This song was a bit of a bastard for me to finish, and I’m not completely convinced it’s in its final form. I’d briefly rehearsed parts of it with my previous band, and the initial jams left me with the feeling that the structure was in place and I should focus my energy on crafting the lyrics (which is where the trouble began). I worked and reworked the lyrics solely on paper (i.e. without playing the running drafts with an instrument). After writing, editing, and revising lyrics for a few months I finally declared the song done and sat down to perform my newly created masterpiece in its true setting. And I got…crap. The flow was all off and the entire piece dragged (at ~9 minutes it was WAY too long).
So – lesson learned – songwriting is not poetry, and you (at least I) can’t work on lyrics completely removed from the song. I went back to the drawing board, changed the structure, and started playing and singing it with other people. It started to come together a bit more, and this is where I’m at now. As you’ll notice, taking the place of the streaming mp3 file is a YouTube clip – you can see more songs at the new Echo Bloom YouTube channel. The video thing is a bit of an experiment, so let me know what you think. [There's also a downloadable MP3 file at the bottom of this post from a different recording].
The iMap:
REM – Radio Free Europe (Murmur – 1983)
Narrative – 75
Execution – 30
This song encompasses everything I like about I.R.S.-era R.E.M. – Bill Berry’s metronomic, driving beat, Peter Buck’s Byrds-ian, chiming 12-string guitar, Mike Mills backup vocals, and Michael Stipe’s complete unintelligibility. [The video is their network television debut!]Wilco – Kamera (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – 2002)
Narrative – 60
Execution – 40
The narrative to this song doesn’t interest me very much, but the economy of the arrangement is brilliant – there’s not a lot of wasted space here. Also – if you’re in the mood for a slog, check out this somewhat meandering article on PopMatters the other day talking about how the term postmodernism gets applied to YHF.Cormac McCarthy – The Road (2006)
Narrative – 50
Execution – 30
I stupidly read this novel in one sitting during a four hour plane ride between California and DC last year. Needless to say, by the end of the journey my mood was…bleak. McCarthy is unbelievably efficient at maintaining a mood, and his post-apocolyptic imagery of ashen streets and emptied-out cities was utterly consistent and emotionally shattering (my narrative’s a pinch more optimistic).
R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe
Wilco – Kamera
The Businessman
Elevator elevator take me to the 22nd floor
Take me through this quiet building, slowly pause and open up the door
Dying in American suburbia for supervisor’s pay
18 years spent working for the government in Washington Dee Cee
Every day another stream of car, work, sleep, reeee peeeeeet
Huddled with a phone receiver whispering to an answering machine
“Don’t wait up for me – you’ll feel better in the morning if you sleep.”
Amy disagrees, but she drifts off anyway and waits to dream
Distantly the echoes of explosions bring our businessman around
All the streets are empty and a siren is the only other sound
As his desk lamp flickers off he shuffles to the balcony to see
Washington in smoldering ruin with ashes raining softly in the street
Walking calmly back inside he switches on the radio to hear
Voices hushed and whispering of ecstasy and judgment coming near
Elevator elevator take me to the parking garage door
Take me to my station wagon take me where I’ve never been before
Driving through the empty city dodging deer and fallen power lines
Parking by the coast he rifles through his trunk and wanders toward the beach
Looking down the shoreline at the businessman as far as he can see
Ankle-deep in quiet water holding out their flashlights to the sea
