Feb 2022 guitar casiocore sloppy harmonies
I've had some major life stuff going on lately, so FAWM has moved to the back burner, but with a couple things in-flight I should be able to hit 14...but to get there I had to finish one last song. I found some 10 second clip on my computer I'd recorded years ago, called "catchy piano song" - it was 5-4-1 cheese with a terrible Casio-sounding synth on top of it, the default Reason drum beat, and not much else. So I decided to aim low - very low. This is as cheesy and sloppy as I could get, and yet I also really love this song. The harmonies are where it's at for me, but I intentionally left in mistakes and weirdness.
It's a fun mix of computer-generated overly generic beats and very human messiness. It's also my homage/ripoff to/of the Eels' fabulous "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues." And it's the one FAWM song I write a year where I realize it needs a real guitar part, so I played one!
The lyrics are... random. The line "desperation and necessity are cousins" is from @daskbinky.
I tried to ride a fish but I failed
Ended up in the belly of a whale
But I lived to tell this tale
So think of me before you set sail
They say that good things come
To those who wait but sometimes it's those who take
What they want who get
Everything they need and then some
Well desperation and necessity are cousins
They go walking hand in hand
But if you really don't need me, I'll come running
Because I just don't understand
The questions are in my head
Pinning me down in bed
I sometimes wonder what I said
That made you say that we'd be better off dead
So back to the sea I sailed
Things got hard so I bailed
I tried to drown but my tail
Got caught in the glow of a mermaid's scales
Time keeps ticking even though I don't wanna
I just keep on falling down the stairs
I suppose you mean it when you say that you're gonna
Chase me away like you just don't care
And so we've come to the end
I love you but you're not my friend
As I walk away, I wonder
If I break, can I still bend
Can I still bend
@calfman8803 Feb 2022
Digging this. Definitely an eels vibe here but this is reminding me of something else I can't put my finger on...
Love the swelling harmonies in the last little bit. Great work!
@dasbinky Feb 2022
Oh man, I love the sound combos here. Like, the original Little Shop Broadway soundtrack uses that keyboard tone a ton. :)
Great hook, much fun! Speed it up like 40% and the B-52s could own this.
I eat this shit up. :D
@nadine Feb 2022
Schmaltzy casio core with Beach Boys vibe - that is all we needed. You already had me when you tried to ride a fish. Is this where you nickname came from? Just kidding. Well, sometimes it's good to write lyrics without knowing what you talk about. Your vocals make everything better. And the guitar part definately helped. And go go go you'll nail the 14!