Itinerant Air-Cooled

Now all of you must know by now that I am the shy and retiring type - the kind of person who likes to stay in the background and not attract any attention. Well this one time I am going to break with tradition and actually share something about myself: I, as fate would have it, am a musician. Not a great one, but I dabble.

Now my Sister in-law's boyfriend - HE'S a musician, and a damn good one too. So last time he was over, I showed him a piece of music I was noodling around with and he kinda liked it and asked me to rip him a copy. Well he came by today to celebrate my wife's birthday and brought a clarinet with him. I played the piece again, and he just simply nailed it.

So I ran upstairs and de-mothballed the 4-track recorder that I bought and never used and we did a quick take. This is the result:

http://www.westcreekmeadows.org/Rob/RoulerSaBosse1.mp3

Sure, absolutely, mistakes were made and a little fidelity was lost recording analog and dubbing across, but it sure was fun.

Made me think of Johnny Depp as the gypsie in France. Very nice. Thank You

Elwood wrote: Made me think of Johnny Depp as the gypsie in France. Very nice. Thank You

Thanks! And nice catch on the imagery. The song is called "Rouler Sa Boss": means "Over the hump". The guy that wrote it, Bruce Cockburn, once said that after recording it the clarinet player remarked that he thought they sounded exactly like two guys standing outside of a French cat-house at night....

 

Wow! Superb, MeyerII!

Sounds like cruising a country road at about 40 mph in 4th, about a half hour after sunrise. Oak tree shadows on the asphalt, windows open, map on the passenger seat...

What mistakes? Sounds gorgeous.

can't make the applause emoticon work

glasseye wrote:What mistakes? Sounds gorgeous.

X2. It sounded flawless to me. Very well done! =D>

glasseye wrote:can't make the applause emoticon work

It must be a Canada thing!

=D> I likey Meyer! Thanks for posting that. It reminded me of a lazy Sunday afternoon stroll and having fun!

MeyerII wrote:I, as fate would have it, am a musician.

Damn fine piece of music too. It had the lyrical energy of Inti Illimani's Palimpsetsos. Dang.
Colin

Nice.!

Another quick recording - this one is called 'Foxglove', written by Bruce Cockburn. The name has two references - one to the plant, Foxglove, which is also known as 'Digitalis' -- and this is definately a finger-style guitar piece. The other is a nod to a guy named Fox Watson who played fiddle tunes on guitar with the alternating bass and used open tunings to very good effect. Eventually I guess he felt that the fiddle tunes were better on a fiddle than the guitar and he started playing fiddle instead.

I knocked it off in one take because the upstairs room where I keep the recording gear is still kind of hot and stuffy, so there's a couple misses right in the middle. But its kind of a bitch to play, as you have to do things that your hands don't do very naturally - off beat rhythms and theres that one section with the descending arpeggios where your fingers are in one time-signature and your thumb is in another. Piano players have to do that when playing peices like the "Maple Leaf Rag". Really messed-up stuff. In that sense, the tune is mercifully short.

But the fiddle-tune influence is right out front there, which is why I like the piece so much.

http://www.westcreekmeadows.org/Rob/Foxglove.mp3

Love it! Thank's for sharing! =D>

hey Meyer! your music is today's accompaniment while reading the forums. thank you, much appreciated

Nailed it!

"Foxglove" is one of my all-time Bruce tunes. It must have taken you months to learn that piece. Beautiful! Congrats.

very nice, thanks. perfect music for a calm saturday afternoon as i compile my priorities for parts i've got to order this week. found myself smiling even as i wrote down the big numbers.

myself, i'm listening to "rouler sa bosse" a few more times. i dig it a lot. clarinet and guitar are a great blend there, lovely tune.

thanks again, keep em coming!

MeyerII wrote:I, as fate would have it, am a musician. Not a great one, but I dabble.

I would say you are underselling yourself, what you have posted sounds great. You need to record more, can you write your own stuff? Or already have?

Sylvester wrote:

MeyerII wrote:I, as fate would have it, am a musician. Not a great one, but I dabble.

I would say you are underselling yourself, what you have posted sounds great. You need to record more, can you write your own stuff? Or already have?

Well thanks. And yes, I've got a bunch, but very little of the old stuff that I still like. I've had more success approaching songwriting as an adult, but unfortunately I can't devote much time to it, so of these, there are only a handful. When I find time, I'll try to record one of the ones that actually has words - but be warned, I am more of a string player than a singer.

Yeah - I'll try recording one called "Irony". As a bonus, it has a bushel of vegetable-related puns.