Only Love by Oldrottenhead

[Oldrottenhead]

One for the cut up fest. I started this on Friday, was gonna throw it away as it was a bit of a muddy dirge, anyhow i persevered, tho i still think it's a muddy dirge.

I used my HB fender copy a few times through as many weird feedback guitar effects in garage band as i could, then added a bass track using my HB bass. At the end of Friday i was gonna just bin it, then on Saturday i started strumming along to it with my jasmine acoustic and it sounded ok, playing it in the room along to it. But i then struggled to get a good sound when recording it, struggled with mics, tried recording it through my microbr in to my focusrite sound card but there was some lag and delay i couldn't figure out. so i ended up plugging it directly into the focusrite. Then struggled for ages trying to get it to sound as good as it first did in the room. Never succeeded with that, so did as best i could.

I then had an idea for a cut up lyric, so cut some lines from an online article on childhood trauma (a field i work in) then did the same with definitions of happiness and definitions of love. and got chopping. did a mix down of the music on m macbook and transferred it to my microbr and recorded the vocals on that. tried that last night but my daughter is now in my music hut, so i tried singing in the living room only to wake up the entire household. Got to sing it today (Sunday).
It is what it is.

It's important to recognise
you're not made of stone
Desire for it's own sake
can only be earned through pain
consider the value
of what is difficult
Set a higher goal
Than merely happiness

so young
when it happened
No experience
of joy
The happy life
is the good life
the here
and the now

One's life as a whole
Of giving and caring
Love unconditional
A selfless act
Intense feelings
of satisfaction
Accepting them
For who they are

so young
when it happened
No experience
of joy
The happy life
is the good life
the here
and the now

Only love can keep us going
Only love can heal the pain
Only love can make us stronger
Only love can save us now
Only love
Only love............

Only Love

W/M
by
Oldrottenhead

[maxit]

Dont know how it did sound good but this sound veeery good. I dont believe in 'cut up' tech but this song is very cool!

[DarrenG / The Devil's Toupee]

This sounds good. I really like the music, nice fx on guitars. I'm not familiar with the cut up lyrics technique, but it's interesting and these lyrics sound good. I might have to try it myself sometime. Darren.

[Oldrottenhead]

This sounds good. I really like the music, nice fx on guitars. I'm not familiar with the cut up lyrics technique, but it's interesting and these lyrics sound good. I might have to try it myself sometime. Darren.

here is how David Bowie used it to great effect, i did something similar but on notepad on my iphone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1InCrzGIPU

[Mike_S]

I think you made a lovely song in the end. It's got a warmth and a powerful vibe to it. I love the gentle but insistent rhythm/beat. Really enjoyed it... and those lyrics are deep and have a real weight behind them.

Mike

[WarpCanada]

The biggest benefit to it, I think is that you get a voice in the end, that's not entirely your own.

But I hear both (a) your voice, and (b) something, the wind, the spirits, the ghosts of the texts we started from, and I like the fusion of them.

I also did not "believe" in the cut-up thing and then I did it, and I was glad I suspended my dis-interest enough to do it. This is a pretty interesting and, I think, worthy, song.

[StephenM]

If you told me it was a Kenneth track with you singing on it I would believe it.... it's really nice...the lyrics are big and the music flows nicely...for me there are many interesting things here... nice work Mr. Higgins.

[Jean Pierre]

I like it very much and I put it on my Face Book "MUSIC" site
the "cut up" technique is interesting and is a bit like automatic writing
Inspired by psychoanalysis, and especially by the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud and Lautréamont, automatic writing consists in writing so quickly that reason and preconceived ideas do not have time to exert their control. The first text resulting from this method, Les Champs magnétiques of 1919, was written in turn by André Breton and Philippe Soupault.

I had used a song by Charles Trenet, written in "automatic writing" mode, which is magnificent and which I encourage you to (re)-discover
https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?topic=22811.msg279680#msg279680
I had put the words in French..here is the translation in English

On ironing days, In the house that sleeps,
The maid is not wise, But we still keep her.
We found her last night, Behind the wooden door,
With a sieve, giving herself joy.
Grandfather's beard put everything in order
But the angry maid almost bit him.
It's raining on the slates, It's raining on the barnyard,
It is raining on the raspberries, It is raining on my love.

I hide under the table.  The cat scratches me a little.
This tiger is untamable and plays with fire.
The slippers of grandmother Are dead before the night.
Let's sleep in my cottage.  Sleep, let us sleep without noise.
Cradle rocking viols, An angel hid
In the closet of vials Where they keep me lying.
Remedy for the cold, Remedy for the heart
Remedy for the fog, Remedy for the misfortune.

The revenge of the storms Has made the house
A tender landscape For the little boys
Who burn with anticipation Two days before Christmas
And, without any suspicion, accept everything, jumbled up:
Life, death, squares and electric trains,
The tears in the stations, Punch and Judy,
The acetylene spouts To the assisted children
And the smile of Hélène By a beautiful evening of summer.

 Give me four planks To make me a coffin.
He fell from the branch, The nice squirrel.
I did not like my mother.  I did not like my fate.
 I did not like the war. I did not like death.
I never knew how to say Why I was distracted.
I did not know how to smile At this or that attraction.
I was alone on the roads Without saying yes or no.
My soul dissolved. Dust was my name.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[Ferryman_1957]

I think it works really well. The lyrics are great, like Warren said, they're Jim but not quite Jim. It's similar to a lot of your own work, but it has a different perspective, the cutup lyrics give it a bit of an "outsider" view. I would call the backer lush rather than muddy, I can see why you feel that way but it works for me, most of the backer blends to create a lush feel but the acoustic stands clear to give it some focus. And it's a great platform for the vocals, which are superbly done.

I enjoyed it a lot, glad you persevered!

[thetworegs]

I like the way the acoustic sits top of the pile of sound the technique you've used works a treat well worth persisting with