This is the first 'album' I've ever made. The first several 7songs were a primary sketch for this album. I had some help from my friends on this one.
01 - put it in your pipe
02 - big slick
03 - no nonsense
04 - on the back of a map
05 - saccharin Lyrics by Sara Aboulafia.
06 - it was an unforgettable group This includes an excerpt taken from the book on cd of Mark Twain, "A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage" read by Blount and Keillor, used without permision.
07 - the decline (of man)
08 - silver dollar on the floor
09 - nuh-nuh-nonsense
10 - invisible man The instrumentation for this song is all John Folk Foreman of Foreman Productions.
11 - jesus or his friends
12 - you lie
x1 - noise experiment #3 (star whispers) This track includes a short outburst from my cellphone, the ringtone is "US3 - Cantaloop". The television was also sampled.
x2 - DW_A0022
Liner Notes: (right click save as to download for printing) Front, Back
This album is very very rough but it has its high points (big slick, it was an unforgettable group, the decline (of man), invisible man, and Noise experiment #3 (star whispers)). In addition several of the tracks made it onto future cds (put it in your pipe, no nonsense, on the back of a map, silver dollar on the floor, you lie) and I still play many of these live. It also holds a special place in my heart because it is my first real solo album that is not just an experiment. I learned a ton making this album.
Thanks: Blues Hat would like to thank all of the other artists who contributed to this album:Sara, John, US3, Mark Twain, Garrison Keilor and Roy Blount Jr., and the six other people who listened to it in part or in full: Courtney Blue (who will listen to everything I make, when she's not super busy with a million things), Ron Swerdon (who will listen to anything I make even if it creeps him out), Andrew Cox , James Mooreshire, Danyelle Dias (who only listened to it because I put it on when we were in my car), and Andrew Way (whom I forced to listen to all 30 minutes of Sound experiment #3(star whispers)).
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Lyrics:
- put it in your pipe
Swordfish
on the mantle
watching it sets
me
free
i can be the one
to set it straight
let
me be the one
to separate
let me
segregate
what's left of this town
megatron on
the shelf
optimal time
bank account on the
shelf
optimal health
and a night on the
town
got fucked up quick
till i got sick
with
stitch
after endless stitch
and gamera attacks
this town again
and gammorah falls back down again
put it in your pipe
put it in your pipe and
smoke it now
- big slick
this is the song for the songless
i'll sing it for you
this is the song for the lost and forgotten
this time i'll sing it true
- no nonsense
trapped in plastic with a salad shooter
codene dripping down down down to the sewer
walking walkman sellout made of pewter
tell the clerk you're gonna come back in and shoot'er
flower children
selling faces of friends
new age punks
always following trends
and it all breaks down
cause its made of nothing
- on the back of a map
went for a walk in my town cause I crave an experience found a
dive bar conversation meaningless headphones on with my back to the
door jotting down words no shape or metaphor 3 dollar lager and i can't
afford a tip tripped up with just where my life's at sitting next to
myself in the mirrored wall watching the level of my yuengling fall
stalling for time as i think of my next move as i'm eyeballed by the
local crew of strangers at the bar avoiding attention of the people
with friends here to have a good time-i
this song alone at a bar all around it drawings on the back of a map no
direction is where i'm going won't stop till my cups overflowing-stellar performance modern romance cheap and beautifull only meaningfull for a minute or two will you be my minute?
- Saccharin
chorus
"if i say you're as sweet as honey cake
you'll acuse me of saccharin sweetness
so i'll say you're as foolish as they make 'em
with a smile and a wink and a hear to break 'em all"
you taste sweet as honey
go down as smooth as silk
i can't quite help but hoping
not gonna be the one to cause you ill
chorus
you smell sweet and beautiful
like flowers and tea
i can't get over hoping
you're gonna wind up with me
chorus
- it was an unforgettable group
Ask Mark Twain.
- the decline (of man)
"It's no longer summer,"
I said to myself,
walking in from the cold.
It was a metaphor
I couldn't afford to fold.
I'd try to grasp
if I could only find a hold.
I've learned to appreciate
all the seasons in turn,
but there's that first night
when the wind first stings your skin.
No more beginnings.
No more misgivings.
Cut your losses;
Count my winnings.
- silver dollar on the floor
Stockholms on strke because all the feds are rotten.
A nickel, a lonestar, and all is forgotten.
Staunch republicans always in flames,
cause all the stupid hippies are getting high again.
Not one of those hit'em up days.
Flip a new leaf, toss the dice, that's the way.
- nuh nuh nonsense
nuh-nuh-nonsense in my ear
- invisible man
rolling fog
rolling hills
if you don't run from the sun
then you're bound to get killed
- jesus or his friends
I feel it for all who write songs about shoes.
Our heels are sore; and our feet are bruised.
- you lie
* * *
- noise experiment #3 (star whispers)
The stars are out tonight. Its fucking beautiful.
- DW_A0022
I'm not gonna take that chance.
Misc Info:
- put it in your pipe
This was my favorite song that I wrote for this album, but I'm not completely happy with the final recording of it. This song was recorded on my Tascam 4-track, I added a harmonica and a lead guitar. I kept all of the fucking up at the beginning because it sounded cool to me at first, but now i think it makes the album start out on an awkward note that doesn't pick up till the second half of the song. Which I guess isn't too big of a problem, but it bugs me inmensely.
- big slick
Big slick is a Texas Hold'em term for having an ace and a king, the highest non pared hand. I was at a poker tournament game with Blue and I ended up going all in on a big slick. I lost and wrote this song on a napkin. I wrote several songs on napkins that night while waiting for her to finish up.
- no nonsense
This is the first song I wrote as Blues Hat. I wanted to write 'beck'like nonsense lyrics. I pictured bongo drums, distorted guitar, and a weird trippy echoy lead. I don't really know why I didn't end up using the bongos. It definetly would have sounded better, this is better on Folk Rock Hero.
- on the back of a map
This one is pretty self explanatory. I wrote it on the back of a map alone at a dive bar in my town. The lead's a bit weird, doesn't quite fit. I dig it though. Anyway, I'm happy with this song.
- Saccharin
I asked Sarah Aboulafid, myex-next door neighbor one day to write me a chorus real quick and she came up with the chorus to this one. I added two verses and switched the chords of labamba around a bit and recorded it and voila that's the version you're hearing. I worked with Sarah on one of my old 7songs before I realized I was Blues Hat.
- it was an unforgettable group
I wanted to use a book on tape, and this one sounded cool so I used it and I liked the way it went into the next track.
- the decline (of man)
I was thinking of making this song called the decline (of blues hat) cause I thought it would be funny, but people wouldn't get it cause they wouldn't know it was originally going to be titled (of man), so I decided I would put this song out, then put out another one that was called the decline (of blues hat). This was originally meant to be an instrumental, but Blue told me that it wasn't exactly cut out to be an instrumental, I agreed with her after much introspection so I wrote the poem and read it over the song several times. After some mixing we got what we have now. And by we of course I mean us.
- silver dollar on the floor
This is titled after an event that happened with my good friend Andrew Way of my old band Figment. The lyrics are vaguely political seeming without really saying anything. I'm really happy with how everything came together, and the percusion is a empty lighter.
- nuh nuh nonsense
I realised that no nonsense, one of the previous songs on the album sounded like stuttering so I thought it would be funny to write a song where I actually do stutter the title. The pots and pans sound really weird, and the dogs are my mom's dogs Leo and Karina.
- invisible man
There's a guy that walks around my neighborhood every day and never talks to anyone. My dad said one day that its because he thinks he's invisible. Ever since then I've thought of him as the invisible man. This song is about him, but also about a planet where the sun is so hot that it kills you, and you have to run from the sun. John Foreman made/prodcued the instrumental for this.
- jesus or his friends
I misheard a macaroni and cheese comercial to say "Jesus or his friends," but it actually said cheese-a-saurus rex. This song is weird. It's basically a happy accident.
- you lie
This song is abou growing up and having to become an adult. This song is also about friends being dicks all the time. Also this song is from my 7songs skechbook 'response' which I wrote before I was Blues Hat.
- noise experiment #3 (star whispers)
This noise took me driving around smoking, calling myself on a cellphone, blue calling me on the cellphone, drinking wine, playing guitar with a flanger and an old bass amp on the distorted channel, taping and looping, the television, playing a wine glass, playing a xylophone,playing Native American shakers, playing a flute, and playing around on my cellphone to make. It is two tracks that are each first takes, one in each channel, although you can hear the first in the second with a slight delay. My sister walked in and tried talking to me before she realised I was busy and left.
- DW_A0022
I recorded this track for a blog project I was going to do called a song a week. I ended up scrapping it altogether, but I added it on to the end of this because I still dig it for some reason. I recorded it on my old straight to wav pocket recorder.
