A Man is Coming
June 30, 2008 7:39 PM
Another new song, recording in the lowest-fidelity I can manage. This time a country blues song about scary things.
I was fooling on YouTube tonight and got to listening to some country blues songs, and was struck by how strange some of the instrumental bits were -- just these noisy, atonal riffs. So I thought I would try and create one of my own on my ukulele, did so, and scared myself with it. So I starting putting lyrics together, gluing together a series of themes and images that make me think of country blues, but also scare me, and wound up with this song. And, of course, when I recorded it, I put it through some filters in GarageBang to make it as noisy as possible, and this is what I wind up with. I can't really put my finger on what it's about, which is fine with me. There's a broken levee in the lyrics, which both puts me in mind of Hurricane Katrina and also the massive flooding going on just now along the Mississippi here in the Midwest, but I think it's mostly in there because it frightens me.
"A MAN IS COMING" LYRICS:
Hey boll weevil
How long you been here
Make a home in the cotton
Keep your children near
But the man is coming
He's coming down the row
And when the man is coming
You know you've got to go
Carry a razor
Keep a rifle near
Levees are breaking
He will soon be here
Because a man is coming
He's coming down the row
And when the man is coming
You know you've got to go
He's a widow maker
He's an orphan train
He wear a big black top hat
Carry a diamond cane
Because a man is coming
He's coming down the row
And when the man is coming
You know you've got to go
Hey boll weevil
How long you been here
Make a home in the cotton
Keep your children near
But the man is coming
He's coming down the row
And when the man is coming
You know you've got to go
I was fooling on YouTube tonight and got to listening to some country blues songs, and was struck by how strange some of the instrumental bits were -- just these noisy, atonal riffs. So I thought I would try and create one of my own on my ukulele, did so, and scared myself with it. So I starting putting lyrics together, gluing together a series of themes and images that make me think of country blues, but also scare me, and wound up with this song. And, of course, when I recorded it, I put it through some filters in GarageBang to make it as noisy as possible, and this is what I wind up with. I can't really put my finger on what it's about, which is fine with me. There's a broken levee in the lyrics, which both puts me in mind of Hurricane Katrina and also the massive flooding going on just now along the Mississippi here in the Midwest, but I think it's mostly in there because it frightens me.
"A MAN IS COMING" LYRICS:
Hey boll weevil
How long you been here
Make a home in the cotton
Keep your children near
But the man is coming
He's coming down the row
And when the man is coming
You know you've got to go
Carry a razor
Keep a rifle near
Levees are breaking
He will soon be here
Because a man is coming
He's coming down the row
And when the man is coming
You know you've got to go
He's a widow maker
He's an orphan train
He wear a big black top hat
Carry a diamond cane
Because a man is coming
He's coming down the row
And when the man is coming
You know you've got to go
Hey boll weevil
How long you been here
Make a home in the cotton
Keep your children near
But the man is coming
He's coming down the row
And when the man is coming
You know you've got to go
posted by Astro Zombie (1 comment total)
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I like the high "wooo"s as well.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 7:55 PM on July 2, 2008