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Urbanamoria-
Found Songs- More to come
From Jerry Lemmon, an old friend of my father’s, I got a request for a song about the sea… Here is a strange version of a song of mine I never seem to finish called “The Rest”… The gurgling sounds are field recordings of the Wave Organ in San Francisco Bay. I have once again been told the lyrics are nearly indecipherable (I recorded the voice and guitar on an old shoebox tapedeck, then recorded that machine’s playback in the shower as an echo chamber)- At least I’m having fun here… The lyrics are as follows:
“When I was young” he said
“we were giants in the earth back then.
There were still fish, there were still girls.
Now the fish are gone and the girls are women.”
“We could put in at any port from Alaska to Mexico,
and there was nowhere that wasn’t strange-
Now the world’s the same everywhere you go”
When I get back on dry land I’ll never dry out again
“I haven’t seen the old man standing on the waves for awhile
but the last time that I did I swear to god he as he sank he smiled”
“We were told, we were warned- We could see how things were going but you don’t know that you’re starving ’till all your ribs are showing”
When I get back on dry land I’ll never dry out again
He leaned on the rail, shook his head and gazed across the green expanse to the west
“Turn around, head for shore, the Japanese can have the rest”
When I get back on dry land I’ll never dry out again
From Andrew Simmons comes the prescription “a song about sleep with voice and electric bass”.
From Kira Lynn Cain comes “a song of seduction to a snake, without the word snake. with samples of birds upright bass, electric hollowbody (baritone if possible) NO acoustic guitar, NO chords with greater than four pitches stacked, shakers, girl choir, bass clarinet, trombone” Maybe someday I will add the horns, but here is everything else. I got the bird sounds from a field recording I did in Austin, Texas. The female vocals are Noelle Cahill.
Here are the lyrics, as they are a little difficult to understand:
slide over here, slide over here (don’t make a sound)
I’ve struck at your head, you’ve struck at my heel, now it’s time (to lay down)
in the leaves and in the dust, in the leaves and dust (of nations)
we will undo history’s gown and bury (generations)
Chorus:
for a thousand years, for a thousand years
I’ve wandered this crooked earth
with the sweat from my face and the blood from my hands
soaking the ground from birth
I can see you and me (together)
eden in flames, desire (untethered)
Chorus
This “Found Song” comes by way of Chelsea Wolfe. If she had written herself into the prescription, I would have had her sing it with me…
Here is what she gave me to work with:
“A song about the sea, recorded with piano and voice, with cigarette smoke, breathing and creaking of piano bench present in the recording.”
I did everything, including faking the french horn with my mouth, Bobby McFerrin style.
This “Found Song” post comes from Ruebi Lynn. Here is her song prescription:
“a song about forgiveness with a slightly out of tune mountain dulcimer, jingle bells and an accordion set half inside of the giant camera obscura and half outside in the muddy water of the sutro baths where the seagulls scavenge and the whales pass by with huge indifference. oh, and a choir of lip syncers.”
This was one of the first prescriptions I received. I drove out to ocean beach and wrote it with my dulcimer in the car, then strolled on the beach with my accordion playing the air and scaring the birds.
I played strummed and bowed dulcimer, accordion and jingle bells. Noelle Cahill provided the underwater choir.
Here is a version of Silent Night I recorded for my mother this year for Christmas at the suggestion of an old friend. It features Heidi Alexander on vocals, Rusty Miller on piano, Jamin “Sudsy” Barton on saw and bass clarinet, Jeffrey Luck Lucas on cello, James Finch Sr. and Alex Finch on barroom vocals, and myself on electric guitar, spoken word and upright bass. It was recorded in various locations throughout San Francisco and in my childhood bedroom in Sacramento. Hope you enjoy.
This is the first completed “Found Song”, Into that Darkness… It is from a prescription by Christian Kiefer that reads as follows:
Graveyard
Dark
Black metal
Vikings
Gang vocal
glockenspiel
cello
banjo
electric guitar
percussion of your choosing, but not a drum kit
Must include this line:
“Go you into that darkness, my friend.””
I recorded the Banjo for the first movement while sitting on the grave of Francisca Granados, who died in 1858 and is buried in the Mission Dolores cemetery, a few blocks from my house. After fleshing out the first movement with glockenspiel, electric guitar, wood blocks and Jeffrey Luck Lucas on the cello, I went to Sacramento and recorded the vocals and apocalyptic second movement with my oldest musical friends: Chris Fernandez and Aaron Holt on guitars, Ryan Avalos on bass and Doug Finley on floor tom. It was the first time we had all played together in 15 years.