Why Does He Want Her Ring If He's Able To Literally Make Gold?
Jun 21, 2020
Ben
Once Upon A Time
Ah yes, I always loved this tale. I re-read it recently and couldn’t remember what about it was so compelling, besides just the imagery and elfiness of it. I still “enjoy” it, but like where’s the actual HOOK, ya know?
Anyways, I tried to make the tune sort of similar: rambling, but hopefully enjoyable; cyclical and repeating and dynamically stagnant, yet still featuring some richness and color.
I also had fun making essentially an electro-song without using electric or electronic instruments. Listeners might find shades of Radiohead, perhaps some final-stage Dave Bowie.
Words:
Knobby knees and curled toes
Like a prickly briny shrimp
Stripey shirt, pointy nose
Enters the tiny imp
Take off your rings, I’ll spin you gold
when fingers bare, I’ll take your baby
When tales like this are told and told
Wondered if I could’ve gotten more, maybe
(waaait
a little more)
Cycles, each day little more
Familiar cadence, sequentially told
Beginning, middle, end: a riddle, or
Walk into a bar: quintessential; old
She cheats and learns his name, the sprite
That’s the way the story ends
Find lessons, I guess you might
not. even from the historical lens
So just enjoy the words, the images, the knobbyness
Cause story’s no more than trickster Dobbyness.
Looking for feedback on
I tried to make it "funny" and critical of the story, while keeping the music kind of cold/electronic/gloomy/dark/serious. Did it come off that I'm having fun? Also looking for mix feedback. We just moved and i dont have my speakers set up so i mixed with headphones and my iMac speakers and listened once in the car, but would appreciate your take on the sounds
Discussion
nick July 2, 2020 9:20am
dude it always comes off (to me) that you’re having fun. your lyrics always maintain a dry humor that i appreciate. maybe you could try differentiating the vocal freqs from some of the centered guitar freqs. especially because, with a tune like this, following the lyrics seems pretty important ie@@ryan.mp3 ‘s Q.
kurds June 22, 2020 4:49pm
This is wild. A bit scary sounding but definitely a head bouncer.
Ryan June 22, 2020 9:48am
Love a four-on-the-floor squeaky acoustic guitar track. I dig the mix! Certainly sounds good in my headphones. And I love all the processing in the vocals—subtle but super effective. Great question re: fun. The four-on-the-floor makes it inherently a bit fun. But the melodic and harmonic territory didn’t strike me as fun. Granted, I find Radiohead pretty close to 0% fun lol. My not hearing the fun might also be related to not being able to discern the lyrics with just listening, which is partly what one sacrifices when they go with vocal processing. Question for you! When you go the fx-y route with your vocals, is it your hope that folks read your lyrics? Or is it important to you that they maintain intelligible on the first or second listen? Super cool track, my dude.
Ben July 17, 2020 9:25am
Great question – I do think the lyrics contribute to the Fun™. And I am weird with lyrics and singing in general: In this forum, since I know they’ll be written here, I worry less about whether they can be understood on first listen. I figure, Radioheads’s great and I don’t understand what he’s saying. But in my case, i think its 50% crutch, 50% wanting to have lyrics be just another tonal layer (like a synthesizer pad or something).
But yes, there is certainly nothing fun about the melodic/harmonic territory or performance, and was hoping the sarcastic lyrics would create a nice Juxtaposition Of Fun™.
Carseat June 21, 2020 9:22pm
I love this. Gives me a chill “Burn the Witch” by Radiohead vibe.