Memory Hole

A sad/angry song about the place where all the things we'd rather forget end up. Inspired by MeFi politics filter, where I was first introduced to the concept of "the memory hole," which in turn gave rise to this song. (This is a redux post after I accidentally posted an old mix before.)

Also, this poem by ee cummings was tumbling around somewhere in my big mostly empty head when I wrote this.

Lyrics: They'll drown you out / They'll cover you with white noise / until the signal's blotted out. / They'll wash you down the memory hole / leave you spinning round and round. / 'Cause you whistle-blowers need to learn / to keep your mouths shut. / And you teenage mothers need to learn / to keep your mouths shut. / Or there's someone who'll be glad / to shut them for you / and then make it look like an accident. / They'll drown you out / no matter how loud you might try to shout. / They'll drag you down, / make you slap yourself in your own face, like a clown. / 'Cause you whistle-blowers need to learn / to keep your mouths shut. / And you teenage mothers need to learn / to keep your mouths shut. / Or there's someone who'll be glad / to shut them for you / and then make it look like an accident. / Om mani padme hum, om mani padme hum, om mani padme hum... / But you whistle-blowers need to learn / to keep your mouths shut. / And you teenage mothers need to learn / to keep your mouths shut. / And you union workers need to learn / to keep your mouths shut. / Or there's someone who'll be glad / to shut them for you / and then make it look like an accident.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by saulgoodman (9 comments total)

This is great. It sounds like The Frogs but without the gay innuendo but with the glittery angel wings but without any connection to Billy Corgan.
posted by bunnytricks at 6:04 AM on April 29

funny that comparison, bunnytricks, 'cause I'm bald too (and as far as I know, that's my only connection to corgan).
posted by saulgoodman at 6:16 AM on April 29

This kicks ass. I like the drama during the chorus and how you back out of it again. Sweet stuff.
posted by snsranch at 4:21 PM on April 29

thanks snsranch! i had high hopes for this one and am pretty pleased with how it turned out.
posted by saulgoodman at 6:20 AM on April 30

This is neat, and a much better mix than the earlier one. I dig the filthy drums in the chorus (although I think you might be hitting your mastering compressor/limiter too hard here, but it's hard to tell on my little office headphones).
posted by uncleozzy at 8:41 AM on May 1

I've never paid much attention to MeMu, but thanks to the link on that longshoreman's strike to this song, here I am. This song kciks ass!
posted by notsnot at 8:54 AM on May 1

although I think you might be hitting your mastering compressor/limiter too hard here

(good ear, uncleozzy--i had the same thought. i'd suspected i might have gotten just a touch overeager with the mastering compression on this take and my own pc speakers seem to confirm that, too. easy enough to fix once i get to the final final version though...)

thanks notsnot!
posted by saulgoodman at 10:00 AM on May 1

Forgot to mention, I really like the bridge in this song.

(And yeah, about the compressor, listening again, the kick drum really smacks it on every hit. What is it, by the way? It's kinda gritty for the 2-bus.)
posted by uncleozzy at 11:14 AM on May 1

uncleozzy: i used the waves l1-ultramaximizer+ plug-in for mastering compression. in this particular case, i pushed the threshold setting a bit too high (earlier mixes had been coming out a little quiet in comparison to some of the other tracks i'm working on for the record, so i was leaning a little harder on the compression than usual to try to match the other tracks) and that ended up squashing the mix a bit (the lower-range, especially). the bass drum is very boomy because i also applied some processing during mixing (waves max bass) to extend the low-range and give the kick that big booming bass sound that works so well on hi-fi systems--unfortunately, of course, that big, ultra-low booming bass thing doesn't necessarily work so well on small desktop speakers. especially when you go nuts with the mastering compression...
posted by saulgoodman at 3:32 PM on May 1