The Girl at the End of the Road

October 31, 2008 3:47 AM

I guess this might be interpreted as a stream-of-consciousness horror story. There's maybe three or four different autoharp tracks here, including a distorted autoharp that I really dig. And a backwards autoharp! These autoharps say "Happy Halloween!"

Anyway, here's my challenge entry for this month -- just in time! If I didn't have this artificial deadline, I almost certainly would have done some things differently. On the other hand, without the artificial deadline, I never would have finished this one at all, so there's that.

I find it really, really difficult to finish a song and move on -- it's so much easier to say, "well, but I need to tweak it some more..." So thanks to MeFiMu and flapjax for forcing me to wrap things up every now and then, and thanks to all yall for giving a listen.

Words:
You’d better take the back roads if you plan to get home again; it’s hard when it’s been raining, but it’s harder when you’ve got a friend. There’s always people searching for things that probably won’t be found -- it’s prudent to remember that there’s always something underground. Thank you, daddy, from this little girl at the end of the road.

You’ll forgive me if I don’t join in raising a glass to your health. If you plant an acorn soon, you’ll have a place to hang yourself. It won’t provide much shelter, and there is no calm before this storm, so tuck me in again -- you’ll find the peat moss keeps us safe and warm. Thank you, daddy, from this little girl at the end of the road.

This stretch of road will keep no footprints -- no secrets from the past revealed -- no tributes mark the spot where last the wretched may have wept and kneeled. The wind among the treetops is the only sound you’ll ever hear: it cannot be mistaken for a child’s whisper in your ear, crying thank you, daddy, from this little girl at the end of the road.

posted by Karlos the Jackal (5 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

That's probably my favorite distorted-string-instrument tone ever. The thickness from the layered vocals is really great, too. And the bridge... yes, yes, yes. I really like this.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:57 AM on October 31, 2008


I was digging it, but I pushed "add to favorites" as soon as the break with the backwards-autoharp came in. I too like the distortion you used, the two voices, I like it all. Congrats again, KTJ.
posted by micayetoca at 6:58 AM on October 31, 2008


Oh man, awesome. Awesome auto harp bridge. I wouldn't mind a little more of the auto harp in there to carry the little girl to the end of the song.
posted by Corduroy at 7:39 AM on October 31, 2008


Thanks, gang!

I wanted also to mention that there's a few neat toys here: the brief intro is a thunder tube, a wind wand, and a bloogle. The percussion that starts after the first verse is a cymbal sitting on the floor hit with a stick and sent through, I think, a phaser, and then sampled and looped. The other drum is just a drum machine. Keys & bass are both the Alesis Micron.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 12:57 AM on November 1, 2008


good. very odd though
posted by mary8nne at 6:32 AM on November 5, 2008


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