Oct 1997 Songs Taped while driving cross-country. dictated by Ric Carter |
NEVER BEFORE Arizona - 11 Oct 1997
OK, part of a song: chord progression - HEY JOE progression: FCGDA, with at various times, one of the chords being held over, played in triplets, for during vocal extensions. OK, and the song is something like:
Never before, never before, never before, never before, Have I wanted you like this; Never before, never before, never before, never before, Have I felt like this; Never before, never before, never before, never before, Have I wanted to kiss you so much; O I hope I hope, I hope I hope, I hope I hope, That I don't piss you off too much; Never before, never before, never before, never before... -- Never before have I wanted to touch you so much; Never before have I wanted you so much; O I hope I hope, I hope I hope, I hope I hope, You've got the same feelings; O I hope I hope, I hope I hope, I hope I hope, That you're also reeling; O I hope I hope, I hope I hope, I hope I hope, That it is your heart that I am stealing; Never before, never before, never before, never never never before...JESUS ON THE MAIN LINE Texas - 13 Oct 1997
Jesus on the mainline / tell him what you want O Jesus on the mainline / tell him what you want O you can call him up and tell him what you want -- O if you're hot and horny / tell him what you want And you need a little honey / tell him what you want 'Cause you can call him up and tell him what you want -- If you've been infected / tell him what you want You need to get injected / tell him what you want 'Cause you can call him up and tell him what you want -- Feeling like you're down a quart? / tell him what you want And you need a little snort / tell him what you want O you can call him up and tell him what you want -- If you've feelin' pissed-off / tell him what you want 'Cause your life was kissed-off / tell him what you want 'Cause you can call him up and tell him what you want -- If you're flat-u-lated / tell him what you want 'Cause you gut's di-la-ted / tell him what you want O you can call him up and tell him what you want -- If you're feeling low-down / tell him what you want You gotta bring that ho' down / tell him what you want 'Cause you can call him up and tell him what you want -- If you're de-hy-dra-ted / tell him what you want You're de-oxy-ribo-nucle-ated / tell him what you want Yes you can call him up and tell him what you want / [falsetto] wantHOW DISAPPOINTING Oklahoma - 14 Oct 1997
O we went by Area 51 / but we didn't see no ETs We didn't get abducted / how disappointing -- I drove through ROS-well / I didn't see no flying saucers The only aliens were French'n'German'Japanese / how disappointing -- We walked to the MYS-tery spot / but gravity didn't disappear We didn't roll uphill / how disappointing -- I went to the Very Large Array / all them radiotelescope THANGS I didn't get fried'r'nothin' / how disappointing -- I went out to the Giant Rock / I was waitin' fer the Space Brothers But they didn't show up that day / They must've been somewhere else How disappointing / how very disappointing -- I saw the mutilated cattle / but weren't no Reptilioids gnawin'em< Just a few buzzards an'the like / how disappointing -- I went by Mount Shasta / I had my crystals all polished up Went lookin' fer Lemurians / didn't find any, nary a one How disappointing / how focking disappointing -- I ate a bunch'a magic cactus / a-waitin' fer mystic REV-elations But all I got was nauseated an' I threw up / how very disappointing -- I offered myself to various / deities'n'demons'n'dem-EYE-gods'n'th'like But none of'em wanted me / maybe I hadn't snorted enough incense How dis-a-point-ing, dis-a-point-ing...THE BALLAD OF THE PEOPLE Arkansas - 14 Oct 1997
[chanting] Grandly the hills rise around us / grandly the trees grow on them Grandly the valleys surround us / grandly the rivers flow through them Gratefully we worship our land -- Long ago our neighbors, our enemies, came down on us They swept on/[through] us / they killed us We fought back as we could / we killed as many of them as we could This has been going on since before we remember Staunchly we worship our land -- Sometimes our new neighbors, our new enemies, are too strong And they push us off [of] our holy land, to other holy land Grandly we worship the land / bloodily we fight for the land Mightily we fight for the land -- Sometimes we are pushed onto land [where there are]/[of] weaker people And we will kill them, so we may live /grandly we worship the bloody land Grandly, gratefully [, staunchly, mightily] we worship the blood -- Gloriously the skies surge above us Grandly the clouds sail [through] the skies Grandly the stars walk [among]/above us Grandly the Sun runs its route every day Gloriously the Moon rides its path every month -- Gloriously we worship the Sun and the Moon and the stars and the skies and the land and the hills and the trees and the rivers and the valleys We must sacrifice many to [fulfill]/empower this worship We must take those who are young and weak, for they will not be missed We will take those who are old and weak, for they will not be missed We take those who fall from favor with us, for they will not be missed These we sacrifice to the world around us / these will not be missed -- Gladly we keep to our ancient ways Gladly we keep to the ways our elders taught us This is how it has always been They teach us how is has always been We shall continue to always do it like this For this is what we know / this is who we are -- Slowly we build / quickly it is torn down Slowly we build it again / always, it has been like this Gladly we practice our ancient magic Gladly we sacrifice those who would [try to] bring us new magic We cannot take the new, we can only keep the old For this is what we know / this is who we are -- Glorious the sacrifice before the hunt Glorious the hunt, the pursuit, the killing, the devouring Glorious the sacrifice after the hunt Glorious the sacrifice / holy the blood -- We bind our muscles with hide and twine We bind our wounds with leather and moss and leaves Our wounds, we burn leaves over / that they [may] be healed by the smoke Our wounds, we pray over / that they [may] be healed by the gods Our dead, we devour / for they will not be missed The dead of the enemy, we devour / for they will not be missed Those [of the] enemy who are not killed in battle, we sacrifice, gloriously [un]to our gods and to our land and to our sky and to our world / for they will not be missed -- Glorious the sacrifice / glorious the killing / glorious the blood For this is what we know / this is what we are [end chant]OK, enough of that ironic little bloody piece, eh?DRIVING Tennessee - 14 Oct 1997
I drove thousands of miles on a grim mission Thought it would be an exploration But it was just work, yes it was just work But I did it because it was right And because I thought it would be an excitement But it was just work, and it was just right -- So I drive over the river that flows on through the night And I drive on down the freeway that passes Graceland on the right And I drive over the potholes and the speedbumps of my life And I can't look at the scenery 'cause the speedwall's a bit too tight -- So I'm driving off in all directions following some flawed directions But doin' the best I can doin' what I can / 'cause it's right Drivin' on through the night the road ends somewhere, but I'm not there yet The police lights flash like blue photon torpedoes but they ain't hit me yet -- Oh the navigation at night is always atrocious The construction at night is pretty ferocious The traffic comes on from all directions Ya never quite know which way you're goin' This is a metaphor too, of course For life, as well as for drivin' the courseNOVA SEXAPHONE Tennessee - 14 Oct 1997
Oh I like to think about recombinant DNA I like to think about desktop gene-splicing I like to think about centrifuging gene-hacking And self-ex-per-i-men-ta-tion -- Oh s'pose you could go / and rewrite your own genes what would you do? How would you rebuild yourself if that's what you could do? Would you give yourself a bigger brain? or another, extra brain? Would you give yourself a bigger cock? or an extra cock, or two? Would you give yourself smaller buns? or extra buns, or maybe no buns at all? Would you give yourself perfect tits? or extra tits, or very strange-shaped tits? What kind of self-modifying gene-splicing would you do? -- Would you change your sex, your color, your species? How 'bout engineering yourself to be an eagle with a brain? What kind of gene-splicing would you do, would you do? What kind of gene-splicing would you do? -- Would you make extra copies of yourself? Do you think the world really needs ny perfect clones of you? How 'bout making some copies that wouldn't live on earth? How 'bout gene-splicing yourself for spacial environments? How 'bout gene-splicing yourself for the surface of Mars? How 'bout gene-splicing yourself for the surface of Venus? How 'bout gene-splicing yourself for the surface of Jupiter? How 'bout making yourself something totally transcendent? How 'bout that? Huh? How 'bout that? -- But if you were to gene-splice some extra copies of yourself And then have some sex with your clones... Would that be... what would that be? Would that be incest? / Would that be masturbation? Or would that just be, focking yourself over? / What would it be? -- I tried gene-splicing myself I tried all sorts of genetic grafting I tried all sorts of mutation'n'modification But so far it has't worked I'm still me / I'm still just me I'm still just me / Oh woe...I MUST BE IN AMERICA Tennessee - 15 Oct 1997
Oh the roads're filled with squashed somethin'r'other I must be in America [in America] It usta be an animal / it usta be mah heart It usta be the collective unconsciousness -- Oh the roads are lined with paper-thin woods That're fulla darkness, DREAMS / that're fulla secrets They're hiding the great clear-cuts beyond They're hiding the vacuums inside -- And rivers an'streams flow through what's left of the woods They're fulla toxic pollution / they're fulla mutated fish They're full of whatever is left over / left over, left over Left over, left over, left over, left over... -- And the rivers that drain our collective unconscious They're fulla dreams / they're fulla fears They're fulla mammalian anxiety Yah I must be in America -- There're shining lines, giant powerline robots An'signs for home-cooked catfish / signs for rock crystal Signs telling kids they should quack like ducks Hot damn! I must be in America -- And cowering, shivering down the turnpikes' meaty grassy median Are the dogs'n'rabbits'n'possums that aren't roadkill yet, not yet They will be as soon as they cross over, same as us W're all roadkill, here in AmericaHYMNAL Virginia - 16 Oct 1997
Idea for another music piece, heh heh heh: Heavy Metal guitar bass uh drums thumping away in a short repeated pattern, ah overlaid on it in a very gutteral [satanic] voice: JESUS IS LORD! Um and do, treat that voice in a Violin-Phase type thing, of overlays, um and see where it leads. Maybe throw in other Xian catch-phrases: REPENT, REPENT! Um, y'know, stuff of that ilk.
Or do the Repent piece as a separate piece, similar but not identical, sampled rhythm pattern, uh and treat the REPENT vocal track with echo-arpeggiation and the like. And time-domain dissection.
And, to show that I'm not prejudiced, do similar pieces based on ALLAH IS GREAT, INSH'ALLAH, and uh HARE KRSNA, and whatever other religious chants I come across. Skewer'em all. In fact, do a whole collecton of such treatments of religious material, and call that album HYMNS or HYMNAL. Heh heh.
CONJUNCTION Ohio - 21 Oct 1997
[singing slow, emphatically] Disappearing in the ha-a-aze... Venus fly, Venus try, Venus why-y-y? I called the information desk I searched the papers for a clue-ue -- The horizon shows no si-i-ign... Venus set, Venus wet, Venus ye-e-et... My inquisition bears no fruit My intuition's dead and co-old -- [whistle break theme] The puzzle's sealed inside a dull black box That has no key nor signatory [reprise break whistle] -- The clouds are staring down on me-e-e... Venus rot, Venus hot, Venus no-o-ot... And so I travel endlessly With infinite stones to overturn -- [whistle same slow 1st couplet] The arrowhead's inside my back The wounds are too great to ignore [whistle same theme] [and repeat and fade out...]SHOW ME Ohio - 21 Oct 1997
[recited] show me your fear, lay it out like a rose you've just clipped, separate the petals, look for the, the core, the heart, the pisils and stamen. but a cultivated rose / has none of those; only a wild rose has a core. -- show me your heart, show me the heart like a fury you've just uncovered, separate its factors like petals, look deep inside, for the core, for the heart. does only a wild fear / have a heart, like a rose? -- show me your love, separate its petals, its valves, its fears, its stem, its blossoms / how does your heart grow? how does your heart know? show me your heartROLL THAT FUNKY LIZARD New Mexico - 28 Oct 1997
[chanting] "Roll that funky lizard, twist that funky lizard... If they're trying to poison you, they're not your friends Twist that funky lizard, boy, rolly my funky lizard, girl Friends don't help you screw up your mind and body The worst day funkin' is better than the best day workin' All your favorite gods are deep inside you Tapeworms need friends too Burn to love, love to burn If your life is not your own, what the *hell* are you doin'? I cahn, I cahn't, I cahn, I cahn't, I cahn't cahn't cahn't, I cahn cahn cahn Get down, Mahmoud, dig that funky Koran If they're psychic, they'll call *you* Oh it's G-L-O-R-Y to be N-U-K-E-D Grab the worm, nuke the sperm / Grab the tush, burn the bush Wrap your troubles in dreams, and flush'em down the drain" [end chanting]and continuing in Arizona, 29 Oct 1997: "More lines for heavily-processed songs:We're all unindicted coconspirators! I am not a crook! Que sera focking sera! Am I having sex yet? My other car is a bulldozer. Ya can't get here from there."
Ric Carter, ric@sonic.net, www.sonic.net/~ric, copyright © by OTRSS