Photographing the Deceased Child

Astro Zombie — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:37:20 -0800

I've decided to make lo-fi recordings of old songs I wrote in my 20s and early 30s. Many of these songs are between 15 and 20 years old and have not been preformed since they were written.

The first one, "Photographing the Deceased Child," is one of my oldest. I figure I wrote it some time in my late teens, influenced by a book I had looked at in a book store that showed a number of funeral photographs of dead children, where they were posed as though they were sleeping, often with their parents around them. The song was written to sound like an old American religious hymn, and it strikes me as an unusually morbid and mournful composition. "PHOTOGRAPHING THE DECEASED CHILD" LYRICS: Many children died from the flu O many died and were buried then With parents grieving Parents who Dressed their loss In coast and shoe And paid to have them on film again And brought from church clergymen Who said a prayer And said amen' And then stood at the casket To get photographed too In a pine box laid In a field of corn Hands clasped or grasping Sweet lilies The parents mourn It's clear hey mourn This child they had Desired born But do so quiet With dignity Dressed in black And finery They pose along Photo memory They photograph the infant In the clothes he'd once worn

By: Karlos the Jackal

Karlos the Jackal — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:10:17 -0800

This is pretty great. It would sound right at home as part of a Harry Smith collection or something -- if you added warp-n-crackle noise and told me that's what it was I'd believe you.

Hey, you might as well add the "mefimusicchallenge" tag to this, since it fits.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:15:54 -0800

Well, that's just somethin' else, man. It really makes me feel for the little kids.

And what Karlos said too.

Comments on: Photographing the Deceased Child

Photographing the Deceased Child

By: Karlos the Jackal

By: snsranch