Saturday 30 April 2011

"Pills And Soap" (Home-Recording)

This is one from a year and a half ago. It started as a cheesy instrumental on the keyboard, which then, I felt, needed a bit more.
By mere chance, the lyrics of the Elvis Costello song `Pills And Soap`were lying nearby, so I started to half-rap, half-sing them on top of the finished instrumental. Funnily enough they fitted ...


So, I present the world with the first Costello-Ymaginatif original!!



PS (Update) funny how Elvis Costello musc have picked up this idea, and four years later used exactly the same process to rcord his collaboration with The Roots: 'Wise Up Ghost'


Thursday 14 April 2011

"Charmingly Mystified" (Home-Recording)

Let us turn our attention to another Y-original pop song.

This one was written in 1996-97, when I was still a paying member of Meander (the band). At that time, membership required a use of the native tongue (Dutch) exclusively! So there I was ... studying English language and literature, and being heavily influenced by Elvis Costello word-antics ...
I had to find an outlet for that and a way out - so after hours, after rehearsals, and after gigs, I spent most of my time writing English pop-music by combining as many different chords as I could find with odd and hopelessly bombastic self-penned lyrics.

This one, which has more bits and bobs than a Maceo-compiled album but still lacks a decent chorus, never made it beyond the demo stage, and although it was tried out early on with The Absence (with different lyrics) it never found a home.

Fast forward a decade, and in the summer of last year (2010) I decided to revisit this little beauty, and to give it a rather lush and laid-back arrangement instead of its early snarling tone.

For your enjoyment, the original text has been left untouched:





Charmingly Mystified

You keep hanging onto tradition -
That's not what I meant to say ...
You're more than a second-hand compromise:
You're entitled to stick around with wide-open eyes.

Excuse me if ever I did offend you
With rude words and sexual innuendo ...
Life is short, a minute is easily spent
Abbreviated to a middle bit with fringes of contempt.

SO WHAT MORE CAN I DO TO MEND YOUR HEART?
IT'S LIKE A PROBLEM YOU WERE BORN WITH
I THINK OF PHOTOGRAPHS I SADLY MISPLACED
WHICH MAKES ME WONDER
WHICH MAKES ME SMILE
WHICH MAKES YOU CHARMINGLY MYSTIFIED ...

Therefore I figure I must be grateful
For fractions of constant disbelief
Speak your mind, it's finally justified
To reveal any discontent or damaged pride.

SO WHAT MORE CAN I DO TO MEND YOUR HEART?
IT'S LIKE A PROBLEM YOU WERE BORN WITH
I THINK OF PHOTOGRAPHS I SADLY MISPLACED
WHICH MAKES ME WONDER
WHICH MAKES ME SMILE
WHICH MAKES YOU CHARMINGLY MYSTIFIED ...

How you still cope with me
How you still cope with me
How you always seem to do it gracefully ...

How you still cope with me
How you still cope with me
How you always seem to do it gracefully ...


Monday 11 April 2011

"Suffragette City" (Home-Recording)

One nite alone ... I sat down with my electric guitar, almost two years ago now, and figured out the chords to this classic David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust song.


When I had more or less got them, I put the lyric sheet in front of me, put the drum-machine in the right gear, pressed the overdive pedal down and shot forward.





This rather frantic and muddy one-take (as usual) version was recorded sitting cross-legged on the floor and with a two-year-old sleeping next door. I bet you can't hear that :)

Thursday 7 April 2011

"Such A Long Time" (Studio-Recording)

Hey, does anybody remember The Absence?


Around the turn of the century, I was living in Leeds and had formed a new-wave band to tour the local pubs. Tim on bass, Tommy on drums, Claire on vocals (for some time - not in the above picture) and me on guitar and other vocals. Our beautiful name was 'The Absence'.

The sound we produced had one distinctive feature: no reverb at all on the guitar (because the reverb unit on my amp was broken).



As I have mentioned before somewhere else, at times we were ambitious enough to pay for some professional studio-time, and record an EP. 'Such A Long Time' was on one of these, driven by the drum-beat and the bass but based on a song of mine. Claire and I shared vocals, and our voices never sounded better (I still don't know what that tech guy did to them!)

PS. The single is for sale officially (Somebody seems to be making money off us?!) here: http://www.musicstack.com/item/391208704

Friday 1 April 2011

"Eva" (Home-Recording)

A fresh Y recording now, which is only a few hours old!
This is a cover version of a 1967 song by Boudewijn de Groot – with lyrics written by Lennaert Nijgh at the height of psychedelica!
It was inspired by a triptych by Jeroen Bosch:
 

The left panel shows God creating Adam and Eva, and this is what this song is all about. It boldly casts God as the I-figure and portrays him in total confusion after the appearance of the first woman.
The two other panels produced two very different songs.

It is a beautiful song, which influenced my writing style very much in the late 1990s, when I was part of the band Meander. More about this later :)


For those of you who know Dutch, here are the lyrics.
For those of you who don't, I've added a rough English translation.

Eva
Lennaert Nijgh / Boudewijn de Groot
Ik houd de wereld in mijn hand,
het glazen ei vol land en wolken.
Ik zal de hemel gaan bevolken,
ik roep de varens uit het zand.

[I hold the world in my hand,
The glass egg filled with land and clouds.
I will go and populate the sky,
I call the ferns forth from the earth]

Ik schud de apen uit mijn mouw,
de spikkelpanters en de mieren,
het blauw konijn, de krabbeldieren.
Ik strooi topaas, azuur en dauw.

[I pull the monkeys out of my sleeve
the spotted panthers and the ants,
The blue rabbit, the crawling creatures.
I scatter topaz, azure and dew around]

Ik weet nu dat ik alles kan.
Ik ken de dieren aan hun vel,
de vogels aan hun notenspel
en ik geef namen aan de man.

[Now I know I can do averything
I recognize the animals by their skins,
The birds by their song,
And I give names to man]

De verf die ik morste,
vliegt plotseling in brand,
het pallet valt vlammend uit mijn hand.
De aarde zwaait open,
ik zie haar lopen
in mijn eigen groene gras.

[The paint that I spilled
Suddenly catches fire,
The burning palette falls from my hand.
The earth opens at once,
I see her walking
On my very own green grass]

Wil jij soms, wit wezen,
dat ik je niet ken
en dat ik niet almachtig ben?
Je wilt me vergeten,
mijn vruchten eten
en me bedriegen met je man.

[Creature of whiteness,
Do you want me not to know you?
Do you want me not to be almighty?
You want to forget about me,
While eating my fruits,
And while cheating on me together with your man]

Hier in je lichaam van albast
zie ik de roze vlammen branden
en wat je wilt valt in je handen,
je hebt mijn wereld aangetast.

[In your alabaster body
I see the pink flames burning,
And whatever you want is yours,
You've infected my world]

Daar sluipt de groen gevlekte kat
en heeft de merel al te grazen,
de leguaan gaat bellen blazen,
kruipt op vijf poten over het pad.

[See the green spotted cat,
Who's already caught the magpie,
The iguana is blowing bubbles,
Crawls on five legs across the track]

De vleesboom rijst het water uit
en rinkelt met zijn glazen snaren.
Er zit in de kristalpilaren
een uil die schuine liedjes fluit.

[The tree of flesh rises from the water
With its glass strings tinkling.
Between the crystal pillars
An owl is whistling bawdy songs]

Hier sta ik voor zot
in mijn kamerjapon,
ik dacht wel dat ik alles kon.
En ben ik verdwenen
dan komt op zijn tenen
de engel met het grote mes.

[Here I stand, made a fool of
In my long dress,
I thought I could do everything.
And when I've disappeared
Then comes quietly
The angel with the large knife.]