December Moon (studio recording)

This is the studio version of the song December Moon:

Lyrics

I try to drive away, in your car
But I never get very far
But I never get too far
And I wonder where you are

Ch

And all these years leave us behind
And all these memories cast us aside

If I close my eyes you are all I see
I am trapped inside these memories
Broken dream are all you left for me
And I wonder what will be

Ch.

I just can’t make it on my own
I am left with nothing, all alone
Waiting by the silent telephone
And I wonder when you’re coming home

Ch.

Sleepless and Lost

This is part 3 and I think it was the third part of the 4 it may be 4th as 3 and 4 were paired… oddly enough I can’t find a copy of the other one…
This uses a BBC archived interview with the first British troops into concentration camps, talking about a mother trying to nurse a dead baby…and it uses FDR’s “the crime of war shall cease…” speech…. propaganda goes both ways and is not always a negative, I took hope from that speech of FDR’s and I think most of song 4 is using that speech…

I wasn’t sleeping much working and than recording…

I was feeling
Sleepless and Lost

Lagerhead

This I believe was the second part in my experiment on propaganda and looping…

This uses a tape of Hanoi Hannah …

I started pulling back the grittiness and dried to get dreamy with these tracks….

Again guitar is live and the delay on this guitar gave it a beautiful sound (to my ears) trying simple and repetitive, the lower voice is Hanoi Hannah again just dropped an octave at the end I use a male who would blast the vets also but don’t remember his moniker…..

I polished off a few lagers while recording this so here is

Lagerhead

This was 2000/2001

Cold Ass

This is the beginning of an experiment I did.

I was beginning to use computer based recording software.  I decided to loop a drum track.  I would then play the bass live, but only grab the good measures and loop them, I would repeat this with the keyboards, but then all the guitars would be live one take with no punch ins over the whole thing….

I didn’t want to do vocals, so I started hunting sounds of people speaking…

I found a web site called Earth Station that was trying to preserve some things that were broadcast on radio.  From that I found this sample of Axis Sally attacking Churchill….

And that became the beginning of a 4 part musical experiment in propaganda ….

All the titles ended up being a statement of something about me when I was working on the experiment…. I happened to be sitting on a metal folding chair in a room that was not getting heat as well as the rest of the house and so my bottom was a bit chilly so here is

Cold Ass

I was happy with parts of the songs, I think if I would have done it better I would have had the telephone noise not in every measure but a repeat 4 and I would have used and electric guitar instead of an acoustic guitar through distortion….

This was 2000/2001

Footsteps (live)

This song was originally written as an inside joke by John, Mike, Christian and I. Christian threw a party and none of us came. To be honest he was so casual about the party that we all forgot when. So the empty glasses clinking on nothing at all come from that…

J and I revived the song…. I like it as I have no guitar solo, which was a turn for me and on The Ocean Between tracks I think two or three songs ended up without solos and it was nice to focus on the song construct… but I do this one Em chord at the end that sounds so powerful…. I think at this point I was trying to do more with less…. don’t know if it worked but here you go ….

Anyhow here it is live in 2001 Travis, Blake, J and I…..

Footsteps (live)