Wow, I’ve made it through one suit. This is the King of Spades, another african-influenced song. This I did at the space with the electric guitar and some percussion.
April 6, 2009
King of Spades
February 15, 2009
Six of Spades: The Sun Rises, But Shines Not
“The sun rises, but shines not,” is a quote from Walt Whitman about a certain battle early in the Civil War. The Union lost this one and it set everybody in Washington in a pretty bad mood. This was Whitman’s assessment of the morning that followed the battle. Because the battle was so close to Washington, civilians, including Congressmen and their families had picnics on a bluff from which they could see the battle in action in the distance. As the Union Army retreated they panicked and the streets back to Washington were clogged with soldiers and the spectators alike.
President Lincoln told General McDowell before the battle that “You are green, it is true, but they are green also; you are all green alike.” I used part of this quote in the song as well.
This is the second song that I have used eight tracks of vocals (5 and 3). It’s definitely “something.”
January 25, 2009
Three of Spades: Letters Home
The Three of Spades is a bit more ambitious than the previous two songs. This one kept me in the space until four in the morning. A move that I regretted for the rest of the week since it was a Monday night. I don’t think I fully recovered until the weekend. Regardless of my complaining, I think I came up with something cool, if not just unusual. I have been reading Team of Rivals, a book about A. Lincoln, and it’s influenced the lyrics of this song. It’s a bit about a man in that era that has to travel away from home to serve in government. The travel is slow and hard and he has to stay for several months away from his wife and family. The lyrics are contents of letters home to his wife.
What makes it a bit ambitious is the number of tracks on the song. Aside from all the percussion and the guitars and bass, I recorded eight vocal tracks. Five of them are in unison for the main part and the other three are all in unison for the harmony part. (There are some variances as far as unison is concerned: the “oohs” are not all in unison.) For one track of the percussion I banged on an electric fan with a drumstick; see if you can hear that.
It’s got an African sort of feel too it, particuarly the guitars. I was previously playing in a band called Intermissions where our inital goal was to make our take on African-styled music so I started trying out some African-ish sounds on guitar back then. Note to purists: I am not trying anything traditional here, I’m just doing my take on things.
I hope you enjoy it.