Get Up Again?

Now son, that song is not going to arrange itself.

Faux Friends,

Last week I “dropped” the analog cassette version of “Defined by v1” and said there was “something wrong with it.”

I should clarify that as a piece of free-standing art, there is nothing “wrong” with it.

It is a document of an idea in time—a record.¹

But if, like me, for some reason², you want your songs to be played on the radio, that version felt a little too wobbly and amorphous to make it past the taste makers who decide what gets played at drive-time.

I also implied in last week’s epistle that a computer could really help take the “wobble” out of the songs, by getting on the grid with BPMs³ etc.

So, when I finally acquired said computer, I immediately tried recording “Defined by” again.

I am sad to report that recording on a computer, while making things easier on so many levels, does not automatically make song arrangements for you.⁴

And today’s addition to the “Mixed Up Files” is the first attempt at making this song happen on a computer; please listen in the player below.⁵

I had just moved into my then-girlfriend’s⁶ apartment overlooking Loring Park in Minneapolis when I really delved into this recording.

UP ON THE ROOF LORING PARK. 2008

I didn’t yet have the wherewithal to hook up a microphone to the computer so I just sang and played guitar directly into the built-in mic on the laptop.

There was no air conditioning and I was basically a chain-smoker at the time, so the windows were always open.

Hence the sirens in the intro.⁷

I think we were on the 11th floor.

I kept adding tracks and adding tracks and then I just ran out of gas one day, as evidenced by the final line.⁸

Eventually, I purchased a USB microphone for recording vocals and guitar and made little improvements to the setup here and there, and all the work I’d already put in here seemed like it needed to be done over, which my heart somehow couldn’t handle, so I’ve been stroking my beard over this piece for 16 years (2024-2008=16).

And in that spirit, it gives me great pleasure to release this imperfect record of a certain time into the wild and share it with y’all here.

I remain your humble servant,

OX&C,

Faux Jean

Here are the Lyrics:

Get up!
It’s morning time,
and it would follow reason
that you rise and shine
At night now

Get down
Come off it
This will have no meaning
when we're dead
I know
I know now I'm defined by love
Now
At night I know
At night
You only follow feelings
You turn your back on reason
Why?
It seems so much more fun teasing
that I know
'Cause I'm defined by love
defined defined defined defined

Get high
But watch your head
It can get in the way
If you let it
Oh, I know

Pass a note
There ya go
No ya don't
Oh, I know

Yeah
Get off
I'm over it
And this will have no meaning
when we're dead
Oh, I know
At night
I know
etc

And here is a poem/cartoon from the same era that produced this song.

Them’s brains.

1. And it gave me the warm fuzzies.

2. must be an ego thing, but it is also a desire for connection.

3. Beats per minute

4. although there are programs that do that . . .

5. This “Mixed Up File” was created on May 11, 2008 and has haunted me since.

6. Now wife.

7. Sorry if you were listening in the car and that freaked you out.

8. According to my journal from that time, I became distracted by a song called “I Shoulda Been a Rapper.”