April 22, 2008
Final Project
Here is the track listing and credits for my project:
1. Peg & Awl (Traditional, Arrangement by Matthew Lewis) –
Vox, Claps: Matthew Lewis, Michael Martin, Rocky Block
Guitars: Matthew Lewis, Michael Martin
2. Oh Sunny (Matthew Lewis) -
Vox, Guitars: Matthew Lewis, Michael Martin
Harmonica: Matthew Lewis
3. Stagger Lee (Traditional, Arrangement by M. Lewis, M. Martin, M. Roney) –
Vox, Claps: Matthew Lewis, Michael Martin, Matt Roney, Aaron Mondry
Guitars: M. Roney, M. Lewis, M. Martin
4. Chain Gang (Sam Cooke) –
Vox: Matthew Lewis, Michael Martin
Guitars, Tambourine: Matthew Lewis
Empty Beer Bottle: Michael Martin
5. Two-Step Blues (Matthew Lewis) – Vox, Guitars: Matthew Lewis, Michael Martin
Tambourine: Michael Martin
With the help of some friends I recorded five songs. I consider the song to be the basic unit of popular music. I wanted to frame my project as an album of songs. I've always liked the "album" as a unit of music. In a way, the album is a complex system in which seemingly disparate songs are compiled into a single unit. Albums can be highly conceptual and function as a single work of art that occurs in movements through its songs; they can also function as the medium on which to compile individual songs as independent units (e.g. singles). Greatest hits collections are examples of albums emphasizing songs as individual units, whereas something like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is an example of a "conceptual" album. The album was the frame within which I wanted to make my project. This proved difficult seeing as I was dependent upon the help of others to make it, so I ended up with five songs, thus changing the frame of my project to an EP, an "Extended Play" record somewhere in between a single and an album.
The project was also framed by my limited musical abilities. I have always been a huge fan of music, but never really learned to play an instrument. I know how to play a bit of guitar, though I do not own one or practice regularly. I learned what I do know from my friend Mike, who taught me some chords a few summers back, and we've since played together a few times here and there. Before this project I had never recorded myself singing. I have a pretty limited vocal range, so this was another framing factor in the creation of this project. I had no experience with recording before this project, and I was lucky to have my friend Mike Martin's assistance. Mike's band The Rocks can be heard here: http://myspace.com/xtherocksx.
We recorded the material on Pro Tools, which is hardware for digital recording on the computer. When Matt Roney and I initially discussed doing a project together, we thought we would use only analogue technology, but this proved difficult and impractical. Instead, I decided to record songs in which all sounds were created organically (no sampling, no synthesizers). I also wanted to play a good deal of the instruments and sing, which explains the sometimes tone-deaf singing and inconsistent rhythms of some of the guitars. Nonetheless, the songs are relatively cohesive.
I am a big fan of American roots music and traditional songs, which is part of the reason I decided to record a version of the first song of my project, "Peg and Awl." The version of the song we based ours on is by the Carolina Tar Heels, which can be heard here. This song is about a cobbler who knows nothing other than to peg shoes. The lyrics go:
"In the days of eighteen and one Peg and Awl...
In the days of eighteen and one peggin' shoes is all I've done.
Hand me down my pegs my pegs my pegs my awl"
Each verse is a new year in which the same thing happens, that is until a new machine gets invented and makes the cobbler obsolete because it can make one hundred pairs of shoes to his one. I wanted to do this song because it reflects how I felt at the beginning of this class. I am more of a traditional learner and worried that I would be obsolete in "the classroom of tomorrow." I kept thinking about a quotation from Henry Ford II that I had read last semester in Thomas Sugrue's book Origins of the Urban Crisis. Ford said, "Obsolescence is the hallmark of progress." I have little computer skills (writing this blog entry is a struggle) and felt disdainful that I was expected to learn programs that were completely foreign to me on my own. Now I feel grateful because this feeling compelled me to record a song about it, which is something I had never done before. Obsolescence compelled the writing of the song "Peg and Awl" as much as it compelled me to perform it.
The second song of my project, "Oh Sunny," is an original composition. It's the first song I have ever written. I came up with the chords and my friend Mike helped me arrange them into a more structured song. We then figured out the vocal melody and I put words to it. The lyrics are more or less mindless drivel, so don't judge too harshly. I played a two-note recurrent lead guitar part throughout the tune, around which Mike based a little more complex part, which we split-panned in the stereo mix. We added a track with some noisier guitar and out-of-key harmonica last.
The third song of the project, "Stagger Lee," is another traditional song. Our version is mostly based on the Lloyd Price version from 1959. I was attracted to this song because Stagger Lee is one of the most recurrent figures in American music. You can read more about the character of Stagger Lee here. I thought it would be cool to join this tradition by recording my own version of "Stagger Lee," which had been done by many artists from Mississippi John Hurt to The Clash.
The fourth song we recorded is a version of Sam Cooke's classic "Chain Gang." You can listen to the original song here I was attracted to this song because for me it represents the ultimate fusion of popular and traditional music. It has a beautiful pop melody, yet its lyrics hearken back to field songs and its percussion actually recreates the sound of men hammering on the chain gang. We attempted to recreate this percussion with an empty beer bottle and a tambourine. I played both guitars on this track. I think this song has the best sounding vocals in this project (which I guess is not saying much).
The fifth and final song we recorded, "Two-Step Blues," is another original. It was done in the style of a soul pop number. I came up with the melody of the verses, then sort of boosted the bridge from Otis Redding's "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" and appropriated its melody to the refrain of our song. I also took the idea of a whistled melody from Otis. The vocals sound particularly rough because they are not over-dubbed, but I wanted to hear my naked voice in a song.
Thus concludes my project and English 340.
Here are a few poems/writings I made over the term but didn't post:
"Winter on the North Side"
Must be a coincidence.
The blackblue river echoed in the tunnel beneath the bridge. A gust of headwind hit him wide-eyed. She was looking at the steeples.
S’posed to snow tonight.
How Sentimental.
Cars lined Division. Parking was legal only on Sundays—for the faithful.
A swarm of crows startled at the whistle of an inbound train from Pontiac. He always preferred Indian place names to mestizo ones.
After the whistle had long died from the air he said,
I only mentioned it ‘cause you’re a lousy fucking driver, and you should account for the possible delay.
I’m well aware the winter’s not over yet.
"Progress"
Progress! The old belief
Had gone up shit’s creek.
A time honored tradition
Of immemorial usage.
This is what we hoped for.
The New World was what we got.
Old Tom Jeff and Uncle Albert
Marched off in the parade.
The redman shrugged his shoulders,
Faced about and walked away.
Man’s latest and greatest achievement
Had archaized everything
Leaving the people to wade through
The lackluster waste of history.
The library was built anew
On a landfill of yesteryear.
The books were unbound therein,
And there was nothing left to fear.
"The Modern Era"
Irony,
With no hope left for sincerity
And no memory of sobriety,
Will be the downfall of society.
Objective:
Our entire being affected,
The uncool resurrected,
All happiness dissected.
Posted by mjlew at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)
