Sunday, December 25, 2011

songwriting 101 (part 5)

this post is about 3 new songs:
10. dinosaurs in my tree
11. y
12. ICTHRUU

back in the days before jurassic park the movie
there were rumors of exciting new developments
in the world of dinosaurs, one of my passions.
I began reading every book I could find on the subject.
paleontolgists had proven the skeletal structure
of t. rex is exactly the same as that of a chicken,
if fact it's the same as that of all birds.
the shocker was: this means birds
are the direct descendants of dinosaurs. ergo,
birds are dinosaurs!

to this day it fascinates me to think
when I'm feeding wild birds on my deck each day
or watching them fly across my backyard,
I'm actually seeing dinosaurs!
(it follows then that if I'm eating a chicken sandwich...)
hmmm.

dinosaurs in my tree expresses this fascination
over top of an african-esque rolling tom tom beat
and an acoustic guitar tuned DADEBE but
with a capo far enough up the neck (on the 7th fret)
to sound somewhat ukelele-ish.
the singer expressing his amazement is surrounded
by bird chirps and dinosaur roars
(made on guitar, of course. the nice thing about
making dinosaur sounds on electric guitar
is that no one can say they didn't sound that way).
dinosaurs in my tree is under 2 minutes long.

for song #11 in our recording marathon feast
I was up to my usual manipulations of another passion:
wordplay. it comes naturally to me.

I was thinking about the letters of the alphabet,
wondering what it would be like if they had feelings.
the letter a for example might think of itself
as a trendsetter, the very first, numero uno.
the letter a might therefore possess a maladjusted ego.

given that so many names in cyberspace
now begin with a lower case i, (ieat, isnore, ipoop).
the lower case letter i would certainly
see itself as the current favorite of the main stream.
a very popular letter.

but the letter that I would envy the least is the letter y.
why?
there you go, the letter y will always be a question.
and always next to last.
poor y.

so I wrote:

"y
r u beside z
& stuck next 2 x
where no 1 wants 2 b

y
4 ever the ?
but never the answer
when u could b a c
who doesn’t like the sea?

o y
the trouble u r n
o g i feel bad 4 u
but then look @ q

y
o 2 b an a
or lower case i
instead of @ the end
n the alphabet line..."

y was written in standard tuning
and lasts just over 1 minute.


keeping with the same tactic of wordplay,
I saw a vanity plate that said ICTHRUU.
"clever enough," I thought, "y not use it?"

so in song #12 the singer repeatedly sings:
"I see through you".
I liked ICTHRUU so much I made a second
version called ICTHRUU2.
both songs are based on a very krim-esque
loop of two guitars and bass with some
trash can-style drumming on the same ludwig
drum kit I played on my first record, lone rhino.

ICTHRUU and ICTHRUU2 both were written
on the silver adrian belew signature model parker fly
in standard tuning, each lasting a minute or so.

8 comments:

  1. Oh Why am I Blue thinking about " U " as I was there in Seattle sitting on stage like a Zombie next to the Fit of the Kit; Eating up the first of "The Bears" and feeling the audience just didn't have a "Q"lu--- oh to be there and have that "Harry Potter Wand of a Galaxy of Music pointed at me with an "Adrian Smile" and a rush of evangelism turn my blood purple and green to this day- it was an "All Time High" I felt I was the only one in the room at the o so close darkly shining albeit at the time one of the Hottest places in Seattle to hear the newer "POP" in the Balloon- (That Music really does make Cycles of Bells Out Of Us All) Adrian shining his magic "multiform- faceted" guitar with a foot piano of buttons gadgets and endless new possibilities that made me think- hmmmm revisiting my Floyd, Bowie, "Skawking Heads" all that magic in that one room and most just sat there like zombies- i have wondered to this day- did they just "Not Get It?" or was this music made for generation to come that would finally understand what they were listing to- 4that matter- I have yet to meat my Hero and share a slice of Dino Dinner with him and staring into space wonder- Why doesn't any one else in the world understand that the entire show begins is played and end with "Thank You Very Much" GOODNIGHT! Booom! Luv ya Adrian, Always Will-

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  2. Last Item on my mind today- I really do hope Adrian Reads These Blogs! Especially this one-
    To add a by - note to the little blog I just posted- The Biggest Problem is so few people _(especially when Adrian tours with 'The Bears" (whom I love) it was at that one of their very first concerts in Seattle WA back in the back in (I believe) 1985 where people in the audience kept saying-"He USED TO PLAY WITH "KING CRIMSON" which shocked me- I just think that he needs more time on shows; TV; Radio: and other media ESPECIALLY INTERNET- (Adrian, Check Out Robert Plants site- AND PLLAY WITH PETER GABRIEL! I BELIEVE THE TWO OF YOU WOULD CHANGE THEN WORLD!! i HONESTLY DO.!!!!! ALL THE BEST FROM DEAN STABBERT- +65-81-389-14621 / OR / +1-206-454-1205 AND MAKE SURE YOU TELL THEM THIS IS IMPORTANT!! I WANT TO HELP AND I KNOW ME AND MY OLD BEAT UP FENDER RHODES AND ALESIS QS8 SYNTHESIZER AND ME- WOULD LOVE TO JUST SIT, SIP A CUP OF COFFEE OR TEA AND PLAY A FEW RIFFS!! ALWAYS TELL EVERYONE AT EVERY CONCERT WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND WHOM YOU'VE ROCKED WITH AND WANT TO ROCK WITH- GET THE BUZZ "BUZZING" AND THE "WORD SHALL SPREAD THROUGH THE WORLD!!!!!!

    I LOVE YA MAN ! KEEP MAKING NEW CORNERS IN THE SO CALLED "ENVELOP' I9F I AM ABLE I WILL BE THERE WHENEVER I CAN TO MAKE THE "BEARS" AND KING "C'" TO NEW HEIGHTS!!!!

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  3. By the Way- I forgot to mention that little club was the Trojan right next to the Monorail in Seattle- sadly- the NAZI's in Seattle do not allow clubs to have cool jams with headliners and cool bands- they make you go to the Colosseum or Arena and the mighty TICKETMASTER kill off all the decent people that love music but just can't afford a 50$ ticket- So COME SEE US NEXT "BUMPERSHOOT" I'll find ya and give ya a "thanks dude, it's me OZ' wouldn't have made it without you, peter., David B, Frank, Uria Heap Deep Purple, Zep, White Stripes, U-2, Body Jam, and all the others, "The Jam" The Beatles, ELP, and oh so many others-- thank God for Sound and Ears to hear them with!!!!

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  4. very, very cool, Adrian. Can't wait to hear 'em ...

    Dan

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  5. back in the day-

    did you and Robert ever double team a woman? as far as celebrity porn goes....that tape would be priceless.

    Adrian please give us a wild groupie story.

    something naughty,yet musical.

    sara in SF

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  6. Funny, when I saw "ICTHRUU", first thing I thought of was the Psychodots. :)

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  7. When I was a Tenderfoot in Boy Scouts back in the early 70's, a WWII vet Scoutmaster taught us a letter-feeling ditty lauding American Combat Engineers:

    "CDB?
    DBSNDC.
    YSDBNDC?
    DBSACB!!!"

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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