving around. The melody feels really familiar and old timey. I don’t know if it’s some standard melody or what. Usually I don’t feel like what I’m singing is anything I’ve heard before, but this time it did.
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Lyrics:
There’s smoke in the forest
Where the forest ought to be
I ought to climb down this old burning tree
But I’m looking out the ocean
Looking out to sea
But there’s smoke in the water
where my boat used to be
Boat used to be
Boat used to be
Now sent my love a letter
said won’t you marry me
But she burned the letter up now the smoke is all I see
Always love my true love
But she don’t love me
Cause there’s smoke in her heart
In the place I ought to be
I ought to be
I ought to be
In the forest flows a river
Where the forest won’t grow
And the cloudy smoke above is the river burned below
Some will go to heaven
Some straight in the ground
Me, I choose the fire
So my smoke can walk around
Can walk around
Can walk around
If she ever find this forest
and climbs up in my tree
Sees smoke rising up from the forest and the sea
Maybe I’m the smoke from the boat or the tree
But the smoke in her heart
Is the smoke I want to be
I want to be
I want to be
There’s smoke in the forest
Where the forest ought to be
I ought to climb down this old burning tree
But I’m looking out the ocean
Looking out to sea
But there’s smoke in the water
where my boat used to be
Boat used to be
Boat used to be
Here’s how it started, while driving in the car:
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Lady_Trucker 09.02.10
Eric 09.01.10
drinker cope 08.30.10
Jason Chancey 08.28.10
Adam Orr 08.28.10
Ed Grant 08.24.10Ed Grant 08.24.10
Chris Berez 08.22.10drinker cope 08.18.10
doodlesincolor 08.17.10
