The Dying Californian - Lyrics & Chords - The Blue Myself

This is my version of "The Dying Californian," a traditional American folk hymn. It's another homemade demo recording under the name The Blue Myself (a band alternately known as Friends Around the Campfire, Wizard Pit, Sandy Mary, and, very rarely, Pandoraz Kunt - an offshoot of The Manna Tease created for songwriting / workshopping purposes.) I used my Les Paul, my turtleback mandolin, and an ancient Yamaha PSR-500M for the recording.

The melody follows roughly the same shape as the folk hymn (410 in the Sacred Harp, pictured at the very top), but this version is in D minor key (what Nigel Tufnel calls "the saddest of all keys") and in a loping 4/4. 

The chords are basically:

Dmin / / Gmin / / Dmin / /  Bb / A7 / Dmin

In the Sacred Harp, the words are credited to "Ball & Drinkard, 1859" - my favorite lyrics-writing duo since "Koch & Tokup." 

Lay up nearer, brother, nearer,
For my limbs are growing cold,
And thy presence seemeth dearer
When thy arms around me fold.  

 I am dying, brother, dying,
Soon you will miss me in your berth,
And my form will soon be lying
Beneath the ocean's briny surf.  

 Hearken to me, brother, hearken,
I have something I would say,
Ere this veil my vision darken
And I go from hence away,  

 I am going, surely going,
But my hopes in God are strong,
I am willing, brother, knowing
That He doeth nothing wrong.

Please "like" The Blue Myself on facebooks:

Foo Fighters - Keepin' It Clean - Lyrics & Chords - Special Friends Around the Campfire, actual campfire edition

This amazing Gay-Truckers-showering song, "Keep it Clean" or "Keepin' it Clean," plays in the background of the opening of the Foo Fighter's music video to "Hot Buns" (2011). This summer, they famously rolled up on a flat bed truck in Kansas City & sang it to the Westboro Baptist Church "God hates fags" protesters, which might have been one of the best moments in American history.

The Manna Tease were camping in Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in the Great Basin desert last weekend, & sang it around the campfire - it's a bit shaky, we were doing it fresh from memory & after a bit of afternoon bourbon, but here goes:

And for your convenience, here are the lyrics & chords we use:

C G C C7 

Keep It clean, my mama said keep It clean (2x) 

F  

Driving all night, got a hankering for something 

C A7 

Think I'm In the mood for some hot-man muffins 

D7 G Gaug 

Mmmm, Sounds so fine, yes indeed

Keep It Clean, my Daddy said keep it clean (2x) 

Ain't looking for a fight, ain't looking for trouble 

Howdy Mr Right have you met Mister Bubble 

Hey, put 'er there, ain't she sweet. 

F 

Rubbin' and a lovin' and a scrubbin' and a truckin' 

C A7 

Maybe if we're lucky just a little bear huggin' 

D7   G7 C F C 

Know what I mean, Keep it clean 

Rubbin' and a lovin' and a scrubbin' and a truckin' 

Maybe if we're lucky just a little bear huggin' 

Know what I mean, Keep it clean

Note: We added the augmented chord for spice, it's not mandatory.
The Foo Fighters sing it in G, which is very low, but here's approx. their chords if you wish:

G D7 G 

G D7 G G7 

C 

G E7 

A7 D7

Please "like" / follow the Manna Tease on facebooks!

9/11 Was An Inside Job: the song & a new video

For the anniversary of 9/11, here's a new video of my song "9/11 was an inside job," exposing many truths:

This song was previously posted, with lyrics & chords & a rehearsal mp3 here.

The Manna Tease on facebooks here.

Indian Cress - Nasturtium love song - demo recording & video

Here's a tiny new love song, inspired by the nasturtium weeds that grow all over Berkeley.

And a sample demo mp3:



This and other non-Manna Tease demo songs available at the Friends Around the Campfire store here.

Please "like" / follow our band The Manna Tease on facebooks here.

Lyrics & chords:
(I'm using a capo & playing it in C#.)

Indian Cress

A Cmaj7 A Gmaj7/E

A Cmaj7
My girlfriend
D E
Growing like a weed
A Cmaj7
Some loves are planned,
D E
Others take seed.

Some flowers
Smell like the judgment,
But ours
Is tangy & pungent.

A F
Indian cress
G Gmaj7/E
Undress for success,
bmin7 E
Spicy & sweet
bmin7 E
On the side of the street,
bmin7 E
Your outfit is sexist
bmin7 E
(As) the orange rose of Texas,
c#min7 F#
Listen, my catcalls:
c#min7 F#
Let down your petals.
G Gmaj7/E A
Beautiful Indian cress.

A Cmaj7
My girlfriend
D E
Climbing a fence
A Cmaj7
Some girls depend (on you)
D E
Others pay your rents.

Some demons
Are wise or exotic,
And some poisons
Can be antibiotic.

Indian cress

Undress for success,

Spicy & sweet

On the side of the street,

bmin7 E

Your outfit is racist

bmin7 E

Take off your headdress,

bmin7 E

Clean off your faces,

bmin7 E

Your make-up is running,

c#min7 F#

Your tears are becoming

c#min7 F#

The dew in the morning,

c#min7 F#

Listen, my catcalls:

c#min7 F#

Let down your petals.

G Gmaj7/E A

Beautiful Indian cress.

©2011 The Manna Tease

New Song: "My Space"

Here's a demo recording a brand spanking new song called "My Space," to play with The Manna Tease. It's a song about how everybody used to be in my space, but now nobody is in my space.




That demo is in E, but here are the lyrics & chords in D (as I've been practicing with The Manna Tease.) That demo mp3 is available here. Friends Around the Campfire is on facebook here.

My Space

D emin7/C# bmin A
A drowsy tremor runs thru the rushes,
D emin7/C# bmin A F#7
Pan awakens & spring- time blushes.
bmin Gmaj7 A F#7
Curse the morn, & curse the fully employed.
bmin Gmaj7 A
I’m weary & worn, I’m lonesome... & annoyed.

B7 emin emin/D

Everybody was in my space.

C#7 f#min f#min/E

Now nobody is in my space.

D7 G G/F#

I pity the whole space race.

emin bmin

The times have been fun,

A D

But now I’m alone.

There is always space for beauty.
I’m amazed at our nation's natural piety.
The throstle cock finds room for another song:
My friends are gone, but that throstle cock will sing along.

Everybody was in my space, &c...

My face in profile, my followers offended,
I loved your style before I was unfriended.
Close my eyes, but leave open my air quotes.
I'll plagiarize from Florence Earle Coates.

Everybody was in my space, &c...

[final chorus] The times have been fun,

But now it is done.

©The Manna Tease 2011

Song: Isa Bowman mp3

Here's a Friends Around the Campfire demo mp3 single of Isa Bowman, a song I wrote in January. I apologize for my sucky mastering & equalizing skills. If you require to download the mp3, it's available for a buck in the store widget below (over on the 'downloads' tab.)

Here's my earlier youtube version. The chords & lyrics (by Lewis Carroll) are here. Friends Around the Campfire on facebooks here. The Manna Tease on facebooks here. Bye!

Friends Around the Campfire on Facebook - Stuck Home Syndrome EP now Available!

Good day - - - I know I've been harassing you to become a fan of The Manna Tease on the facebooks. But in the meantime (before we have more proper recordings) I've put up our last project, Friends Around the Campfire's Stuck Home Syndrome, homemade recordings from 2009-10, on its own facebook page. The EP version of Stuck Home Syndrome (expurgating the covers copyrighted elsewheres) is now FOR SALE for a handsome & affordable price of $5.99, cheaper than a sixpack of beer. The reverbnation band page provides a way to sell it directly thru the facebook fan page, nifty technology. Here are the songs thru embedded in this blog, followed by the store.

New Song: Isa Bowman

I'm at Lake Tahoe for a sort of writer's retreat, and I have one new song to show for it. Here's a solo "workshopping" version, altho I wrote it to sing with our hot new band, The Manna Tease.



The text is half from Lewis Carroll's prefatory poem to Sylvie & Bruno, and half original. (The poem is an acrostic on Carroll's friend Isa Bowman, a child actress - the first letter of every line spell her name, as well as the first three letters of every stanza.) Here's the lyrics & chords as they stand now:

Isa Bowman
(Words by Lewis Carroll & S. Sandrigon, Music by S. Sandrigon)

G C G d#°7 emin emin/D C G

B7 C#7 f#min f#min/E f#min
Is all our life, then, but a dream----------
bmin emin emin/D C G
Seen faintly in the golden gleam-----------
B7 C#7 f#min f#min/E
Athwart time’s dark resistless stream-------?
bmin emin emin/D
It seems she’s a showman,
C G d#°7 emin emin/D
Below & above the remnants of the world, and
C G D
I’m blowin’ to & fro, man,
d#°7 emin D E
By an indiscrim’nate whirlwind

amin7 D G

And the love of Isa Bowman.

Bowed to the earth with bitter woe,
Or laughing at some raree-show,
We flutter idly to & fro.
I know she’s a showman, &c.

Man’s little day in haste we spend,
And, from its merry noontide, send
No glance to meet the silent end.
My friend, she’s a showman, &c.

C G d#°7 emin emin/D C G

Copyright 2011 The Manna Tease.

Please "like" our new band on facebook, we will put up more recordings soon!

UPDATE! Here's a downloadable demo mp3 version. You can have it for a buck from the store widget below if you wish (under "downloads").

Happy 2011, song number 2: Rag Dance Song (La Guignolée) & a happy new year.

And our second New Years song, with Friends Around the Campfire, starring Miss Minnie Molly Mary on ukulele, the French American folksong Rag Dance, La Guignolée. Happy 2011~!

Advent Calendar of Non-Overplayed Christmas Songs No. XVI

For the sixteenth installment of the Advent Calendar of Non-Overplayed-to-Death Christmas Carols, I recorded a song from the Squirrel Nut Zippers' classic & under-appreciated album Christmas Caravan, "I'm Coming Home for Christmas", into the youtubes.

Boxer Briefly Noted!

Some quick carrion for CULTURE BUZZARDS!

Joaquin Phoenix was faking it all along (his descent into craziness & rap career, &c) all for Casey Affleck's mockumentary. & fooling Letterman & Ebert (who hated the movie before he got it.) I think of his po-mo 21st Century Celebrity-as-Performance Art as an interesting B-side to Lady GaGa.

Last year there was Dante's Inferno the Video Game. Now, Legendary Pictures is producing a huge-budget Paradise Lost 3D (thanks Mr Islas for the tip, the write-up from Atlantic is here.) I can't wait for someone to take on William Blake's Jerusalem. And speaking of 3D, Werner Herzog's first foray into the dimension will be a documentary about cave art in France called Caves of Forgotten Dreams.

Miss LaFuente turned us on to these Funny or Die "Drunk Histories", where very drunk people explain famous historical events & famous people (like Michael Cera & Crispin Glover) act them out. Cera's amazing portrayal of Alexander Hamilton ("Listen I can't reconcile killing someone with my political beliefs, but I can't reconcile my political beliefs with not killing someone.") got us wondering if Hamilton really did deliberately not fire at Aaron Burr in their famous duel. According to reputable internet sources, the issue is contested. Hamilton keeps coming up recently, I cursed him in the lyrics to my song "Corn Whiskey" (set to the tune of "The Times They Are A'Changin'") featured in our work-in-progress Corn Liquor songbook.

I mentioned on the Lewis Carroll blog about the studios KILLING Marylin Manson's Lewis Carroll movie (a psycho-sexual thriller about his fiery passion for child Alice Liddell, years in the making & starring the beautiful Lily Cole) after internet audiences recoiled from the nasty trailer, read about it here. Scholars of the real non-pedophiliac Rev. Charles Dodgson collectively exhale in relief.

I recommend the article in the New Yorker about Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook who's about to be movie-fied, played by that actor from The Squid & the Whale and Adventureland, Jesse Eisenberg. If you're someone who somewhat trusts facebook, there's some shocking shit in there.

Speaking of bio-pics, when is someone going to make the James A. Garfield one?

Only a few months before Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows PART ONE comes out, & now that the shooting is finished, did you see Emma Watson's shedding of her Hermoine curls:

I'm very curious to watch the careers of the main Harry Potter children, they're all such good actors. I only post Watson's Twiggy look because we were discussing it while Miss Minnie Mary Molly cut the remaining red off of Grainne's blonde roots last night. M.M.M. is giving twenty-dollar haircuts to friends & friends-of-friends to save up & buy her own electric ukulele for our Friends Around the Campfire "band." If you need a stylish trim & wish to donate to the cause, look her up. Here's the logo I made for the back of her card:

Jerry's dead, Phish sucks, get a haircut! &, Friends Around the Campfire now has a facebook group you can "like": HERE. Be a friend of Friends Around the Campfire!