A Little Autumn Number For You Lonely Hearts From Bobby Lightfoot
Dear Jane;
I hope this letter finds you well
In your home in New Rochelle
With your wicked heart
That played me like a bell
I hope the autumn paints you in her hues;
Yours in reds, mine in blues
And that love is yours if love is what you choose
And may it never end;
I hope it never ends for you
Dear Jane;
Sometimes it's very hard to see
What is right in front of me
But you never were one much for make-believe
And may it never end;
I hope it never ends for you.
posted by Bobby Lightfoot at 02:17
6 Comments:
So, that explains the backwards chimes post a couple days back. I was wondering what that sounded like.
I didn't hear the metronome at first (mainly because I have to listen quietly, as I'm at work). I'll have to tune in again later at home. It's a neat effect, though -- always calls Blackbird to mind for me.
A bittersweet tune, BL. Filled with a certain longing ... the persona gets his heart ripped out yet still wishes her well.
yeeeesssss...not particularly driving, this one. There's enough Driving Ketchup on th' shelves of the Great Music Supermarket in my estimation.
Yeah, them chimes. I recorded two sets, forwards and backwards, so the backwards can morph into the forwards. Subtle but effective.
Th' metronome is actually the time-honored "thigh-slapping" track. Ever since I listened to "I'll Follow The Sun" in headphones a couple of weeks back I've wanted to take a run at the ol' thigh-slapping track.
This song grew out of a keyboard soloing cliche I've been falling back on on stage- the arpeggiating of a major chord as fifth-root-second-third-fourth. That's the melodic scheme of "Dear Jane I hope this..."
I learned a while ago to not get bent about relationships ending. Why? Because I'm so evolved? Nah- it pisses the woman off and affronts her far more than giving them that ego-stroking groveling they expect. Fuck 'em.
Loved it! Want to hear it again. And again. Is it OK to dance around the desk?
Your perpetual secret admirer
Simon -
I agree with you %100 about Madrid - that's a killer song. But Jesus, so's this one. Man.
As for "I'll Follow The Sun," that's a great song, but I would have done the chords different. Is that presumptuous of me to say? Probably.
Speaking of presumptuous, Bobby, I got a tiny suggestion for "Dear Jane" - at the line "Mine in blues" where it goes to an E the rhodes adds a D, making it a dom-7, which is harmonically interesting, but doesn't work, because it muddies the descending phrase, though I'm not sure why. Just my proverbial two cents. Dos centavos proverbialos.
Damn, I've got a good word verification word, so good, in fact, that I don't know what to do with it:
nutwx
Yeah, you're totally right. You know what it is? I got hit with th' Conceptual bug and wanted to introduce a "blue" note i.e. dom 7 under the word "blues". It's really great, though, aside from the whole not-working-at-all thing.
Maybe it's only in that four-part harmony. It really does need to be dealt with, as unassailable as it may be conceptually.
I'd be curious from an academic point of view what the man who came up with "...you can do-do-doodly-do whatever you want to..." (that's fuckin' so great) would do harmonically with "I'll Follow The Sun".
Simon, one day when I have the resources I dream of doing a whole acoustic piano/string quartet album and "Madrid" is the list topper. It would be all great live takes of solo stuff like "For One Another" and "Paul McCartney" and quartet-arranged songs in the vein of "Song For The Weary". I have a few songs arranged for it and I've kept them unrecorded because I want them to be fresh for when I get 5 grand and can actually record this.
And it would be all live. When I recorded "Weary" with the live string quartet it was so moving I thought I would yip like a little chihuahua. It would be a sin to involve overdubbing.
Wow, great list, Simon. I think you just made me understand precisely what bores me in a lot of contemporary music - that between the melodic lines is just dead air, which I hadn't really noticed before.
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