Suenos

Recorded a couple of years back, this was inspired by a visit to the house of the late composer Manuel De Falla in Granada, Spain (a wonderful city). At the risk of immodesty this one has some of the best "lead" acoustic guitar playing I've recorded to date. For those with no Spanish "suenos" translates as "dreams"

The song itself is.........ok. The vocal melody (not so much the performance here) has potential, but the lyrics are ...well....I don't understand some of them: a lot are in Spanish (thanks to my eldest daughter who's a graduate in Spanish and German from Manchester University) whilst the rest is stream-of-consciousness nonsense. The chorus is actually an example of an idea that I've been struggling to realise for some time now - this was, I think, the second attempt to turn it into a full song. Doesn't really get there. I may upload the original idea at some point to see if anyone can take it in a different direction.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by MajorDundee (18 comments total)

I enjoyed this a lot, Major. I've been toying with the idea of doing a song in a language I don't actually speak, and this makes me want to do it that much more. Your acoustic guitar-ing was quite impressive, as well.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 4:26 PM on July 17

...and here was me hoping, LOOM, that as a music graduate you'd pick up the clever-clogs reference to De Falla's "El Sombrero De Tres Picos" (The Three-Cornered Hat) in one of the guitar fills.....
posted by MajorDundee at 4:58 PM on July 17

Breezy!

I've been toying with the idea of doing a song in a language I don't actually speak...

LOOM, that ("Cover a song that is sung in a language you don't speak") was an official Challenge theme in September of last year. There wasn't a single submission turned in...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:11 PM on July 17

WAIT A MINUTE! There was one submission. From ME! It was Deixa Isso Pra La, in Portuguese. I'd forgotten about it. And it didn't show up on the Challenge playlist for that month, for some reason. If there's a mod reading this (hi cortex!) what's up with that? Do you know? I'm still not sure how the tag thing is working with the Challenge playlists... I wonder if there are other Challenge submissions that haven't made their way into the appropriate player on the Challenge pages...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:21 PM on July 17

yeah, I wasn't HERE then, Samm. Guh! Keep up!

(I really wanted to do an up-tempo Sigur Rós song, and I still may)
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 6:21 PM on July 17

yeah, I wasn't HERE then, Samm. Guh! Keep up!

Uh, helloooo... my comment was NOT! ABOUT! YOU!!

and I'm sorry but Sigur Rós covers posted here will be removed and you will be banned for life from the internet.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:28 PM on July 17

Not even if I build my own shale marimba?
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 7:40 PM on July 17

...and here was me hoping, LOOM, that as a music graduate you'd pick up the clever-clogs reference to De Falla's "El Sombrero De Tres Picos" (The Three-Cornered Hat) in one of the guitar fills.....

Didn't notice that--I was too busy just enjoying it (an ability that most the others with whom I graduated seem to have lost).

...and Samm, my comment was about your first one, about the challenge's existence, in case it was lost in translation...my Internet Sarcasm Detector may be on the fritz tonight, though my Internet Sarcasm Synthesizer is working perfectly. Doesn't it always work that way?
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 7:53 PM on July 17

haha! No sweat, LOOM! And I caught that your comment was answering my first one. But now let's clear outta here and hand this thread back over to Dundee and his song! Oh but wait, one more thing: yes, it's OK ONLY if you build your own shale marimba. Or your own Glass Armonica, made from paper plates and chewing gum.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:12 PM on July 17

terribly sorry to interrupt gentlemen, but might I perchance have one or two teensy commentettes about the track if it's not too much trouble....? Shuffles off muttering under breath "Well honestly one just can't get youngsters today to focus for more than a second on the job in hand. What a shower. How they would have stood up to Johnny Hun in the last show doesn't bear contemplation. In my day, I'd have had them flogged......"
posted by MajorDundee at 1:07 AM on July 18

Major, I'm flogging myself, as we speak.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:12 AM on July 18

flapjax, mon ami, a few songs were submitted. I agree that it wasn't the busiest challenge, but still.

the lyrics are ...well....I don't understand some of them: a lot are in Spanish
...whilst the rest is stream-of-consciousness nonsense.

But you are continuing a tradition here. You seem to be troubled with things that cannot be taken against the song. The song really does evoke that Spanish afternoon music and Cartesian lyrics are not a requisite for that. I think you have a very round song here. Don't tire yourself trying to tame, rather take it exactly where it is going by itself.
posted by micayetoca at 5:31 AM on July 18

flapjax, mon ami, a few songs were submitted.

Indeed, so they were! So why in the hell aren't any of them showing up on the Challenge page player for that month? Weird.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:42 AM on July 18

I like the song, I'm not entirely sure about evoking that Spanish afternoon music thing. Some of the fills definitely go in that direction. If we're talking about your standard 95-00's Spanish popular rock music, then we're definitely getting somewhere. It kind of reminds me of Jarabe de Palo, specifically the singing style at the very beginning and the strumming/rhythm pattern on the background guitar.

It reminds me more of what people perceive latin american music to be or Spanish music. On the other hand, I rather enjoyed the song anyway.
posted by lizarrd at 10:04 AM on July 18

Thanks mica - your comments are always very supportive and constructive. But I'm not trying to tame the muse.....at least I don't think I am. I guess that all of us are always seeking that perfect realisation of the original idea. This didn't get there for me, although parts of it aren't bad i.e. the geetar. I didn't intend it to turn into so overtly a cod Spanish ditty - it just took that direction and I went with it and the De Falla experience was still resonating at the time. I think I will upload the original seed at some point - it's about 1m 30s. - be interesting to see what you think - you might see what I'm getting at re the imperfect realisation.
posted by MajorDundee at 10:07 AM on July 18

lizarrd - point taken. As I said to mica - it just kind of came out like that despite the original seed idea not being implicitly or explicitly latin in flavour. There was another discussion a while back about jazz-lite - you know, stuff that has a kind of artificial jazz flavouring but is not the real deal. Well....you could level the same kind of criticism at this one I guess. Anyway, it's an oldie by my standards and it was just nice to give it its moment in the sun - I wouldn't go to the stake to defend it against accusations that it's not real latin music. Given that I'm a middle-aged ex-pat Glaswegian - of course it fucking isn't!!
posted by MajorDundee at 10:25 AM on July 18

I get the jazz-lite and perceived Latin things, but this song is perfect for what it is. Feels like being on a cocktail/dinner cruise on the Mediterranean. It's smooth, enjoyable and goes GREAT with a dirty double martini.

Major, I'm flogging myself, as we speak.
posted by flapjax at midnite

Well if music is your biz, ya need SOME KIND of hobby!
posted by snsranch at 6:21 PM on July 18

Very nice guitar work.
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 8:06 PM on July 19