Three Days of the Condor

[Ted]

I wrote this about 15 years ago, and finally got around to tidying up the lyrics and recording it this month.

I am no pianist at all, but I transposed my piano to the right key and I somehow convincingly flailed out two improvised solos in one take.  (At least I think so.)

[OsCKilO]

Love the Ska Vibe.

15 years......  Well Worth the wait!

[Geir]

Wow this is REALLY a great song. So well played and sung!!! Love that bass.... well all of this song is great ..... goes straight to my iPod.

G.

[Tony]

Nice one, Ted.  Similar song structure to Dylan's 'Brownesville Girl' - I saw this movie and then all this happens.  Piano works good.  I like the second piano part that interacts with the bass.  Do you find it difficult to duets with yourself on the Micro BR?  It's something that I'm trying to get a handle on at present.

[Ted]

Nice one, Ted.  Similar song structure to Dylan's 'Brownesville Girl' - I saw this movie and then all this happens.  Piano works good.  I like the second piano part that interacts with the bass. 

I never heard Brownesville Girl before, but I found this strange video on YouTube with the Dylan song backing a Tina Turner video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajDin6c0cl4

Recording this song was full of happy accidents, such as the accidentally awesome piano solos, exceeding my intentions or expectations.  Sorry, I just can't get over it yet.  The creepy vocal effect in the bridge was the result of using guitar effects to boost vocals that were recorded too low.  The breakdown in the middle came about when I was trying practically every shuffle pattern to find a drum transition to the third verse--the pattern I used was not at all what I was looking for.

Do you find it difficult to duets with yourself on the Micro BR?  It's something that I'm trying to get a handle on at present.

I find singing difficult generally.  I have to be holding a guitar to sing harmonies.  It's like a security blanket, knowing that I can pick a note that I'm not sure I'll be able to find by ear.

15 years......  Well Worth the wait!

Well, I did tweak a couple of verses in the last month.  My MBR is 100 times better than all the recording equipment I had 15 years ago, and it cost half as much.

[Tony]

That's the song and it is a very weird clip.  The song (and this is getting further away from Three Days of the Condor, sorry) is a thing he wrote with the playwright Sam Shepard.  It is based on an old folk song, Danville Girl, that everybody had a version of.  Here's a clip with Frank Wakefield who has to be one of the best mandolin players ever.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCSAaf_gslQ

There is a great story that Frank Wakefield tells about painting his Lloyd Loar Gibson F5 mandolin with car duco and baking it to give it a better sound and finish.  Apparently he played it like that for years.

Bill Munroe's Lloyd Loar F5 mandolin fetched over $1 million dollars at auction a few years ago.  I rate Frank Wakefield higher than Munroe.

[Ted]

That's the song and it is a very weird clip.  The song (and this is getting further away from Three Days of the Condor, sorry) is a thing he wrote with the playwright Sam Shepard...

There is a great story that Frank Wakefield tells about painting his Lloyd Loar Gibson F5 mandolin with car duco and baking it to give it a better sound and finish.  Apparently he played it like that for years.

No problem veering into different subjects.  That is a great story about Wakefield baking his mandolin.  I know a few guitar geeks who pamper their precious guitars as though they were made of crystal.  I'd like to horrify them with the Wakefield story, but they probably already know it.  I have three guitars and two basses, and not a single hard-shell case or humidifier.  Gasp!

BTW: In my song, the lyrics refer not directly to a movie, but to a game of charades where the Three Days of the Condor is the title to be guessed by the players.  I've actually never seen the movie.

I "only" have about 80 Dylan songs in my library, so thanks for introducing me to another one.

[Tony]

I'm no Dylan expert (I'm only a fan of bits - I don't go crazy about that middle period when he uses a funny voice and there are lots of other bits I don't care for either) but, given the level of obsession that people develop about him, I think anything under a dozen albums is considered as only having a passing acquaintance by the real Dylan nuts.

The movie is pretty good by the way. 

[tafka]

wow great stuff.
keyboard is neat and the bass is bloody brilliant .....love it

Tony J

[Tony]

I listened to this again tonight and I get the story of the lyrics now.  So sorry for going off on the wrong track first time round and thanks for this, I still like it third time round.