Backwards Versions of Scoops Out and Not Official Capacity

Weird version of million

I'm outta town for the holidays, so I don't have access to my recording equipment stuff, so I'm posting some stuff I already have. These 2 songs are what some of the recent songs sound like if you play them backwards. The first one is that "Not Official Capacity" song if you turn it around backwards. It's actually that "Million" song I recorded a little over a year ago. The lyrics are:

(We gotta talk about your dad)

A million years to get to their story/ a million years to get to this day/ the sun got lost and it was forgotten/ his eyes are sad, the sky's turning grey

A million stories that were forgotten/ a million stories from yesterday/ the thing that got recovered was broken/ his eyes are sad, the sky's turning grey

A million miles and it is a desert/ the thing that got forgot yesterday/ a million times to make it not broken/ his eyes are sad, the sky's turning grey

A million years to get to their story/ a million years to get to this day/ the sun got lost and it was forgotten/ his eyes are sad, the sky's turning grey

(he sees that it's gone)

Wake me up in the mdlofthrd

Then if you turn Scoops Out backwards, it turns into a weird version of Grassroots (or Wake Me Up In the Middle of the Road). The lyrics (they're a bit harder to understand in this one) are:

(Grass roots, yeah, us grassroots people)
I'm a blade of grass/ growing through the cracks/ I'm a blade of grass/ In the middle of the middle of the...
Wake me up in the middle of the road
I was having fun / in the middle of the / maybe I should run / in the middle of the middle of the...
Wake me up in the middle of the road
Maybe I should run / stupid scary sun / making me have fun / in the middle of the middle of the....
Wake me up in the middle of the road

(Yeah, I had a wee bit of a harder time with the word enunciation stuff on this one than usual; dunno why this one was harder' usual.)

But, on the other hand, I was kinda proud of this recording because if you turn it backwards you don't have to mess with the timing of the rhythm tracks, relative to the guitar/bass/keyboard/vocals tracks, in order to make it all match up, rhythm-wise. But I did have to do that on the Millions one. Yesiree.

It's all weird, man, cuz I guess, in a sense, I've outed myself, all the way, in terms of how I derived these weird, cryptic songs. It's just me plain-old figuring out how to perform my regular songs backwards. Now that the mystique has been removed from this whole thing, I wonder what people'll think. It's weird, and I kind of have mixed feelings about the whole process of outing myself. On the one hand, I kinda liked the idear of it being somewhat of a mystery, how those weird songs came about. But on the other hand, I felt like a little bit of a jerk for being all weird and secretive about it. And also, I kinda wanted people to hear what these sound like when you turn 'em around. Like, I wanted to give people the opportunity to hear how close I got to the original songs, and all that. I dunno, man.

But in any event, I'm gonna keep on doing it, because it's fun and weird and cool, too.

It's kinda fittin' that the last post of 2016 has a weird version of the Million song in it, cuz it's such a sad song about loss and stuff. It's fittin' cuz this was such a sad year. But there was good stuff, too, on a personal note. 2016 had bad and good stuff to it. It had both.

Mion Sam Neh Neeoos Neh Hurrah Hurrah Heedamooin

MIONSAM1

This song's called Mion Sam Neh Neeoos Neh Hurrah Hurrah Heedamooin. Again, I apologize for my perseveration on that repeating death-related theme. I actually did this song a while back but wasn't happy with certain parts, so re-recorded the parts I wasn't happy with. I dunno if I'm much happier with them, though. I guess this song's a bit dark, but it might be hard to tell because this is another one of those weird ones. No, but I mean, the reason these songs repeat certain things so much is cuz I wrote somewhat of a rock-opera thingy a little more'n a year ago, and the repeating theme is the main theme-thingy of the opera thingy. Or, like, if you turn the song around backwards, then you hear that main theme. Yesiree.

Like, the guys in the picture up there are the 2 main characters of the rock-opera-thingy. (But I didn't make them up).

Not Official Capacity

CAPAC1TY

Here's this week's song. It's called Not Official Capacity because that's sorta what the backwards-guy sounds like he's saying. I'm trying to think of what genre of music this one reminds me of. I think it might be reminiscent of some sort of Celtic-Warrior-ish music. But I could foolin' myself on that one.

Weird Version of Asshole So

This is what last week's song sounds like if you play it backwards. Actually if you were to play last week's entry backwards, you'd find out the rhythm and vocal/keyboard/bass tracks aren't all the way sync'ed up. So I had to fuck around with the timing of the tracks, and move'em around relative to each other, in order to make it sound right.

I'm realizing that if people've been following this blog for a while, the description of last week's song might've been confusing  because I said Charlie meowed on it. And people who've been following this blog for a while might remember the entry where I said Charlie had died. Fortunately, I was able to record Baby Charlie meowing with my iPad video recorder thingy a few months before she passed. That's what I used for the meows.

Letsee here. So, like, this is the weird version of "What an Asshole You Got For a Dad." It's a song about a man who berates himself for dropping a cake. It's Herbie's cake.

The lyrics are:
What an asshole you got for a dad
He got sad cuz he dropped Herbie's cake
Can't forgive his stupid dumb mistake
And he knows that he drank too much gin
That explains the mess that he got in
What an asshole you got for a dad
He sees that it's gone

Weird Asshole Song

ASSHOLEO

Here's another one of those weird songs. The drunk-guy-talking-backwards is the same one as last week. The song's got "asshole" in the title cuz the drunk guy thinks of himself as an asshole because he accidentally dropped a cake. I guess you can't tell from the song that that's the case. But I'm considering posting another version of the song next week that'll make all that stuff more clear, and stuff.

I apologize, again, for perseverating on that one theme; like usual, there's not much I can say about it, except that it has something to do with death.

I included a picture of the kitties because Baby Charlie (the one closest to the camera) is all cute and meows twice in the song.

Eeros

EEROS001

This is a song with a drunk guy taking backwards in it. My ears at first heard this song as somewhat sacred sounding, so you could say it's a spiritual song written in the spirit of spirits.

Err Sreet Not (or That's Awesome)

AWESOME1

I couldn't figure out whether to call this one Err Sreet Not or That's Awesome, cuz both of those phrases show up in the song. Or, like, the sample-dude sounds sort of like he's saying "That's Awesome" in places. But that might be a dumb title for a song, so maybe I should go with Err Sreet Not.

It's a little guitar-driven ditty, I guess you could say. I guess you could say that. I'm not sure what genre it reminds me of, but it reminds me of something. I'm not sure what, though. It's, like, some genre of female vocals and guitar-driven-ness. It's that genre, I guess you could say. But I dunno what it's called, or if it's an actual genre, for that matter.

Herb Shall We Sue a Foot

HERBCAKE

Whoops, that picture's a little lopsided there. Looks kinda like the prayer wheel is floating away.

Okay, wow, usually I just post stuff once a week, but this week is weird. I initially had reservations about posting this here song because the lead singer vocal part sounds like an animal in pain, in places, and I didn't know how that would sit with people. But the animal-in-pain nature of the vocals kind of goes with this week's recent events.

Crap, this is weird. Like, this is turning into the Stand with Standing Rock blog instead of a regular music blog, but I made a deal with myself that I can post as many Standing Rock posts as I want, as long as I include a song in each one. That way, I'm still conforming to the principles of this being a song blog.

But, yeah, after hearing about all these peaceful, unarmed people at Standing Rock getting doused with water cannons in sub-freezing weather, I had to do something about it. Made some phone calls today. All lines were busy at the White House (202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414), which might be a good sign, because I'm guessing lots of other people are making calls for the same reason as me. All lines were busy at the Morton Country Sheriff's dept (701-328-8118), too, but I left a VM.

Here's a link to Mark Ruffalo's Tumblr page. http://markruffalo.tumblr.com/ It's got this really good video on it of a man named Kendrick Eagle, asking President Obama to do something about this situation.

And here's the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's website, again, in case you wanna make a donation. http://standingrock.org/

In short, I felt motivated to post a song today, where I sound like an animal in pain, cuz that's how I feel. This is 2016, and people're bein' brutalized by the powers that be, and when the hell-fuck-hell-fuck-hell are Native Americans gonna start being treated decently????????

But, yeah. at some point, this blog'll go back to its regularly scheduled programming; hopefully sooner rather than later, because that'll mean that this whole thing has been resolved peacefully, and the Sioux Tribe at Standing Rock are finally getting treated with the respect that they deserve.

A Ruh Moo Ah Hedah Hedah

HEDAHEDA

Here's another one of those weird songs. My kitty, Miss Daisy, is in it toward the end. It's not a very long song. I'm trying to figure out what to say about this one. I cain't think of much to say, except that I really like Miss Daisy's meow toward the end.

---

Here's the link to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's website again, so you can donate to them if you want.

http://standingrock.org/

I keep on wanting to post things about this, but I'm never sure what to say, cuz I already said a bunch of stuff a few posts ago. It keeps on freaking me out, and bothering me, and tying my guts on knots, to know that Native American people, who've been getting screwed over (to put it mildly) for 500 years are still getting screwed over and treated like shit in the 21st century. But it looks like the assholes who are trying to stick in this poopy pipeline might be running outta time or something. Like, it's gonna no longer be profitable or something, if they cain't get their dumb pipeline installed by Jan 1st. I hope that happens - I mean, I hope they cain't get their poopy pipeline in there by then, that's what I mean.

It scares me cuz the powers-that-be, which includes the government and all the poopy corporate money powers are all banded together to be all greedy and mean and stupid. And the thing is: it's not like the government or the mainstream media or anyone hooked into this web of corruption even wants to pretend to act like they're all ethical. They're not even trying to hide it anymore, because they don't think we can do anything about it. And I dunno if they're right or wrong. But I'll do whatever I can, cuz fuck them, that's why. Fuck, I dunno what I wanna say. I dunno, man.

But, in any event, I'm kinda getting sick of the forces of evil winning all the time. I hope the good guys (the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, in this case) win this time around. I really hope so.

Nah Suh Duh Cessavie Doolb

BBLUEDRE

Here's another one of those weird ones again. I couldn't figure out how to illustrate this song except to put a blue spirally thingy there. There's a wee bit of more of that perseveration on a theme I keep on doing. I feel kinda bad about all that perseveration. At some point, I might be all reveally and say what it's all about, but at the moment, I'm still bein' all private about the reasons for it (except to say it has something to do with death).

Fuck, I'm not sure what to say about this song. It's kind of sad and blue-colored. It kind of goes with my mood today. It's one of those sad-blue poopy days.

Stoned At The Whole Foods

STONEDWF

This is a song about what it would be like to walk around a Whole Foods store all stoned. I just felt that a song about that had to be written. The world needed a song about being stoned and walking around Whole Foods. I'm guessing it would be pretty intense.

--

On an unrelated note, I'm still gut-wrenchingly sad about how the Water Protectors at Standing Rock, ND are getting brutalized. Argh. I still cain't believe this shit is happening in 21st Century America. So, again, here's a link to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe website, in case you want to make a donation to them.

http://standingrock.org/

Scoops Out

SCOOP0UT

This here song's called "Scoops Out." I just recorded it today. It's another one of those weird ones.

Fucked Up Version of Guardian Angels Song

Guardian Angels Me Backward

Fuck, so I'm really worried about the situation in North Dakota right now, and what's happening to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, as they get brutalized by the militarized police forces because they don't want some dumb oil pipeline to poison their water. (#NoDAPL).

I'm feeling so fucked up right now because I feel like Wounded Knee: Part II is happening in America right now. I feel all dumb and impotent right now because there are awful things happening right now, right as I'm writing this dumb blog post, to a bunch of indigenous people right here in the United States. And why? Why is the government/police-whatever-you-wanna-call 'em moving in and brutalizing a bunch of peaceful people???? Because the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (and a bunch of allies) are tryin' to protect their water. That's it - that's all. They're tryin' to protect their water. And their sacred burial grounds. And their land. That's why they're getting brutalized. 

What the fuck? What the fuck????????????????

So, I drew that picture of a sad face, because that's the icon I'm using the most on Facebook these days. I keep on using it every time I see a post on the awful things going on at Standing Rock. I just keep on using that sad-face icon and feeling all dumb and impotent.

Fuck. So, I'm posting a song, rather impulsively, because I felt like this song goes with the whole situation at hand. It's a fucked up version of the song from last week, the song about guardian angels who can't find the person they're looking out for. That's how I feel right now. I feel like I'm a fucked up guardian angel who wants to look out for the Water Protectors/Peaceful Protesters out there in North Dakota - and watching as they get brutalized and treated like shit (to say the least). I feel just as impotent as the angels in this fucked up version of a song about a fucked up situation. Fuck.

So here's the Standing Rock website link again, in case you wanna give 'em money. 

http://standingrock.org/

Guardian Angels

ANGELS01

I had a dream last week about a woman who got real wasted at a party, and these people were sorta like her guardian angels. They went to save her cuz she was in a sorta unsafe situation. But they couldn't find her. (Oh, no!) That's what this song's about. It's about these guardian angels who go to save their charge, but they can't find her.

Backwards Forwards Presiden

This is the song from last week, but it's what it sounds like when you play it backwards. Actually, it's part of an old song from a long time ago. (The entry for it in this blog is: 5/10/14 But the song was really old even back then.)
The lyrics are:
"Go to sleep sleep really fast and you will not be aroused to find me find me in your head to find me in your head.
I am the president...I am the president of your head." Yesiree.

--

On an unrelated note, I wanted to post the link to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe website again in case you wanna donate some money to them as they fight against the stupid Dakota Access pipeline.
http://standingrock.org/
It's creeping me out, big-time, that I'm living in the United States, and there's this big media blackout. I mean, none of the major news outlets are reporting this stuff that's going on there. And actual reporters that are there are getting thrown in jail and their cameras are getting taken away. And there's all this military force being used on people sitting in peaceful prayer and trying to protect their water source. I feel like I'm living in some horrible dictatorship. Maybe this country never was as free as I thought it was in the first place, and now it's just becoming more clear what a fucked up place it is. I mean, it never was that good of a country, given that it was founded on genocide. (90% of the indigenous people being wiped out is what I mean).
Anyway, yeah. These are crazy times we're living in. And it feels like time is speeding up. But that's a topic for another time.

Fucked up Song About a President

PRESIDNT

This is a fucked up song about a president. It's really hard to tell that's what it's about because it's one of those weird ones.

Erdinisar Crow-Person

Erdinisar Crow Person

Here's the next song; it's another one of those cryptic ones. It's called Erdinisar Crow-Person. The picture above is a really old picture of a crow. I was too lazy to draw a new one.

Oh, poopshit. I just noticed that I accidentally posted the "Custer's Old Command" entry twice. I'm not sure how that happened. Whoops. I think Blog Spot sometime malfunctions, and that's why it's there twice. Sorry about that.

Custer's Old Command

Custers old command

Custers old command 2

This is kind of an old song, but in light all the icky stuff happening to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota, I decided to post it.

See, it's a song about a kid whose dad and uncle are telling him about the Wounded Knee Massacre. The kid is sad because of the things he's getting told about, and he's sad cuz his dad's gonna die soon. I've posted 2 mixes because the first one sounds good in headphones and shitty on my car stereo, and the second one sounds shitty in headphones and good on my car stereo.

The picture above ain't exactly directly applicable to the song. But I figured it was appropriate since it's a picture of sad guys.

I got really sad because Native American people keep on getting screwed over by the powers-that-be. It's like, when's it gonna stop? This nation was founded on genocide, and you'd think that in the 21st century, things'd be better. But things still suck.  I guess greedy people getting rich off of an oil pipeline is more important than a whole bunch of people having safe drinking water. It's such bullshit.

So, you know, I posted this song cuz I wanted to add my voice to the protest going on. Not that the song is directly applicable. It's just that it speaks to the general theme of horrible things happening to Native American people.

Here's a link to the Standing Rock Sioux website - it has a link where you can donate to them.

http://standingrock.org/

I wish I could join the  protest in person, but like so many Americans, I cain't get away from work. Crap.

Custer's Old Command

Custers old command

Custers old command 2

This is kind of an old song, but in light all the icky stuff happening to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota, I decided to post it.

See, it's a song about a kid whose dad and uncle are telling him about the Wounded Knee Massacre. The kid is sad because of the things he's getting told about, and he's sad cuz his dad's gonna die soon. I've posted 2 mixes because the first one sounds good in headphones and shitty on my car stereo, and the second one sounds shitty in headphones and good in my car stereo.

The picture above ain't exactly directly applicable to the song. But I figure it was appropriate since it's a picture of sad guys.

I got really sad because Native American people keep on getting screwed over by the powers-that-be. It's like, when's it gonna stop? This nation was founded on genocide, and you'd think that in the 21st century, things'd be better. But things still suck.  I guess greedy people getting rich off of an oil pipeline is more important than a whole bunch of people having safe drinking water. It's such bullshit.

So, you know, I posted this song cuz I wanted to add my voice to the protest going on. Not that the song is directly applicable. It's just that general theme of horrible things happening to Native American people.

Here's a link to the Standing Rock Sioux website - it has a link where you can donate to them.

http://standingrock.org/

I wish I could join the  protest in person, but like so many Americans, I cain't get away from work. Crap.

Master Procrastinator

Master Procrastinator

This song's called Master Procrastinator. It's kinda abstract...I think it's about a guy who has sorta trickster-ish characteristics. I'm not sure how happy I am with the recording, though. But I can redo it at some point if I want.

In Memory of Baby Charlie (What An Asshole You Got For A Dad)

ASHOLDAD

I'm posting this song in memory of my Baby Charlie, who went to Heaven this week. I hadn't originally posted the song back when I first recorded it because I was afraid people were getting tired of that theme I was perseverating on. Y'know, the recurring theme that runs throughout that album I finished about a year ago. But, I like the song, itself. It's about a man who drops a cake. He drops Herbie's cake. Then he berates himself for it (i.e., calls himself an asshole). The reason I'm posting it in memory of my cat is because she meows twice in the song - near the beginning and then near the end of the song. I mean, even if the song had sucked, having Charlie in it would have made it cool no matter what.

I've recorded some newer songs, but I gotta re-do the vocals because they suck. I'll get those out there as soon as I can.

Purple Sea/ If Fear Had Purple Neon Crosswark

PURPLSEA

This first song I got from a dream this morning. I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be about alcohol.

If fear had purpleneoncro 2

This song is another one of those cryptic ones. It's, I guess, about um, what might happen if fear had purple neon crosswalks. (Except it's pronounced "crosswark").

Madame Hoserstucken

MADAM001

Here's another one of those cryptic songs. This one's a dark one, I guess you could say. It feels like a dark one, or it has a darkish flavor to it. The dudes sound like they're saying "Madame Hoserstucken." and "Your life and the lessons for which nyinndimooid." (Or something along those lines).

Blue Dream Was His Medicine

BLUDREAM

This is a song about a dude, well, I think it's about Iktomi the Lakota trickster figure (the dude on the left in the picture). And he smokes lots of pot, cuz Blue Dream is his medicine. He's sad cuz the world got mean. And then I repeat that "he sees that it's gone" theme again. I cain't tell you why I do that so much, except that it has something to do with death. That's about it.

Freeways Sit In Your Shoes; and All Directions There Will Off

FREEWAYS

The first song is a song I got from a dream this morning. It's kind of surreal and abstract cuz of the dream-like nature of it. It's a song about depressed freeways. And about a person with depression singing about depressed freeways.

ALLDIREC

This is one of those cryptic songs. Just one more cryptic song to go before I'm done with the whole cryptic album. And then I'll be able to tell y'all what it's about.

I got this picture from the dream where I got the song. Actually, weirdly enough, I dreamed I was trying to write down the notes and chords of the song but kept on screwing it up. Then I realized I'd drawn this picture of guys being chased by music in the same notebook as I was writing the freeway song in.

You're In Reality

You're In Reality

Backwards in reality

The picture for this song is of 2 guys comin' to terms with their fucked up reality. It sorta goes with this song. I guess so.

I had a dream about a week ago, where I knew I was dreaming. In the dream, I knew that in real life, I wanted to get up relatively early, so I wanted to wake myself up and look at my alarm clock. But every time I thought I'd woken myself up, I discovered I was still dreaming! (Like, I knew, cuz my bedroom had weird stuff in it that's not there in real life). I was gettin' real frustrated. Then I heard this song playing and I was able to wake myself up and write it down. Well okay, actually, the 2nd part of this song was what started playing. I tacked on the first part after the fact.

In tacking on the first part, I was attempting to make a symmetrical song - y'know, if you play it backwards, it would be the same as if you played if frontwards. Here're the 2 versions. Although I had to cheat with the backwards one - the different tracks didn't really sync up the way I wanted them to, so I had to shift some of them slightly forward, timewise, and others backwards, timewise.

Juan? Homer-Willing!

JUANH0MR

This new song's called "Juan? Homer-Willing!" 

It's very odd; this here blog had 95 page views yesterday, and then 0 today. Whuh? That's just plain odd.

Anyway....this is the next in that series of weird, cryptic songs. I think I have 2 more to go before I'm all-the-way-done with this here project. Fartknockers.

Beverage Boy

Beverage boy

This song's called Beverage Boy, which makes it sound like it might be a regular song, but it's not. It's another one of those experimenal weird ones, where a lot of it is not in English (but some of it is). The part about the Beverage Boy getting angry at the Luggage-Gun Company is in English. That's kind of funny.

Anywayyyyyy....this is part of that weird project. I have 3 more songs before before I come outta the closet about what this album is about. Maybe that'll be in a month or so.

The picture is an excerpt from one of the graphic novels I'm working on. I thought it went well with the song, since it's called Beverage Boy, and the picture is of guys drinking beer.

Another Weird Mystery-Song

IKTOMBBK

Here's the next song of that weird project I'm a-working on. I think I have 6 more songs to go, and then I'll tell the world what this is all about. Dood.

It Helps In The Movment

It Help In The Movment New Gtr

Here's another one of those cryptic songs....it's hard to tell (cuz of its cryptic nature), but it's sung from the point of view of Iktomi. He's the guy on the left in the picture. The guy on the right is Nanabush.

(If you lookit that comic strip below, you'll see that the dude wearing glasses was originally Nanapush, a Louise Erdrich character. He underwent a change of identity in the new book I'm writin', and now he's Iktomi. The picture up above, that's an excerpt from the new book. Poopity poop poop poop).

This Is The Best Song Ever Written In The History Of Song Writing

Daisymeows

It's the best because Daisy wrote it.

(Beware, there's a loud clunk in the middle of it - if yer listening on headphones, make sure the volume isn't too loud so that the clunk doesn't hurt your ears).

The Adventures of Nanapush and Nanabush

I had a dream about these 2 old guys; one's Nanapush, a Louise Erdrich character; and the other's Namabush (or Nanabozho), whom Nanapush is named after. I dunno if this weird-ass fan-fiction comic strip'll evolve into something larger or not. I dunno yet. I like these 2 old men, though; they made an impression on me.

Sworga

SWORGA01

Oh, goodness, I gots me 2 projects going on at once. Here's the next installment of the mystery-project, y'know, the one where I'm not tellin' anybody what it's about. But, as I said earlier, the answer to the darn thing is hidden in plain sight. It sure is.

Hill Song #3

MINOR002

Similar to the first Song of the Hill (see the entry from 4/29 for the back story), I was lying in bed, all sleepy, when this version of the song came to me. It's the same song, but a different version. I'm coming to the realization that I'm writing a requiem album for this poor, nice hill, that's getting ripped up. I'm very sad. Pictured above is the newest flier that I posted across the street from the destruction. I'm a sad camper. I'm doin' everything I can think of for that poor hill, and it still doesn't feel like enough. But, at the same time, I feel as honored as all get-out to be receiving these songs from that nice hill. Like I said earlier, I hope I do right by you, friend.

Second Version of the Hill Song

Forwardsbackwardshillsong

Hill song

Take a look at the blog entry below (from 4/29) for the full description of how I derived this song (if you haven't seen it already). (Then come back to this one (if you want).)

The song in this entry is basically a cover of the original song from 4/29 (but I included the original recording below it, for reference).

In news about the hill across the street from me...I think it was a few days ago that the soul of the hill finally left. I can tell...the soul of the hill just ain't there anymore. It no longer looks anything much-at-all like the picture below. I'm not gonna post what it looks like now, because that might be too traumatic to the average viewer. It sucks to live here and see the destruction happen on a daily basis. In any event, the picture above is my most recent flier that I'm posting on telephone poles and such to rebel against the assholes that are ripping out all the trees and ripping the hillside apart. It refers to the fact that I used to hear coyotes at night on that hill on a weekly basis. Not anymore. I don't know why rich developers have to destroy everything and us average citizens have nothing we can do about it.

In any event, I recorded a second version of the song. It's probably not hard to figure out how I made the vocals and guitars sound all weird.

It's odd, because in one sense, this new recording sounds a little bit more like how the song sounded when the hill originally sung it to me than the original recording...and in some senses, it sounds a little less like how it sounded when the hill originally sung it to me.

I feel sad that the hill's spirit has gone away. But I hope the spirit of the hill and all the trees are having a good time in Heaven.

The Song of the Hill

Hill song

[Brief synopsis: I did not write this song. The hill across the street from me did.]

There is this hill across the street from where I live; it's covered with all these beautiful trees, and birds go there and sing, and sometimes I hear coyotes at night.

Or at least that's how it used to be. Then these assholes came and started ripping out all the trees. I'm sure they're gonna put an ugly building there. It's ripping my heart out. It's tearing me apart to see this devastation. It's tearing me apart to see an ecosystem totally destroyed in front of my eyes.

I shoulda known it was coming. A few months ago, I dreamed of a hill with trees on it, and all the trees got ripped out of the ground. I never made the connection between that and the hill that I live across from. And then it happened. Shit, man.

Well, anyway, I feel so stupid and helpless. I feel all impotent. I can't do anything about it. I can't do anything to stop this atrocity. All I could think to do was make fliers with the Lorax on them speaking on behalf of the trees and put 'em up on phone poles and such. It's odd; I feel really good about that act of protest, even though it's not gonna do any good.

But last weekend, when I finally came to terms with the awfulness of what was happening, I kept on asking the spirit world what the fuck I should do about it. The answer I got was to listen for the Song of the Hill.

See, okay, that needs a bit of unpacking.

One belief I have is that every being has a song.

Okay, I think I need to do even more unpacking.

I think that hill has a spirit. A few nights ago, I got the message that the spirit of a hill isn't just the dirt. It isn't just the geological formation. That spirit also is of the trees and little plants and all that is growing on that hill. Now that this awful construction is happening, that spirit is going away. When it's reduced to just a mound of dirt, that is when I will know that hill's spirit has gone to Heaven.

So, the message I got was to listen for the song of the spirit of the hill. See, I believe every being has a song that's their very own song. It's sort of like a calling card for the spirit world to be able to recognize you. You sing your song, and the spirit world'll know who you are. The Objibwe people (and probably others) talk about people as having death songs. Those're songs you sing when you're about to die and enter the spirit world. That way the spirit world knows you're coming.

So, anyway, last weekend, I got the message that I should listen for - and then sing - the hill's song. I should listen for the hill's song and sing it.

So, I told the hill, "I'm listening for your song; you don't have to feel pressured to sing it to me, though. Only do so if you think it's a good idea."

For about a week, I was getting some snatches of music here and there and thought, okay, this might be something.

And then last night, oh dear lord!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sitting there in bed, drifting off to sleep when this song comes  to me and hits me like a ton of bricks! Holy crap! Good thing I had enough frontal lobe functioning at that point to get my keyboard and figure out all the notes and chords and write it down.

So, that's what this song is.

I wish I could say that this is purely song of the hill, but I must admit that there's one part that's sort of my own mantra, but the rest of it belongs to the hill. I kinda think of the my-mantra-ish part as bein' sorta a connecty bit between one part of the song and another part of the song. And it goes well with the rest of it. (One hint - it's the part that's in English).

Now, I can't say with 100% certainty that this is the Song of the Hill. It could be a song that was downloaded from another source. But I think there's a very good chance this could be the Hill's song. And if that's the case, I hope I did right by you, Hill. I hope I did a good job of recording your song, because I know it is very sacred.

I'll miss you much, when your spirit finally goes away all-the-way. I'll miss you, and I appreciate you, and I apologize on behalf of my short-sighted, unwise species.

Not Here When I'm King

NOTKING1

There is a new project I'm working on that I'm not telling anybody about. I'll most likely tell people about it at some point, but I'm not a-telling people about it yet cuz I wanna keep it to myself for a while. So instead of telling people or not telling people, I'm just gonna hide this fucking thing in plain sight. I dunno if people'll listen to this song that's part of the project and know what it's about or not. But it is altogether possible for people to be able to tell what this is. As I said, it's hiding in plain sight. All that.

See, it's sort of like a murder mystery, where all the clues are there, and you just gotta put 'em together right. All the clues are here for a person to be able to tell what this project is about, but I dunno how easy it would be.

Years Ago

YRSAGO02

Okay, well, I mean, the picture really has nothing to do with the song. It's just that I thought of a particular cat-Bernie meme but was too shy to post it on Facebook. I was also too shy to post this song on it, too. But I'll put it on here and people might stumble upon it.

Anyway, this song is probly one of my more abstract ones, y'know. I found that as I was trying to come up with lyrics, they were just coming out...dumb. But then I realized, wait, why'm I adhering to Western logic? Maybe time CAN be a meal!!!!

I dunno, man. Okay, here's the weird thing. I finished that one album a while back, but I'm still repeating the main theme of that there album. I'm not saying that I'm continuing to write that album, cuz I feel that piece of work is complete the way it is. No, it's more like that theme, that main theme...it keeps on wanting me to write it. It keeps on coming to me and say, "write me." It floats on the wind and lands inside my brain and sez, I belong here, in this here song.

I think I'm bein' a minimalist, in a sense, in the truest sense of the word, cuz this theme keeps on emerging and wanting to have variations of it written. How many variations can you write when the theme of it comes from Heaven? Probably quite a lot, in a case like that. Yup, you can probably come up with lots of variations when it's a Heaven-based theme.

Bernie's The Only One

This is the MP3 version - it should work on iPads, iPhones, and other portable electronic devices.

BERNIE!!

M4a version (doesn't work on iPods or iPhones, but is of a higher quality).

Download BERNIE!!

I don't usually do political songs because I suck at writing songs about concrete stuff. My songs work better, in general, when they're more abstract.

But then I got real upset about the results of last Tuesday's primaries. Fuckity fuckity fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. I really want Bernie to win. So I wrote a song cuz I was real upset, and I felt dumb, and I wanted to do something about this sucky situation.

I really do believe America is a sinking ship. I don't think Hillary's gonna do anything to change that, since she is so heavily sponsored by the Corporate Money Powers that want to keep things the way they are. Things're getting worse and worse, and Bernie's the only person (in my opinion) running for president who gives a damn about wanting to fix things.

I do fear that the life of this country is going to be pretty short. I don't think we have much longer before this empire collapses. And Bernie's the only one who seems to care about that. Fuckity fuck.

So I wrote this song, cuz even if it doesn't change anything, I might as well give it a try. I mean, try to change things.

Letsee here. Some notes. Dude, I have the COLD FROM HELL!!!! As such, my vocals REALLY SUCK. I make no bones about that. My vocals really, really suck on this recording. But, given all the primaries coming up this coming week, I figured this situation was too time-sensitive for me to wait any longer to record the damn thing.

Another note: the part about Jesus. I think in a rock-genre, usually when people talk about Jesus, they're bein' all sarcastic and whatnot. Lemme say for the record, I'm not bein' sarcastic when I say Bernie reminds me of Jesus. He really does. So, there.

Ugh, politics. Weird that I'm singing about them. I don't usually sing about them. Maybe next week, I'll go back to singing about...um, I'm not sure what I usually sing about. But I'll go back to that, whatever it is.