'The Dance of the Damned' - Greeny Original for the Halloween MiniFest

[Greeny]

The final track recorded for my 'folk' album - a mad, spooky kind of jig involving lots of Danelectro, bass, MBR drums and Thumbjam violin. All recorded and mixed on the MBR.

Will need the lyrics written down, as the vocal delivery is quite fast and folky accented:

Now the dark has settled
On this corrugated land
The candle flicker shadows
Dance upon your outstretched hand
The masks with beaks and rabbit ears
Go circling in the mist
And a doctor checks the plague pulse
With a wand upon the wrist

The dance of the damned

Bones and rain and crows
Widdershins we go
When the fiddlers raise their bows
For the thorns behind the rose

Surrender to the music
For it's beat we must obey
And the May Queen's crown is skeletons
Of tiny nightingales
Kiss her once and kiss her thrice
With antlers 'pon your head
Before the ghosts come calling
To dance jigs upon your bed

The dance of the damned

Bones and rain and crows
Widdershins we go
When the fiddlers raise their bows
For the thorns behind the rose

[bruno]

Spooky little jig indeed. The little motif really gets stuck in your head, it is very insistent. Nice writing and production, another Greeny classic, quirky and very English :-)
B

[Farrell Jackson]

A good for the Halloween mini fest Greeny! It does have a very ghoulish vibe to it. Your words and the fiddles are excellent!

Farrell

[Nelson]

Simply Masterful Tim.
Another brilliantly constructed ditty, to have running through my head for the rest of the day. 
You have a lovely way with rhythms and those guitar parts to the right are tasty indeed.

And lyrics - Widdershins, huh? Give me minute - aaahh. 
You do paint wonderfully vivid, (crazy as they may be) - (in the most entertaining way possible),  scenes in your lyrics.

Bones and rain and crows
Widdershins we go
When the fiddlers raise their bows
For the thorns behind the rose ---  indeed.

How did you get that TJ violin to sound so country-fide? Did you stack different octaves on one another.... Or ... or... hell I don't know. I was up last night trying to do it and couldn't figure out how to get that sound.
When I use TJ's violin I'm always stuck with that orchestra sound, like here.https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?topic=20490.0

Sounds like the folk album is off to a smoking start.

[Greeny]

How did you get that TJ violin to sound so country-fide? Did you stack different octaves on one another.... Or ... or... hell I don't know. I was up last night trying to do it and couldn't figure out how to get that sound.

The violin part is played 'live', all in one go.

The secret is to play a 'drone' note as well as the melody on top. This drone note is usually just an octave or two down, but I just do what sounds right through trial and error. It gives a really nice celtic / bluegrass feel - but it takes two fingers to do it and can be fast and fiddly (TJ's polyphonic capabilities are excellent though). Try it! Thickens and warms the sound very nicely.

Oh... this is in a Myxolodian scale, so that's always worth tinkering with as well. I also use the Hungarian Gypsy scale a lot. It can drastically alter the feel of things.

[fenderbender]

This so Pro -top shelf
 
Tim you have style and class
the fiddle and guitars are just -wow!!!!!!
plus great vocals as well
this kinda reminds me of Fairport convention,Morris Dancers and going down to Yarmouth and drinking weak pints of ale ;Dwhen I'm over visiting my eldest son in Devon.
you paint a great musical landscape
this song is now stuck in my head



Tommy

[Pine]

I can hardly wait to hit the play button when you post. Your songs are KILLER!!

Top to bottom, end to end, i loved this. It has a great folky base...just the vox and the bass and the fiddle...but when you throw in that wild bass and those electric guitars..panned way L and R...it just totally rocks into an unexplored land!

Love the lyrics...you throw words togther that paint such excellent imagery. What a incredibly cool way to wind up your album. Can't wait to hear it end to end, uninterupted.

On top of all that, i am ever amazed that you can do all this on that little MBR. Just goes to show it ain't the equipment but the talent that makes for top shelf music.

Color me impressed and smiling!

pine 

[T.C. Elliott]

I really liked your spooky kind of jig. That's pretty impressive on the violin part. Yes it's an app, but I can't do that in one take. Nicely panned and arranged. The melody and vocal works superbly.

[Greeny]

this kinda reminds me of Fairport convention

Been listening to 'Matty Groves' by them a lot recently. Absolutely love that song. So there's definitely a link... !

[MrBud]

!! stellar sound! great performance-fun song ;]