2005-01-05

Anti-Global Rotation 51

I realized after I posted that I had mentioned how much I wanted to play a 12 Brothers song on one of the setlists. And then I go on to mention yet another 12 Brothers song that happens to be on the setlist, "Sunsets," otherwise known as "Anti-Global Rotation" back in the Bad Larry days.



What makes this song most interesting is that it happens to be our closer at the Zeitgeist show, and yet, somehow, we have failed to practice it even once. I don't know all the words, which means I will be bringing lyrics on stage. Of course, I don't know that they would even be called lyrics. The whole thing is this weird jam/spoken word fiasco that Joshua thinks is based on convention notes.

In actuality, it's based on a short story that I had written (admittedly, I did some writing during that particular convention ... not something I'm proud of) entitled "A Quite Inconsequential War-Time Tale." It was about a man reflecting on his past and future set against the back-drop of his wife dying of cancer. It was quite inconsequential, however it was not set during any war-time.

As a side point, there was another Bad Larry song that we had written that indeed was based on convention notes. I can't remember what it was originally called at the time, but musically it became a song entitled "Pitying Bowls of Saucy Lovelessness." Coincidentally, we will also be playing that song at Zeitgeist. PBOSL (pronounced pee-bossel) also happens to be a weird jam/spoken word fiasco, but a little more punchy. I'm starting to realize that Bad Larry had a penchant for weird jam/spoken word fiascos. You could say that was his forte.

Look at me, I'm talking about Bad Larry as if he's a real person. I need to get some sleep.

Anyway, although the words in "Sunsets" are based on something entirely different the concept of 12 Brothers, because it's very vague it happens to work perfectly. I had added a few lines to make it fit even closer, but I'm not sure if I will bust them out at the Zeitgeist show. I have the recording of the one and only time that we've ever played this song on my iPod so you better believe I'll be listening to and fro work tomorrow to see if the added lyrics even fit any kind of melody.

I now give you the lyrics to "Sunsets":

it struck my like an old childhood
memory

childhood
i knew his pain, too
knew his pain, too
but it wasn't as strong with me now
strong with me now
so the crying continued
crying continued
so different from each other
so different from each other
yet so close to each other
so close to each
other

and the thought of these two
individuals

the thought of these two
the thought of who they were
who they were
the thought of what they were dealing
with

what they were dealing with
touched my heart deeply
touched my heart
like a volcano long lay dormant erupting with
full force

like an Arizona summer rain
like a dictator's reign
or like a paralyzed man's first step
i, too, began to cry
i began to cry

no more
i began to cry
sunsets
no more
no more
no more sunsets

things looked better in the southwest
though if he left i bet he'd get depressed
still things looked better in the southwest
felt it was time to leave the business
and hope sun and spaces will make him forget
the desert's brighter than his current mess
'cause things are better in the southwest

thus with nothing else to do
with nothing within my power to change
the three of me just sat and cried until the sun came up

no more
sunsets
i began to cry
no more
no more
sunsets
no more
sunsets
i began to cry

i am not consumed
or even enticed
by its tempting juice
or her tightening vice
i know its just her clever ruse

no more
sunsets
no more
sunsets
no more
sunsets
no more
no more



I know this is rather hard to follow, but basically at the beginning you have a spoken line and then a line that is sung in a soft, tender tone. There's is some dynamic with Joshua during the "no more sunsets" lines where we're both reeling them off. Then the other stuff is meant to be sung.

5 comments:

Joshua Provost said...

We did practice this shortly after you left, and we have it down. It'll be great. By the way, I would ditch the new lyrics, just for time and attention span's sake.

Joshua Provost said...

PBOSL was originally called "Half a Loaf of Baldwin" in a double homage to Jackie Chan and Half Visconte.

Jeremy said...

Haha! Excellent old school reference. I understand the Half Visconte connection but what does it have to do with Jackie Chan?

Joshua Provost said...

Half a Loaf of Kung Fu

Brock said...

Maaaan...I remember that Chan flick. Yeesh, talk about old times. Alex used to really be into kung fu flicks, and some days we'd do nothing but watch Chan movies. We picked this one up after watching some of his more serious films...what a crazy reference for the song.