U

An love letter to the letter "U"

The idea for this song came from lipograms. I'm sometimes interested in using generative structures and creative restrictions to help come up with lyrics (the hardest part of songwriting for me) and I thought that lipograms might be a way to write my songs. Once I started playing with the idea of missing a letter in an emotional sense instead of a textual one, though, the lyrics just kind of came and I gave up on actually making a real lipogram.

(also, hi! this is my first post.)

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

Lyrics:

Today I went to write a word
but I just couldn't, it was absurd
I couldn't spell that little word without U

My hand was frozen on the page
my eyes did tear and I filled with rage
why'd you leave me, why'd you leave me, U?

U...

The other vowels I have them all
but every night I cry and bawl
because I just don't have that single U

A and E are boring me
and O just blows, I'm sure you know
sometimes Y but always I want U

I want U...

And I do dream and I do pray
that you will come to me one day
and we can make the words that go with U

The ones I have are such a bore
I'd really love a couple more
the kind that I could make if I had U

U...
posted by raisindebt at 3:28 PM on April 30

Wow, really nice. Your voice is really similar to the guy from The Thrills.
posted by chococat at 3:43 PM on April 30

I was expecting a guitar/voice track recorded in a room, so it really impressed me. I like it a lot too.

As an aside, there is a beautiful song by Tom Zé called "Sem A Letra A" (without the letter A) with a similar idea. You can read an English version of the lyrics at the Luaka Bop site (though in English it doesn't make much sense, because the words he mentions all have the letter A in Spanish, and some don't in English).

Back to the subject, your song is very nice. Welcome here.
posted by micayetoca at 6:31 PM on April 30

What a debut! This is really nice!

This doesn't sound at all like White Stripes, but somehow it reminds me of them -- intonation of the lyrics? All-out cymbal bashing?

I am very much in favor of creative restrictions. (Have you seen the film The Five Obstructions? You might enjoy it.)
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 7:11 PM on April 30

Hey, thanks everybody!

chococat: I had a roommate in college who was obsessed with one of their albums but I never really listened much. I'll have to check them out.

micayetoca: What a great song, thanks for sharing.

Karlos: Yeah, I think maybe the cymbals (or maybe the guitar tone in the middle section?). My MIDI drum playing is sub-Meg White on my best days so I totally take that as a compliment. Haven't seen that movie but I am a Von Trier fan.
posted by raisindebt at 8:12 PM on April 30

It's not my usual kind of "thing," but I like the way this feels. Lazy and languid and kinda loping along. I also really like the sort of dead kick drum. Yeah, that's right, I like a sample of a kick drum.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:43 AM on May 1

On the one hand a like the vocals - they kind of hold the song together with a tenuous thread. On the other hand I think the vocals get a little too "styled" and could maybe be tightened up a bit. Really cool overall. I dig the sound.
posted by quadog at 3:39 PM on May 1

For whatever reason, the name/description made it take a while for me to get around to listening to this. I will not make that mistake again, as this is great! I think you've created a really special mood. I'm not sure how to describe it, but the way the lyrics relate to the music leaves me with a unique feeling.
posted by Corduroy at 4:36 AM on May 4