'A Flea in the Ear' Greeny Original (1930's Berlin Jazz)

[Greeny]

This is what happens when you listen to Kurt Weill and the songs of Cabaret a lot.

Always loved this style, and Thumbjam gives me the tools to do my own interpretation. It has trombone, harmon mute trumpet, plucked double bass, cello, and a shitload of percussion. Every snare, parp and note is played by hand - hence some slightly 'woozy' timing, but it all adds to the 2 minutes 50 of weirdness  

Lyrics


i've never heard you sing
i wonder what you'd bring
as you watch the notes cascading through your narrowed little eyes
and every cloud of smoke
enfolds the tragic joke
of the wars you attended like a spy

but i will send you away
with a flea in the ear
if you come round here
begging schnapps and forgiveness
i will send you away
with a flea in the ear
of your disturbing animal mask

i know you have a gun
you keep it just for fun
to shoot the pigeons from the dirty rooftops of your mind
and as the boat goes down
you'll buy another round
and toast the rising ocean with your wine

but i will send you away
with a flea in the ear
if you come round here
begging schnapps and forgiveness
i will send you away
with a flea in the ear
of your disturbing animal mask

[Oldrottenhead]

wunderbar!

[Hook]

Thumbtastic brother! I love TJ's horns & double bass & percussion, & strings...so realistic...& so very well used here! Dark but playful, love it man,
Rock On!

[kenny mac]

Yeh I'm hearing the cabaret,Minnelli influence here.
Not something I would normally associate you with or even me saying that to you lol but it's put together well.
An eclectic mix that does scream Berlin . Well done.

[thetworegs]

love the lyrics the brass the whole vibe.....I can hear a tad of Jim in there too.....Excellent

[Geir]

This is just fabulous. Amazing how good it sounds.

I really like this outside the box stuff .....

One f my new Greeny favourites

[henwrench]

Just love this one so much. Incredibly inventive and evoking. I DEMAND an entire album of this kinda vaudeville greatness.

                                                                      henwrench

[Greeny]

Cheers guys. Like a lot of you (maybe) I sometimes get bored of listening to myself doing the same stuff on guitars and writing songs in my 'comfort zone'. It's interesting going off at weird tangents. Well, it is for me! The fact that you guys enjoy it in some way just makes it more special :-)

[Farrell Jackson]

Now this is uniquely different and that's a compliment in the highest regard Greeny! I love the quirky lyric, the vocal delivery, the unusual choice of instruments, and the cabaret music style. I've not listened to a lot of this style but it always catches my ear when I hear it.....maybe I have a flea in my ear? I agree that doing a style that is way out of the normal is good for a songwriters continued creativity. A nice one to cleanse the pallet!

Farrell

[64Guitars]

Brilliant! That ThumbJam sure has some cool sounds in it. Almost makes me want to buy an iPad just to play with all the cool music apps. Somebody should make an iOS emulator that runs on a PC and lets you use iOS apps without needing an iPhone or iPad.