No Parlez
April 8, 2010 2:40 PM
A few days back I posted The Ballad Of ZZzzzzzz. I like the tune but the poem-come-lyric is.........a bit crap. So I've written a fresh lyric and played it for laughs. I mean, the lyric might still be crap but at least it's my crap... The Large Hadron Collider gets a mention towards the end - a first?
Instrumentation etc as previously posted.
Lyric (minus cod French interjections)
Gitanes and cafe creme
On the left bank of the Seine
She mocked me with her laughing eyes
She called me "capitaine"
I went back in the night-time
To find out her name
Oh Amélie
Petite cherie (ok, ok I know this sounds like Patisserie the way I sing it)
I'll never be the same
The day came bright and bitter
Would she walk...or anything?
She told me it was winter
To me it felt like spring
She aquiesced and took my arm
To a garden full of birds
Oh Amélie
Ma cherie
I do not have the words
You can guess where this is heading
You can guess which way it goes
A bed is a bed however it's said
That's all you need to know
For a day or a week
Whatever it was
We stayed out of the snow
Oh Amélie
Petite cherie
So many things you know....
One morning she had vanished
And never left a clue
Except for just a little note
A little billet doux
I lost her in Montmartre
With the melting winter snow
Oh Amélie
Ma cherie
Why did you have to go?
Instrumentation etc as previously posted.
Lyric (minus cod French interjections)
Gitanes and cafe creme
On the left bank of the Seine
She mocked me with her laughing eyes
She called me "capitaine"
I went back in the night-time
To find out her name
Oh Amélie
Petite cherie (ok, ok I know this sounds like Patisserie the way I sing it)
I'll never be the same
The day came bright and bitter
Would she walk...or anything?
She told me it was winter
To me it felt like spring
She aquiesced and took my arm
To a garden full of birds
Oh Amélie
Ma cherie
I do not have the words
You can guess where this is heading
You can guess which way it goes
A bed is a bed however it's said
That's all you need to know
For a day or a week
Whatever it was
We stayed out of the snow
Oh Amélie
Petite cherie
So many things you know....
One morning she had vanished
And never left a clue
Except for just a little note
A little billet doux
I lost her in Montmartre
With the melting winter snow
Oh Amélie
Ma cherie
Why did you have to go?
posted by MajorDundee (7 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
Not quite sure how to take the "guitar wankery" comment choco.....although it wouldn't be like you to have a dig. My definition of that would be where someone has a blinding technique and grandstands that regardelss of content or context. I've never actually heard them, but I get the impression from their record covers that people like Steve Vai or Yngwe Whatsit fit that particular bill. Just....boring. I hope I have a little more taste than simply being flash and clever. I'm only interested in solos that make an appropriate contribution to the mood or character of the piece. I know I can play solos that stand up as musical statements (rather than just strings of cliches) and the lead guitarist role is my default position/comfort zone. I don't feel the need to prove that to myself or anyone else by jerking off. And the evidence for that is that I don't always include solos in my stuff. Only where it feels right.
posted by MajorDundee at 3:25 PM on April 9, 2010
posted by MajorDundee at 3:25 PM on April 9, 2010
I think this version has the better lyrics, more interesting and a better fit (and of course original). On first listen I thought maybe this song bore some influence from your February challenge, which you almost admit to in the description from the original submission of this track. Sped up but with the same sort of swing. Thoughts?
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 4:40 PM on April 9, 2010
posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 4:40 PM on April 9, 2010
Oh god, no offence intended at all. Sometimes I'm too flippant for my own good.
Generally I don't like guitar solos, in the clichéd sense. Often to me they feel like "verse, verse, chorus, here's where the solo goes" with the accompanying palsied guitar-face. Or a solo for the sake of a solo.
Yours was well-played and great-sounding (as usual) while also adding something to the song. But you've already said that much more eloquently than I.
posted by chococat at 4:55 PM on April 9, 2010
Generally I don't like guitar solos, in the clichéd sense. Often to me they feel like "verse, verse, chorus, here's where the solo goes" with the accompanying palsied guitar-face. Or a solo for the sake of a solo.
Yours was well-played and great-sounding (as usual) while also adding something to the song. But you've already said that much more eloquently than I.
posted by chococat at 4:55 PM on April 9, 2010
I've heard many times that people say that singers must write their own songs in order to be able to perform them with "feeling". This, mainly in reference to those bands where one of the members (not the singer) is the composer. I've always thought the idea is a bit shallow and that it doesn't really apply in real life: interpreters can do magnificent renditions of songs they haven't written and writers might not do the best version of their own songs.
This one, however, made me thought of that. It feels livelier (not as in "more cheerful", but as in "more intense", somehow) now that you are singing your own words. (even with the gagaggggge, cggoouton, ggagaglue)
As for the quality of the lyrics, I quite like them. I really like the "you can guess where this is headed" bit, in particular, and the overall lyrics as well.
posted by micayetoca at 5:24 PM on April 9, 2010
This one, however, made me thought of that. It feels livelier (not as in "more cheerful", but as in "more intense", somehow) now that you are singing your own words. (even with the gagaggggge, cggoouton, ggagaglue)
As for the quality of the lyrics, I quite like them. I really like the "you can guess where this is headed" bit, in particular, and the overall lyrics as well.
posted by micayetoca at 5:24 PM on April 9, 2010
You're all very kind - thanks for the comments, appreciate them.
Choco - I know you meant no offence mate, and none taken. I like your "palsied guitar-face" phrase! Except that I know that when I'm "in the zone", as they say, I have a tendency to do that too! And I move my mouth around exactly like the late classical guitarist Julian Bream, I'm told. Can't help it, subconscious. Sometimes when I finish a solo I'm actually physically exhausted with my hear thumping and sweat dripping - the emotional effort to wring something out can be very intense. You have to put all of yourself into it if it's going to have any emotional connection with people. I think that's what non-musicians respond to much more than technique or pyrotechnics.
abc - you're probably right. I mean this stuff all came out at more or less the same time, so a bit of cross-pollination is unavoidable if unintentional. This isn't a great song when all's said and done. It's ok, but will fade from memory pretty quickly. Not false modesty - I'm sitting here listening to The Supremes and thinking "you're not even fucking close mate".
mica - thanks for that. The lyric was 50% pre-written and 50% "red light". There are a few good lines, but the rest is perfunctory. The couplet I like is "She told me it was Winter, To me it felt like Spring".
So far as the merits and demerits of singers singing their own songs goes, there's obviously no definitive answer to that. What I do know - and what never fails to piss me off to the point of almost giving up - is that my singing isn't a patch on my guitar playing or writing. And I think that's a fact rather than an opinion. So every track is always a let-down. I hate my wobbly, muddy baritone - never does what it's told, unlike the guitars. I've said this before, but my ideal situation would be to be actively writing in conjunction with other people, taking the lead on guitar duties, having a major input to production and arrangement and leaving the vocals to someone else. I suppose a Jimmy Page-like role is the closest to my ideal. Well....I can dream.
posted by MajorDundee at 2:51 AM on April 10, 2010
Choco - I know you meant no offence mate, and none taken. I like your "palsied guitar-face" phrase! Except that I know that when I'm "in the zone", as they say, I have a tendency to do that too! And I move my mouth around exactly like the late classical guitarist Julian Bream, I'm told. Can't help it, subconscious. Sometimes when I finish a solo I'm actually physically exhausted with my hear thumping and sweat dripping - the emotional effort to wring something out can be very intense. You have to put all of yourself into it if it's going to have any emotional connection with people. I think that's what non-musicians respond to much more than technique or pyrotechnics.
abc - you're probably right. I mean this stuff all came out at more or less the same time, so a bit of cross-pollination is unavoidable if unintentional. This isn't a great song when all's said and done. It's ok, but will fade from memory pretty quickly. Not false modesty - I'm sitting here listening to The Supremes and thinking "you're not even fucking close mate".
mica - thanks for that. The lyric was 50% pre-written and 50% "red light". There are a few good lines, but the rest is perfunctory. The couplet I like is "She told me it was Winter, To me it felt like Spring".
So far as the merits and demerits of singers singing their own songs goes, there's obviously no definitive answer to that. What I do know - and what never fails to piss me off to the point of almost giving up - is that my singing isn't a patch on my guitar playing or writing. And I think that's a fact rather than an opinion. So every track is always a let-down. I hate my wobbly, muddy baritone - never does what it's told, unlike the guitars. I've said this before, but my ideal situation would be to be actively writing in conjunction with other people, taking the lead on guitar duties, having a major input to production and arrangement and leaving the vocals to someone else. I suppose a Jimmy Page-like role is the closest to my ideal. Well....I can dream.
posted by MajorDundee at 2:51 AM on April 10, 2010
Sorry, Major; you're not the first to mention the LHC.
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 11:38 AM on April 10, 2010
posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 11:38 AM on April 10, 2010
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But your guitars always sound great.
posted by chococat at 2:47 PM on April 9, 2010