Simple Town

A piece of pop fluff for the a capella challenge.

Warts and all. Kind of a throwaway little song but the simplicity of it seemed to suit a vocal treatment, and I like the chorus, which pretty much expresses how I feel about the world. Managed to resist the temptation to use autotune. Harmony is three part with the two backing parts doubled.

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posted by unSane (9 comments total)

Simple Town

I’m glad when you’re around (you’re around)
A simple song, a simple sound (simple sound)
I’m sad when we’re apart (we’re apart)
My simple head, my simple heart (simple heart)

When you turned me down
That’s when you turned me on
These simple things, they just go
On and on and on and on

Sun wakes you up in your bed (in your bed)
It won’t wake you when you’re dead (when you’re dead)

When you turned me down
That’s when you turned me on
These simple things, they just go
On and on and on and on

I simply believe it’s true
That love will find you anywhere
Why don’t you try it too?
Like walking in the summer air
Trying hard to be cool
Just won’t get you anywhere
Why don’t you try it too?

City lights are all around (all around)
A simple place, a simple town (simple town)

When I turned you on
That’s when you turned me down
These simple things, they just go
Round and round and round and round

When I turned you down
That’s when I turned you on
These simple things, they just go
On and on and on and on

I simply believe it’s true
That love will find you anywhere
Why don’t you try it too?
Like walking in the summer air
Trying hard to be cool
Just won’t get you anywhere
Why don’t you try it too?

words/music © 2010 J Brownlow
posted by unSane at 2:25 PM on November 18, 2010

Nice work, man!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:47 AM on November 19, 2010

Yeah, this sounds great, unSane.
posted by hanoixan at 12:37 PM on November 19, 2010

Thanks. In case it's not completely obvious, this is a vocal version of a fully worked out song so I'll post that later... it might comes as a bit of a surprise...
posted by unSane at 6:05 PM on November 19, 2010

Pop fluff, you call it, but I have a feeling that with the right post-production this could be turned into a very cool old-timey track. Like something discovered in an ethnomusicologist's vaults. Very cool piece, unSane.
posted by micayetoca at 6:19 AM on November 21, 2010

Thanks. I'd been wanting to do something like this for years. When you record lots of backing harmonies to a tune there's always a moment when you're soloing all the vocal tracks and you think, damn, that sounds cool... I always wondered how it would stand up without the instrumentation. It turns out that once you pull away the carpet of the chordal accompaniment, the tune sort of floats free into its own strange little world.

It makes you realize how slavishly we are bound to chordal harmony, because as soon as you're not anchored in the progression, all sorts of interesting things start to happen.
posted by unSane at 8:07 AM on November 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Ah, this is great man, I can't wait to hear the instrumentalized version.
posted by snsranch at 2:21 PM on November 21, 2010

Nicely done.
posted by umbú at 11:35 AM on November 23, 2010

OK, I posted the full version here!
posted by unSane at 6:18 PM on November 24, 2010