Half Empty Waltz

MeFi's own es_de_bah takes over vocal duties on this one -- I didn't feel like I was the right person to sing it, and so I spent some time going through the "Music Collaborator" Mefi Wiki page until I found someone who would be. (It was his excellent song "a perfect preservative" which made me consider him in the first place.) In addition, my dad plays trumpet; I play Magnus chord organ, flute, and interesting percussion. It's a waltz.

Technical notes: The chord organ is this one. My friend Emily found it out in an alley with someone's garbage; it just needed a new power chord, is all. You can hear the fan whirring up to speed just before it comes in.

There are two trumpet tracks -- one played with a mute, one without -- and I think three flute tracks (they sort of mush together). There's also a piano in there but it may be a little difficult to pick out unless you know what it's playing already.

Thanks again to es_de_bah for agreeing to work with me on this one. Enjoy!

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

Oh, here are the words:

There are those who thought I was just being thoughtful -- that I was biding my time -- when I was biting my tongue. Half of me's here now, half of me's gone, and my life's half empty without you.

Now, I'm not blind but there are none so short-sighted as those who won't see what's in front of their face. I had my reasons: they were selfish, and stupid, and my life's half empty without you.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 10:32 PM on January 30

not a big fan of the word content. i first found listening to this to kind of annoying and then something happened when the vocalist kicked in. ended up really liking this. great choice for the vocalist, he delivered an intent to the words that i don't see when i read them.
posted by lester's sock puppet at 9:18 AM on January 31

Interestingly, your comment speaks to something I'm torn on -- whether or not to post lyrics at all. I think reading song lyrics is an iffy proposition in any case, and I'm horrified by the idea that people would read them before listening to a song. If I could set up a greasemonkey where the lyrics become visible only after you've listened to the song, I totally would.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 1:59 PM on January 31

Wow, karlos, this is incredibly creative. Your use of different sounds and instruments create an atmosphere without being about that. Really great song.

About lyrics posting, sometimes they need clarification or translation but otherwise, why post 'em? This song doesn't need it and the lyrics and vocals were great btw!
posted by snsranch at 4:05 PM on January 31

Thanks, sns -- I dunno, I do like to see lyrics sometimes so it seems like the polite thing to do.

Different sounds are neat and something I've been thinking about (as opposed to out-of-the-box noises) -- I forgot to mention what the percussion is -- there's a cymbal hit while sitting on the floor and then slowed way down, a triangle pitch-shifted and distorted, and a stalk of celery being twisted in half. It's fun to make your own noises.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 3:49 AM on February 1

Love the outro on this one.
posted by ORthey at 11:50 AM on February 1

i'm really glad you finally finished this. the trumpet sounds great. as for the vocal treatment, I was really just following ktj's lead. the words are simple, but they fit so well with the light mournfulness of the melody. and i love the big nasty drums.
posted by es_de_bah at 6:25 PM on February 1

That's a lot of fun. I am digging these sounds, and the trumpets are really pretty.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:01 PM on February 2

This is really great. The underlying percussive throb sounds a lot like one of these teddy bears that simulate what a heartbeat sounds like in the womb.
posted by umbú at 4:16 PM on February 4