Girlfriend Song

It's okay to submit a MetaFilter Music Challenge song at the last minute (Pacific Standard Time) if the song itself is less than a minute long! You can't get blood from a stone, but you can get feedback from an autoharp. Here's a tender punk rock love song for you.

Let's see. In addition to the autoharp, this track features both real and fake drums (I don't own a kick drum) as well as my bass-playing debut -- which is to say, the first time (although not the first take) that I've ever picked up a bass and tried to play a song with it.

The vocals were recorded with a Copperphone mic, through a Big Muff pedal, out a Hi-Watt amp, and back into an SM57. Which was, as it turned out, a pretty long way to go just to make them sound "lousy."

The words and music are maybe 15 years old, but the recording and the superfluous key change are brand new.

I love her so much I’ll never let go
I love her so much and she will never know
I think of her all day and all night too
I’ll write her a letter, yeah, that’s what I think I’ll do
I stand across the street from her house all day
As long as she is home I’ll never go away
I’ve known her four years, I guess it’s almost five
Sometimes I don’t think she’ll ever notice I’m alive
I’ll kill her boyfriend, I’ve sworn a solemn oath
And if she marries him I guess I’ll kill them both

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by Karlos the Jackal (8 comments total)

I've played it four times, so I guess that means it would work great in a four minute version. I like that autoharp flourish you do on "...she’ll ever notice I’m alive", I like the drums, I like the stops, I like it all. Good one again, karlos.
posted by micayetoca at 2:03 PM on December 1, 2008

Way to go, Karlos. So hold up, that electric guitar sound is actually an autoharp, or? I've never heard of that, that's crazy. Or is the autoharp only on the line micayetoca mentions? I listened to it a few times in a row, too.
posted by Corduroy at 2:20 PM on December 1, 2008

micayetoca -- I dunno, I have never ever done a song that hit the four minute mark. That's crazy! Any pop song over two-and-a-half minutes is an insane exercise in self-indulgence!

Corduroy -- Yes, it's all autoharp, run through an overdriven amp. (I have no idea how to play guitar.) I used to do more stuff with running the 'harp through various pedals and I've been thinking lately about doing more of that again.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 3:41 PM on December 1, 2008

Wow I can't believe that's autoharp, I don't really know much auto harp music but I can say without a doubt that this is the dirtiest most punk auto harp I've ever heard.
posted by BrnP84 at 3:40 AM on December 4, 2008

Nice one. I like the distortion on the guitars and the high energy of the song.
posted by wastelands at 11:01 AM on December 4, 2008

No guitars!
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 3:01 PM on December 8, 2008

Listening again, I gotta say that you do manage to get a very particular sound out of guitars.
posted by micayetoca at 2:04 AM on December 9, 2008

YES. FINE. GUITARS. MMMMMMM GUITARS. I HAVE MORE GUITARS THAN RICK NIELSEN.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 12:18 PM on December 9, 2008