Hello Vernal Fauxs!
We made it to Spring!
I don’t know that I set out to begin a new Volume of “From the Mixed Up Files of Mr. Matthew T. Schindler” on the Solstice or Equinox of each changing season, but that is what has happened.1
It’s happening.
And today begins Volume 4 and the cover looks like this:
Track one2 is the demo version of the song “Hey!”
Here is an “unprocessed” mp3 version of the same song. (It’s not so damned loud.)
I found this sound file in a folder called “Mongolian Invasion Pt. 2,” backed up from an old hard drive.
This song had been saved as a lossy mp3.
So today I pumped that mp3 through Adobe Audition with some compression and converted it to a wave file, and you can hear the difference between the two sound files above. (The Bandcamp version has been lifting weights and fasting now and again3.)
I recorded this demo in 1999.
As someone who knew very little about recording and playing drums, bass and keys (let alone guitar), I was very excited by the outcome of this recording, which was made on a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder.
It became a foundational song for the Faux Jean band.
I have a couple other versions floating around on cassette somewhere (in the garage) that may see the light of day at some point, but for now, this is the jam.
Here are the Lyrics:
Hey!
Are we gonna do this thing
Are we gonna get together
Well you better treat me good
No, you gotta treat me better
If you're gonna hang around
We'll get along
We'll get it on
To get along and get it on and get along
'Cause I know you
And you know me
And that's all just as far as you can see
But to know just to know seems like less instead of more
And I think that I need to know your heart
Hey!
Are we going to fall in love
Are we going to run away
then just treat me like a friend
That is both in and out of bed
And if you're going to lie with me
Then you shouldn't lie to me
If we're going to do this thing
Don't you lie lie lie
Don't you lie lie lie
Don't you lie if you're going to lie with me
It wasn't me
It was not I
Who said that I only want a lover
A modicum is what I need
You hate the word fidelity
But I think that I need to know your heart
Hey
If we're going to do this thing
Are we going to stay together
I mean for good I mean forever
And for lack of a better word I mention love
Not to mention reason
And all of the above
Do you really think we should
Do you think that that'd be good
Do you think that that'd be right
Do you really think we might
Do you think that that'd sane
If you do then you better think again
Hey!
Are we gonna do this thing
Hey!
Are we gonna do this thing
Hey!
Are we gonna do this thing
If you do then you better treat me good.
Spring comes a little earlier in San Diego than it does in Minnesconsin®.
A lot earlier.
The robins showed up at the park where I walk my dog4 a month ago.
The flower pic above I took on January 12, 2023.
I’ve attended three little league baseball games since Saturday.
Same time, I’m watching my people back home take polar plunges.
Y’all crazy!
In the best way.5
I am missing the Midwest today.
Hey!
I remain your humble servant,
OX&C,
Faux Jean
To reiterate the mission: “From the Mixed Up Files of Mr. Matthew T. Schindler” is an evolving collection of LPs released by Faux Jean on the Bandcamp platform. Each week, an old, generally lo-fi song that has been languishing on a hard drive (or phone, or tape, etc) is set free and added to the collection. Faux Jean then writes about the song idea/mixed up file in this here newsletter, which is also called “From the Mixed Up Files of Mr. Matthew T. Schindler.” Today, March 21, 2023, marks the beginning of Volume 4 in this set.
Track one is the only song on the LP so far, because it was released today, and each week a new song is added. (Am I beating a dead horse here?)
Mixed up, no?
I’m a big baby when it comes to getting in cold water, for the record.