NatoSongs

“Do the Funky Sidewalk (Snow Dragon)”

Nato — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:54:25 +0000

What becomes a growing legend most? How about…his own 70′s soul theme song?

Video:@BTVSnowDragon. Song composition, performance, and production: Nate Orshan (AKA Nato)

Snow Who?

@BTVSnowDragon is a made-up character who’s supposed to be one of (or all of?) the many sidewalk plows that are used to keep Burlington (Vermont) safer in winter for pedestrians. Whoever created and keeps this fun and funky character alive is still a mystery.*

The song was actually inspired by another fellow Vermonter, stalwart Twitter user @MeowVT (AKA Kitty), who posted this last summer:

You need a theme song! RT @btvsnowdragon Dragon Shield, Activate! RT @govpetershumlin Strong Storms, Flash Flood/Tornado Watch For #VT today

— Kitty (@MeowVT) May 29, 2012

It took me about a nanosecond to reply with something like, “A SONG? Did somebody say, ‘SONG’?!?”. I volunteered, and I encouraged @MeowVT to send lyrics…which, unfortunately, I then ended up not using.**

OK, and you did this…why?

You really have to follow @BTVSnowDragon to get a sense of his fun personality. The person behind Snow Dragon has done a bang-up job bringing this heretofore nonexistent character to life, and I’m sure it’s no easy feat to keep a fictional, online persona going all the time with style and consistency.

Unlike some other famous and mythical Vermont creatures, Snow Dragon is actually a very recent creation. The story is that it all started with Seven Days Digital Media Manager Tyler Machado, who wrote the following in January of 2012 in the midst of covering an interminable mayoral debate on Burlington transportation:

#btvmayor I think the cute little sidewalk plow needs a shoutout right now

— Tyler Machado (@tylermachado) January 13, 2012

The next day came an unexpected yet fateful answer, a short sentence sure to join the ranks of immortal lines such as, “Watson, come here, I need you”, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”, and “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ means”:

@tylermachado You rang?

— BTV Snow Dragon (@BTVSnowDragon) January 13, 2012

All right, so, truth be told, that was actually Snow Dragon’s second post, as he had written his first tweet the previous day:

The sidewalks in #BTV are pretty slippery this evening. Everybody please watch your step!

— BTV Snow Dragon (@BTVSnowDragon) January 13, 2012

But apocryphal or not, Snow Dragon’s birth has been linked to Machado’s tweet, so much so that for most of last year I would have bet money on them being one and the same. I’m fairly confident that’s not the case, but the uncertainty highlights what makes Snow Dragon all the more intriguing: Nobody knows who the heck he is!***

OK, but…a soul song?

The truth is I have a sincere and abiding love of R&B from the 70s, and I’ve wanted to try creating a retro-soul song for a long time.

When I started thinking about a theme for Snow Dragon, I was quickly inspired by Isaac Hayes’ one-of-a-kind “Theme from Shaft”, and that song became a touchstone throughout the writing and production process.**** Among other things, the song gave me the opportunity to try out my best, soulful chest voice.

And what’s “The Funky Sidewalk”?

Essentially, it’s just a play on what some people would say after hearing Snow Dragon visit.

“Why’s the dog barking?”
“Oh, the plow just came by and did the sidewalk.”

But where most of the song might be an Isaac Hayes homage, the “Funky Sidewalk” bridge is a straight-up ripoff tribute to The Godfather of Soul…you know, that part of the song where he’d exhort the crowd to “Do the Mashed Potatoes”, “Do the Popcorn”, “Do the James Brown”, etc.

And here’s your chance to get in on the fun:

Send @BTVSnowDragon a video of you doing “The Funky Sidewalk”!

Snow Dragon wants to do a follow-up video showing people doing their own version of “The Funky Sidewalk”. What would that look like? Here’s a little inspiration thanks to Vermonters @RowGirl2012 and @n8zog:

I was also delighted recently to see WPTZ’s Bridget Shanahan and Tom Messner getting into the spirit of things, asking their viewers to send Snow Dragon their own “Funky Sidewalk” videos. Will they contribute a dancing video of their own?

So, hey, funky people near and far: Film yourself doing “The Funky Sidewalk”, then write to SNOWDRAGON {at} GMAIL.COM.

In the end, if “Do the Funky Sidewalk (Snow Dragon)” helps cement Snow Dragon’s fame as an (unofficial) mascot for our Department of Public Works or a quirky (unofficial) representative for Burlington, Vermont, then I can say we did a good job by doin’ the Funky Sidewalk.

Do the Funky Sidewalk (Snow Dragon)

   Snow Dragon!
   Go Dragon!
   Go, go, Snow Dragon!

Now the blizzard’s on and freezin’ winds blow
(Snow Dragon!)
Comes a mighty sound outside your window
(Snow Dragon!)

When the flakes begins to fly
Snow Dragon’s on your side
Don’t you wanna take a ride?

   Snow Dragon!
   Go Dragon!
   Go, go, Snow Dragon!

In the Queen City’s cold and stormy hour
(Snow Dragon!)
He pushes through for me and you with power
(Snow Dragon!)

Beams high, blades down low
Goin’ where angels fear to go
Nothin’ more he loves than snow

   Snow Dragon!
   Go Dragon!
   Go, go, Snow Dragon!

Everybody!…

   Do the Sidewalk
   Do the Sidewalk
   Do the Funky, Funky Sidewalk…

Clearin’ sidewalks like no one else can do now
(Snow Dragon!)
Makin’ sure you can get to work and school now
(Snow Dragon!)

With his blade so well-endowed
The Queen City’s safe for now
So give a wave to our favorite plow

   Snow Dragon!
   Go Dragon!
   Go, go, Snow Dragon!

…Get your plow on, Snow Dragon…

…”Beep, Beep!” means I love you in Snow Plow…*****

* And, no, I’m not Snow Dragon. As of this posting, I still don’t know who their true identity. I think it’s someone who identifies as male…but maybe that’s just more subterfuge to throw me off the trail…

** By the time I sat down to work on the song writing, I had a pretty definite idea of the song’s melody and structure, and, try as I did, I just couldn’t fit Kitty’s lyrics into the form and meter. I did make an attempt to write a different soul tune with them, and, although her lyrics were great, the music itself just didn’t have the same oomph as the current tune. It calls into question whether I’m actually any good at adapting someone else’s lyrics, a hypothesis I should test again…

*** For the record: I’ve never met Snow Dragon and have only communicated with…him?…via email. I’m not Snow Dragon, nor do I play him on TV.

**** What? You’ve never heard it? Who’s the cat who won’t cop out when there’s danger all about?

***** “Get your plow on” and “Beep means ‘I love you’ in snow plow” are both real Snow Dragonisms, just like his snowplow smiley, “:]”.

“Hoodie-Footie #3″

Nato — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 04:42:32 +0000

Just in time for winter*, let your heart and soul get toasty-warm with my newest video, “Hoodie-Footie #3″:”

Why? Well, if my previous attempts at a heartfelt folk-pop number, a 70′s Hall-and-Oates soul wannabe, and a for-real attempt at hip-hop aren’t enough to convince you of the many virtues of Vermont’s own superawesome adult onesie…well, one more song oughta do it…

Hoodie-Footie #3

Hey, you with the sandals and the suntan
Winter’s comin’ and there’s nothin’ better than
A Hoodie-Footie!
A Hoodie-Footie!
When Hoodie-Footie is around,
That is where I will be found:
Hoodie-Footie!

Hey, when you’re cruisin’ down the highway
You look so fine when you’re doing it my way
In a Hoodie!
A Hoodie-Footie!
When Hoodie-Footie is around,
That is where I will be found:
Hoodie-Footie!

Hey, don’t even bother with a sweater
Everybody knows you look much better
In a Hoodie!
A Hoodie-Footie!
When Hoodie-Footie is around,
That is where I will be found:
Hoodie-Footie!

Hey, you with the backpack and the power drink
Time for finals, but you find yourself thinkin’
‘Bout my Hoodie!
A Hoodie-Footie!
When Hoodie-Footie is around,
That is where I will be found:
Hoodie-Footie!

Hey, you wanna keep your loved one warmer
Here’s a suit that’s a real performer
Hoodie-Footie!
A Hoodie-Footie!
When Hoodie-Footie is around,
That is where I will be found:
Hoodie-Footie!

So come on over, but don’t you bother knocking
‘Cuz we’re all zipped up, and everybody’s rocking
In a Hoodie!
A Hoodie-Footie!
From the bottom to the top
All the fun doesn’t stop
From the east to the west
It’s the suit that’s the best
Every day and every night
I’ll be zipped up tight:
Hoodie-Footie!

Full disclosure: I am not making money from any of my Hoodie-Footie songs. I used to be a part of PajamaGram parent company Vermont Teddy Bear Company, during which time I wrote these songs (after work) hoping they might prove of some use. Bottom line: All of my Hoodie-Footie songs were basically delightful writing exercises for me.

Having said that…yeah, PajamaGram is a great Vermont company, and nothing would please me more than learning that these songs helped convince some folks to join “Team Hoodie-Footie”. It’s a very warm and very comfy team, yo.

* In the Northern Hemisphere, of course. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s time to enjoy summer.

”Together May We Stay” Live at Rose Street

Nato — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 05:07:58 +0000

OK, so this song got me my wife.*

(Note: My introduction’s a little long, so move the video’s time slider to 1:04 if you’d like just to cut to the chase.)

I could (will?) probably write a song or two just about the whole process by which I finally decided to propose to Kit; for the purposes of this story, all you have to know is that she and I had been living together for a year, and I just knew it was time to propose. (I admit that writing a song for her wasn’t the first proposal method that came to mind, but once the idea was in place, I knew what I had to do.)

The problem was logistics. We were living together, and we were both working full-time, so there was no way I could take a few nights to compose this thing with my then-girlfriend in earshot.

K: “What’s that you’re doing? Is that a PROPOSAL SONG?!?”
N: “What gives you THAT idea? It’s, uh…ironic. Yeah. Post-modern.”

No, I had to do it during the day. So I planned for this day in late February when I was sure I could work on the thing all day long in peace, and then, just a few days before, I remembered that, since Kit was a teacher and had February break at the same time, she would be home during the day, not at work.

But I was undeterred. I knew I didn’t want to wait much longer to propose, and I was fairly confident I could pound the thing out in a day. So I rented a rehearsal space** for the day and told Kit nothing, i.e., she thought I was at work.

Luckily, I had a pretty clear idea of the music when I went in, so the hard part –per yoozsh– was words. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being straightforward and writing something as simple as, “I love you, please marry me”…unless you’re me and want to try to write a proposal song without either of those.

So, motivated by true love and an hourly rate for the rehearsal space, I sat all alone in the corner of this big ol’ room where normally Burlington bands like Wide Wail or The Pants might have practiced, and, with my keyboard and guitar at hand, I completed my assignment.

Then, the hard part: Playing it for Kit. I forget how I glossed over the fact that, to her knowledge, I’d schlepped music instruments to work and was now bringing them back home in the evening as if it were an everyday thing, but apparently it didn’t arouse any suspicion. I set everything back up in my office, and then, that evening, asked her to come check out this new song I had just written. I sat at a keyboard, lyric sheet in front of me, and I performed “Together May We Stay” for its most important audience.

If you ask Kit about it, she’ll tell you how, once I stopped playing, she was fairly frozen in place because, well…what if she had just misinterpreted my song and told me, “I do”, and then had to suffer instant mortification as I recoiled, saying, “No no no, you’ve got it all wrong: It’s just a song, dude…” Luckily, I had a fallback: the engagement ring. As soon as the song was over, I reached over to where I’d hid it, and I offered the ring to her.

It couldn’t have gone better, then or since.

Together May We Stay

Wouldn’t it be grand?
Wouldn’t it be sweet
If you spent the rest
Of your life with me?

Only you can stand my ranting
And my languid pace
Only you can carry me
And put me in my place

Wouldn’t it be true?
Wouldn’t it be real
To say that I’m a spoke
In your loving wheel?

Turning up a road that’s buried
In our future’s haze,
May we roll together
All our days

For you I will be brave
Together may we stay

Let us say the word
Let us make the sign
Say that I’m your equal
And you are mine

May the growing older bear
An interwoven truth
That these hearts are closer than
We thought they were in youth

May I take your hand?
May I take your smile?
May we both avoid only
Self-denial

It’s the greatest role
That we’ll ever get to play
May I be your co-star
Today?

For you I will be brave
Together may we stay

Wouldn’t it be grand?
Wouldn’t it be sweet
If you spent the rest
Of your life with me?

Would you spend the rest of
Your life with me?

This version of “Together May We Stay” was recorded live at Rose Street Cooperative and Artists’ Gallery in Burlington, Vermont, USA, on Friday, September 21, 2012. Those kids you hear in the background? They’re just a regular part of the Rose Street mix!

* Ohhhh, ohhhhh-kaaaaay. She probably woulda said “Yes” even if I’d gone to less effort. But still…

** Any Vermonters remember The Kennel on Williston Road? I never practiced there in a band, but I really liked its vibe. (“It’s like a house…for making music!”) Above all, I never would have ended up with this song. That must say something about the place’s feng shui.

“Putting Peace to an End” Live at Rose Street

Nato — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 02:09:55 +0000

(Note to trauma survivors: This song is about a child abuser, so if you think you may be triggered, even by oblique and poetic references to that kind of person, just skip this one.)

(Note to everyone else: My introduction’s a little long, so move the video’s time slider to 1:32 if you’d like just to cut to the chase.)

“Putting Peace to an End” is one of my songs that came about from a traditional, bottom-up process. In this context, “bottom-up” means it’s a song that started life from noodling, goofing around, or just being playful. Somewhere in the midst of a seemingly-random jumble of notes and words, I’ll come across a particular combination that catches my ear, so I decide to keep it instead of “catch and release”. (The opposite of this is “top-down”, i.e., a song written with a specific agenda from the get-go.)

It didn’t take me long into this bottom-up process to realize that I was writing a song about a child abuser. The question “Where did you learn?”, of course, is rhetorical. I believe in the hardware of genes, but I believe just as much in the not-yet-understood software of memes. And what people who think in terms of exploitation need above all is…better software.

Putting Peace to an End

Where did you learn to color the sunset
A dozen dull shades of blood red?
To sing along sweetly and ever discreetly
Ensure that your friend is misled?

Where did you learn to burn a hole
In every Welcome mat?
Where did you learn…
To work someone over like that?

Where did you learn to wait like a snake for your
Supper to stumble to you?
To stare, never blinking, while children go weeping,
And break every crayon in two?

When was it sane when love became
A game of tit-for-tat?
Where did you learn…
To work someone over like that?

   How did fate create a merciless robot from a man?
   Did it seed the sharpest weed with leather belt in hand?
   Does the gutter call you brother, alley call you friend
   Every night that you spend putting peace to an end?

Where did you learn to nurture each word that old,
Sick mother English threw up?
To carefully carry, bind, and then bury all
Feelings you ever knew of?

Conjuring compassion like
A rabbit from a hat,
Can’t you see your likeness in
Each bawling little brat?
Will they learn their lessons from
The blackboard or the bat?
Where did you learn…
To work someone over like that?
© Copyright 1999-2012 Nate Orshan

This version of “Putting Peace to an End” was recorded live at Rose Street Cooperative and Artists’ Gallery in Burlington, Vermont, USA, on Friday, September 21, 2012.

”A Little Bit of”

Nato — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 02:19:46 +0000

My cheeriest song ever? OK, it’s definitely in the running:

This is one of those songs that started out as just pure melody, an ascending pentatonic arpeggio that, after I heard it come out of my mouth, made me think it was cool enough to pursue further. A short while later, I’d come up with “Give it just a little bit of love”, and that was it: I knew I had a direction to take me through the rest of the song.

Regular readers (Hi Mom!) may notice that “A Little Bit Of” is not my typical style of song. For one thing, it’s undeniably sing-songy, or, to borrow a phrase Tom Ashbrook once used to describe a Michael Franti album, “happy-clappy music“. For another, it’s unironically, unapologetically encouraging and positive. As usual, The Beatles are my canonical models, and here the inspiration seems to be something like “All You Need Is Love” or “All Together Now”.

What? You’ve never heard “All Together Now”? Say no more.

At the end of the video, I express delight and gratitude for audience members dancing. The dancers in question are toddlers, children of some of the artists there at Rose Street Cooperative and Gallery, and their spontaneous cavorting lends my performance a little extra bounce. Unfortunately, the camera doesn’t catch them, but you can certainly hear them throughout the tune. That’s how you know it’s really Rose Street Coop, right?

A Little Bit Of

Give it just a little bit of time
Give it just a little bit of your sweet time
You think a single minute is an undiminished crime
Give it just a little bit of time

Give it just a little bit of thought
Give it just a little bit of your sweet thought
You’re feeling like a hero in a play without a plot
Give it just a little bit of thought

You’re handy with a camera when you set the shutter speed
But one objective lens is all you really need

Give it just a little bit of love
Give it just a little bit of your sweet love
You’ll hurry and you’ll scurry but you’ll never make enough
Give it just a little bit of love

You’ve fit a bigger picture ever since the world began
And going out of focus isn’t in the plan

Give it just a little bit of peace
Give it just a little bit of your sweet peace
Can’t you see an answer when your heart is so at ease?

Give it just a little bit of love
Give it just a little bit of thought
Give it just a little bit of time

This version of “A Little Bit Of” was recorded live at Rose Street Cooperative and Artists’ Gallery in Burlington, Vermont, USA, on Friday, September 21, 2012.

“Once in a While” 01

Nato — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 02:21:52 +0000

Welcome to the birth of a new song:

Well, it may be a song when it grows up. What it is right now is a refrain I repeat over and over (“Once in a while / You get (the/that) good thing / Ain’t it a good thing?”) with a minimal acoustic guitar accompaniment.

What I notice is that, in the course of the two and a half minutes, I hear myself going from tentative to confident. As it starts, I’ve probably only sung the line a few times before deciding it’s worth trying to record, so I’m handling the lines gingerly, like a new cat I don’t know whether will purr or pounce. As the tune goes along, the refrain clicks, and I start being able to work it a bit.

And what do the lyrics mean? Well, the clay hasn’t hardened yet, so there’s no telling its final shape. Actually…that’s not really true. You can tell by the measured pace, by the cadence, and by its call and response form that it’ll probably want to be some kind of soul tune, a slow jam. That suggests it’s probably about something romantic, clicking with somebody, a relationship song. Or maybe it’s about, y’know, knitting a sweater.

If you’re interested in seeing how some (of my) songs start out, this is a perfect primer.

“Spies”

Nato — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 00:25:30 +0000

Who are these youthful spies with double-breasted trenchcoats so very smart?

Some of the inspiration for “Spies” came from comic artist Antonio Prohías’ iconic “Spy vs. Spy“. Some of it came from people I knew years ago when I used to spend a lot of time at Border, an artsy, Burlington dance club currently in its latest incarnation as Club Metronome. The rest was just, y’know, me makin’ stuff up.

Do these people really take extreme measures of identity protection, maintaining perpetual surveillance or conducting espionage in the service of their mother countries? Are they natural-born secret agents no matter what they do for work, living in a delusional haze in which there are plots and conspiracies in every official explanation for the way the world works? Maybe they’re just twenty-somethings who feel so alienated from their peers and communities that they invent undercover personas as a narrative that explains their painful isolation?

Regardless of the explanation you like, for me the song is a sort of sympathetic ode to these people, sharing their existential conditions in a waltz-time, vaguely country music bed. With lots of soft-loud-soft sections.

Spies

Spies try to booby-trap their partner’s desks
Spies push their know-how with a daily test
Spies got so much that’s going on
Spies do the worst and call it best

Spies look for signals in the grocery aisle
Spies keep their shades on when they go to trial
Spies talk in riddles, talk in tongues
Spies are never photographed with smiles

   Sun-starved skin and love-sick eyes
   Leopard dresses, leather ties
   Double-breasted trenchcoats, very smart
   Classified tattoos over their hearts
   Excuse themselves before the movie starts
   And slip away

Spies try to syncopate their every step
Spies disappear for days to build their rep
Spies got too much they wanna do
Spies always leave a tiny tip

Spies bug and document each place they stay
Spies change their iris color every day
Spies keep one hand just out of view
Spies make a point to lose their way

Mysteries are oceans, enigmas shallow bays
They’d keep on wearing wetsuits even if it didn’t pay
Conspiracies are mountains, and secrets little hills
They’d keep on climbing even if it didn’t pay the bills

Who’s that guy playing all the tasty electric guitar? None other than my friend and musical hero, Matt McCarthy, who also recorded and assembled the tune on a desktop PC in a bygone age where they laughed at you if you even thought of doing anything creative in a non-Mac environment. Matt: 1. Mac: 0.

“Free Thinker” Live at Rose Street

Nato — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:21:55 +0000

“Free Thinker”. The song that adds a little carpe diem to bromance.

Some of my songs are written top-down: I’m setting out for a specific result, and I do everything I can to make the song achieve that objective. Others are written bottom-up: I come up with something I like (a cool music line, melody, or chord progression), and I keep working it like clay, adding more and more material until a form takes shape that I like. And then there are times where a chorus appears almost out of nowhere, and I know right away it’s so obviously cool that I’m gonna have to create verses and a whole song around it just to justify its existence. “Free Thinker” is one of those.

I was in my wife’s and my hotel room in Boston, doing something uninspiring like shaving, and then –you know what comes next– this freakin’ chorus just popped into my head, unfurling itself all catchy and comfortable like a classic rock song I’d known all my life. I almost fell over myself scrambling for a pen and paper, and I got the music and lyrics down immediately.

So I had this chorus that felt like it wanted to be on some lost John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band track, and now all it needed was, y’know, everything else.

It would have to wait another seven years for me to finish. Why? There were lots of excuses, but I suspect I just wasn’t comfortable writing what was going to have to be a homoerotic song. If I let myself chicken out and direct the narrator’s come-on to a woman*, it might suffice, but it wouldn’t rock.

Yeah, rock. Remember real rock? Rock music was supposed to be disobedient. It was supposed to be lawless. It was supposed to be transgressive. Like, say…putting the moves on your recently-dumped, hetero buddy…

Free Thinker

Lovers let you down again and again
Ooh, ooh, ooh
What you need is right before you, my friend
Ooh, ooh, ooh

When love shows up, you never can say
But in the mean time, I’m here today

   Come on and
   Use me
   Use me
   Use me like you know you really
   Want to
   Want to
   You wanna be my friend, come on and
   Use me
   Use me
   Use me like a friend
   You say that you’re a free thinker

Half your life is wasted, waiting in line
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Cut that rope, and have one hell of a time
Ooh, ooh, ooh

And if you’re feeling ready to hear,
I’ve got some words to put in your ear

Ship is leaving, get on board for the ride
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Don’t let trepidation keep you inside
Ooh, ooh, ooh

You’ve got the world in front of your eyes
You’ve got a friend, and here’s the surprise

* So, after all that, am I hedging my bets by having the narrator never specify the gender of his friend? I hope not. I usually take great pains to avoid reference to gender in my songs, partially out of a hope that will make them more sharable by all (“Women can sing them to men! Women can sing them to women! Men can sing them to men!”), and partially out of an egalitarian conviction that, as soon as you start getting gender-specific in a song, you’re immediately marginalizing someone. If nothing else, I hope at least you’ll think I’m fair.

“Free Thinker” was recorded on Friday, July 6, at the Rose Street Artists’ Cooperative and Gallery Coffeehouse.

“Monkey” Live at Rose Street

Nato — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 00:16:34 +0000

Tell me this hasn’t happened to you: You break up with someone –maybe you’re the breaker, maybe you’re the “breakee”–, and you think you’re getting along just fine, when one day you notice that…you can’t stop thinking about them. More than that, daydreaming has turned into to brooding has turned into obsessing has turned into nightmare.

I think of “Monkey” as my version of a Stephen King story (or maybe another writer I discovered within the past year, Etgar Keret), where a metaphor has so much emotional energy invested in it that it becomes willed into physical incarnation. And then what ya gonna do, just will it back out of your life? Oh, no. Not so easy.

Monkey

If I had a dime for every time
I had nightmares about our breakup,
Rich as a Kennedy, still even then I’d be
Far too frightened to wake up

What am I going through? Who am I talking to
Here in this haunted house all alone?
Is that what I seem to see swinging ahead of me,
making me shake-a right to my bones?

What was that sound?
I can’t turn around. . .

   ’Cause there’s a monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey
   On my back
   Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey
   In my lap
   Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey
   On my head
   Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey
   In my bed

Started out really small, wasn’t too much at all
Tame little ape with your face
Hanging out happily, growing up rapidly,
Making a mess out of my space

What did I want to see? Who did I want to be
After I told you that we were through?
Testing a theory that nothing mysterious
Ever could happen apart from you

But it never ends. . .
It’s your revenge. . .

      You crept up so unexpectedly,
      Disaffectedly, to me
      You knew your blue eyes would ever be
      Like a jungle scene in me

(Monkey, yeah)

Need some sanity, need humanity
No telling where I’ll find it
With hidden material, gibbon ethereal
Dragging its knuckles behind it

Trash truck whining and sunbeam shining are
Finally waking me from this dream
Over at last, but I’m feeling a draft, and I
Tug at the blanket and start to scream

Lying beside. . .
Black fur and blue eyes. . .

   And there’s a monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey
   On my back
   Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey
   In my lap
   Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey
   On my head
   Monkey, monkey, monkey, monkey
   In my bed

“Monkey” was recorded on Friday, July 6, at the Rose Street Artists’ Cooperative and Gallery Coffeehouse. The camera’s mic did a heroic job capturing the tune, but between the noise of the multiple fans, the laughter of multiple children (completely unrelated to my song…uh…right?), and the soft-LOUD-soft dynamics of the song’s multiple verses…well, the guitar gets a little buried in the mix. I hope the song shines through regardless.

“Moon Over Mater Christi” Live at Rose Street

Nato — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 23:36:34 +0000

It was an evening in late September in 1996 when I got the call that a friend had passed away. I knew she had tremendous health issues, and she was supposed to be recovering from recent transplant surgery, but the news still came as a shock.

After I hung up, I left my upper Loomis Street apartment and walked two blocks up the hill to the playground at Mater Christi school, which at that time had a gigantic play fort on which many college-age folks liked to hang out in the wee hours. I shuffled about the empty playground, sobbing, overcome by the injustice of losing such a vivacious friend, an architect with a deep love of art and a now-widowed husband. Squinting at the night sky, I felt this burning in my chest to pick a fight with God.

“Moon Over Mater Christi” is one of those songs that took a long time to write. As happens frequently with me, the refrain came easily, but the verses needed a lot of work.

I made the task harder on myself by choosing to omit any references to death. It’s not that I have a thing against the word. Honestly, it’s just a complete conceit of mine. If you want to write an elegy, the easy and natural thing to do is to mention death and dying in the lyrics; it’s another matter to do it but avoid those words and their common euphemisms. At any rate, it was something I wanted to try, and I hope the emotion isn’t hindered as a result. (I also proposed to my then-girlfriend, Kit, via a song that doesn’t have references to love or marriage. That’s a post for another day.)

I dedicated the performance to Josh Glass, a phenomenal Burlington musician who had just lost his brother the day before. Once more, here’s hoping he and his family can heal.

Moon Over Mater Christi

   There’s a moon
   Over the schoolyard tonight
   Over the stone Virgin’s sight
   Free from terrestrial ties
   Moon over Mater Christi must rise

Summer afternoon
And how you sparkled at your party
I was transfixed by such magnificence

Every rendered room
–Closer to masterpiece than fashion–
Had you on the advent of
Amazing truth

   And there’s a moon
   Over the schoolyard tonight
   Over the stone Virgin’s sight
   Free from terrestrial ties
   Moon over Mater Christi must rise

Like a silken suit
That’s how he fit: The man you married
The mirror’s image to your radiance

And if I needed proof
Perfection and beauty truly happen,
Seeing you both laughing was
The best I knew

   And there’s a moon
   Over the schoolyard tonight
   Over the stone Virgin’s sight
   Free from terrestrial ties
   Moon over Mater Christi must rise

When I heard the news,
Blinded by rage, I stumbled nightward,
As if a child had met with the bully’s boot

It’s a bully who
Tore out the flower from the garden
Unlike an artist, His work is never through

   And you,
   Cut like an April bloom
   Lessons were lost in this school
   But even a swing set can cry
   Moon over Mater Christi must rise

“Moon Over Mater Christi” was recorded on Friday, July 6, at the Rose Street Artists’ Cooperative and Gallery Coffeehouse. That white noise threatening to drown out the song is the fans set up to deal with the heat of an early July evening.