Lose It

Mix 3: December 3, 2006

[ 2:42 | 3.71 MB ]

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Themes: Wisdom, Knowledge, or Nescience.
Influences: Chantigs, George Harrison, The White Stripes.
Instruments: Yamaha CG-130SA Classical Guitar, Dean Exotica QSE Acoustic/Electric Guitar, Martin Backpacker, Washburn Cumberland 12-string Acoustic Guitar, Johnson UK-120 Soprano Ukulele, Squier P-Bass Special, Epiphone Wildkat, MeanBeat Percussion Samples, DigiTech RP100 + Microphone.

Sometimes the words just won't come out of MY mouth, and then I lose it. What, I can't be autobiographical once in a while? Write a song the kids can relate to? Crazy!

Given the subject matter and how it's obviously just a word-for-word quote of my internal monologue, it should come as no surprise that the song was written in one night, as opposed to many others which sit on the back burner for months or years at a time (because I'm pretty bad at coming up with lyrics). The only trouble was that I wrote this as more of a poem — I didn't have any music in mind, and it took me several months before I bothered trying to put it to music.

I decided to go all out with this mix, bringing in most of the acoustic stringed instruments I owned at the time for the backing chords. As for the slide guitar solo, I purposely designed it around the flanged microphone feedback effect I had coaxed out of my DigiTech RP100 and recorded previously during a bout of experimentation.

Structurally, this is a good example of twelve-bar blues. Compare, for instance, the classic "Shake, Rattle, and Roll", or "I'm Finding It Harder To Be A Gentleman" by The White Stripes, or even the theme from the 1960's Batman series.

Brownie points to you if you appreciate the delicate art of rhyming a word with itself.
See also:
Lose It (Demo Take 3: May 31, 2006)