Track 24: Argle Bargle

A few random tracks recorded here and there, written between 1998 and 2010 - some are improvised, a few done on the quick, some created with effort - there's a novelty, a lark, a quarrel, an experiment, and a Jesus song.

I paid a dollar for the cover image, but when I attempted to change the background, it balked and wouldn't allow me the image anymore -bastards! I had to pay another dollar... so there you are, the $2 "Argle Bargle" cover.

 

Your Pretty Mouth
Written on June 12, 2010

This was one of my experimental songs, where I lay down the drum track first and wrap the chords around it and then come up with a melody and lyrics, kind of backward from how I traditionally do it. I blindly pressed a random letter when the recorder asked for a title, I hit the letter “P” and then tried to come up with a title, I smiled when I thought of "Pleasure Mouth", which came from a riff in MST3K. So, I thought to myself, "go ahead smart ass, let's see you write a song around that!" (I ultimately found it too absurd and changed the title).

I made several unsuccessful stabs with the music and erased several chord progressions before I hit on one I felt I could work with. Lyrically I thought of all the beautiful things a mouth could do, sweet talk, kiss, etc, etc.

I wanted it to sound a bit psychedelic and garage band – the guitars/bass were distorted, my voice was put through a heavy reverb and filtered through “Radio 1” FX. I then triple-tracked the vocals, and on the 3rd track, I removed the reverb to try and facilitate clarity. The song originally ran twice as long, but I’d run out of steam and was just noodling and going off on chord tangents, so I cut it in half at that point and did the fade out, with some tapping on muffled bass strings to close it.

Lyrics

And your words give me pleasure, your words give me pain

And your words drive like a nail to the very heart of my brain

It's on the tip of your tongue, it's on the tip of the iceberg

It's at the top of my mind, it's gonna strike me blind

Ahhhhhh, your pretty mouth, ahhhhh, your pretty mouth

Your lips taste like lightening, your lips are the undertow

Your lips taste like absinthe, your lips are the afterglow

Your psychobabble, is like a breath of fresh air

I listen to every word, as if we really care

Ahhhhhh, your pretty mouth, ahhhhh, your pretty mouth

It takes me out, out, out, out...

Break me, forsake me, tell me things I want to hear

It's at the top of my mind, it's gonna strike me blind

Ahhhhhh, your pretty mouth, ahhhhh, your pretty mouth

It blows my mind

Monkeys In This Zoo
Written on July 17, 2002

A goof written about and for the people I worked with at the theater, it was a throwaway I never intended to record, but then I went ahead and gave it a shot - changed up the rhythm and melody on the chorus a hair. It's okay, nice to have it saved. (Note: I forgot to sing a verse about Seth, but this works out better), Chords circle around F#, E and B.

Kelali was Kelly, for some reason she put Kelali on her nametag as a joke and kept it like that. The first verse is about Tiffany, a cool, smart gal (she was studying marine biology) who had a scar down the side of her face. Her boyfriend was very tall... Andrew and I used to say/sing "GIGANTOR" every time we saw him.

Lyrics

There's a girl I know who's dating a giant, and he stands over 60 feet tall

And when she was a kid, she had a cat who cut her, now she swears vengeance on them all

There's this other girl I know, she makes fun of all the weirdos, and she digs Betty Page

She's always laughing and she's just one of the people who are locked up with me in this cage

What else can we do, they pay us to stay in this zoo

What else can we do, where just monkeys in this zoo

There's this other girl I know and her name might be Kelali, and she is the bomb

And this other guy I know, perchance it seems, he's always going to movies with his mom

Chorus

And David likes my music, and Andrew digs his car

And Von likes to hide, but Amber never lets him get far



Leave Me Alone

Written on April 27, 2000

Angry song, originally collected on Life Model Decoy... I was feeling picked on, judged at the time, and was venting, letting off steam. The tune chugs away on the same 4 chords (with an E thrown in to change it up). I attempted to re-do the vocal track several times but wound up sticking with the first.

Lyrics

Leave me alone

Stop placing your meaning upon my lips

I mean what I say

Why do you think you can crawl in my mind and decipher it better than I

 

Who the hell are you

When have I ever seen you walk on water?

You set yourself upon the judgment seat

Looking down on me    

Don't you have a life of your own

You're attempts to run mine are just a confusing charade

Are your days so empty

You feel the need to fill them raining on my parade

You say, "not my man, with my very fingers, brick by brick I'll rip it apart"

No, it may not hang on the walls, but it's there within the heart

Oh little saint, oh little sister

Your life ain't so quaint, I've seen it bleed and blister

So clean up your own backyard, stay the hell out of mine

And leave me alone

Leave me alone



Always There

Written in 1998

From an uncharitable angry song to a Christian one (and a duet with Jesus, lol). a catchy pop number I wrote while renting the basement apartment in my parent's house, just before the move to Nashville. I couldn't remember the vocal on the bridge, so I winged it for the recording. 

Lyrics

When I walked alone in the night

    You were never far from my site

When I was cast adrift by the tide

    I never left your side

When I was afraid that I'd lost you

    Be not afraid I was always there

When they bared their claws for attack

    I felt the sting on my back

When I was enslaved by sin

    I felt the nails in my skin

When I was afraid that I lost you

    Be not afraid I was always there

So where are you - Why can't you see

When I'm broken in pain - There I am at Calvary

Do you have eyes of flesh - The truth of that can't be denied

How do I know you really care - Come touch the wounds in my hands and side

When I find life a little unfair

    Remember how much I care

Feeling I deserve a bit more

    Remember the crown I wore

When I was afraid that I lost you

    Be not afraid I was always there

Always there, I was always there...

Star Girl

Written on March 8, 2010

I had room at the end of the LMD CD, so I improvised a song on the quick. It's a kind of bookend to Miss Marvel. It could use some work to smooth out the rough edges, but for now, here it is in its original form. Capo on 5th fret

Lyrics

Hey Star Girl, I watched you from afar

I've seen you come apart, and it never fails to break my heart

Star Girl, seeing you on the stage, under their watchful gaze

They don't see a thing you know, you're something incomplete

Star Girl, you light up the milky way, and there's not a single day

When I don't marvel at that memory

Star Girl, dressed in a uniform of midnight blue

I swear I never saw anything, cast a light so true

And Star Girl, I thrill when I see you work your magic

It's really quite tragic

The way you fell from the obsidian sky

How I dream of seeing you fly

Like you used to do, like you used to do