Album Breakdown

_ Introductory Addresses _

(POTENTIAL TITLE)

Chapter 1 Love Letters: lower case

fondly mrs. R

Key: G

Instrumentation:

Tuba

Honky-Tonk Piano

Jingle Bells

Guitar?

Horns, etc

General Aesthetic: Group of Street Musicians gathered spontaneously

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

An individual walking down city is suddenly surrounded/serenaded by friend and crowd of accomplices in what eventually becomes a combination of planned music making and spontaneous public participation.

Lyrics:

Hey you...

Did ya, did ya know how awful glad I am I know you

So particularly pleased that we were introduced

And I may have said so,

All the same I think it bears repeating, that

By the way, I think you're thoroughly worthwhile

Chorus:

I've made my mind up: I like you a lot

You're something special and I tell you what

You've already come to mean something to me

verse 2:

Hey you

To Mister Debonair,

Signed Misses Ragdoll

Would you be kind enough to meet this afternoon for tea?

Cordially...

You can bring your favorite sweater

If I can wear my Tuesday boots

We can talk about the weather, or books or the stars or religion

Final Chorus Over Canon-esque texture

bon anniversaire kiddos

Key: C

Instrumentation:

Piano (or equivalent effect for bass-line)

Snaps (or equivalent percussive sounds)

General Aesthetic: Very “sunshiney” almost Bobby Mcferrin (don’t worry be happy), but more satisfying percussive effects…

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

This is the sunlight-spilling-into-the-whole-room/greeting card moment of the letters chapter. Like the song itself is pure vitamin D.

Lyrics:

There was this day once when I was small

That you were born and everyone was happy

I don’t know if you recall

Ba da da da da dum

And all the people said:

Dear God in Heaven

Here is a sweet, sweet girl

Chorus:

And I’ve loved you so long now

I’ve loved you so long

And on and on and on and on and on I’ll love you

I’ve loved you so long now, I’ve loved you so long

And on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on…

I will.

verse 2:

There was this boy once, so I have heard

Who gave his eyes to save a hummingbird

I don’t know if you recall

Ba da da da da dum

If ever I’ve seen one, here is a sweet, sweet boy

And all the people said:

Chorus

and…

Key: D

Instrumentation:

piano

arpeggiated vibraphone or glockenspiel or toy guitar or churango (high/soft)

arpeggiated mandolin

General Aesthetic: Philip Glass/Sufjan Stevens/Feist

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

This song has some of the sparkle in bon anniversaire kiddos and the warmth/intimacy of dearest peter (mrs. pumpkineater’s love song). It’s not a song that’s trying to be cute. Warm Vocals.

Lyrics:

dear sir,

pardon if you please

I promise this will only take a moment

I am writing to inform you that my hands are smaller than your hands are

and I love you

dear sir,

in addition you might be the sweetest thing I ever heard of

dear sir,

notice how my head tucks underneath your chin when I am sleeping

and, sir, note moreover how I like to lie awake to hear you breathing

and I love you.

friendship song (the second-hand monster pledge of allegiance)

Key: B

Instrumentation:

Piano

Drums

Horns (Trumpets/Trombone/Strings?)

Factory/Machine Sounds

Whistle

General Aesthetic: : Regina Spektor’s Machine (if it were happy sounding)

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

Takes place in factory that takes broken toy parts and remakes them. One particularly funny looking recreation (heavy on the “first aid decorations”) sings this song as a message to all prospective buyers. It’s a promise, in essence, to be a very, very good toy.

Lyrics:

If you ever need a band-aid

You know who you could call

...of the many you could call if by chance you took a fall ...don't ya know don't ya know

If you got stuck in a closet

And I was near enough to hear you

You know that I'd be there to knock down any door ...don't ya know don't ya know

whistle chorus:

verse 2:

If you had a pet tarantula

I wouldn't panic or pass out

I get what sharing is about

At most you might anticipate a period of abbreviated hyperventilation

Suppose your head got stuck in the bars of a banister…

Well, there's very little I could actually do in that situation, but I'd

Hold your hand till the firemen came and I'd

Insist that bars were a good look for you, and I'd

Try really, really hard not to say anything that'd make you feel bad about yourself, and

Knowing me, before too long I'd be wedged right in there next to you

At which point I'd try to play it off like I was making you feel better, which would

...be a bald-faced lie

Don't ya know don't ya know

whistle chorus

the breakdown:

[you can tell it's the serious, meaningful part, ‘cuz it's slow and uses minor chords]

If you ever turn invisible

I won't forget you're in the room

Or say insensitive things like

"See ya soon" or

"Look at you go"

verse 3:

If you ever get a hank-er-ing

For a moment of my company

I betcha I could find the time

to be a part-e-ner in crime ...don't ya know don't ya know

And if you ever need a shoulder

For leaning, or for crying on

Or anything else of that particular nature

You can count on me

You can count on me ...don't ya know don't ya know

final whistle chorus

dearest peter (mrs. pumpkineater’s love song)

Key: G

Instrumentation:

Piano

Strings

“Percussion”

General Aesthetic: Regina Spektor/Paul Simon/Andrew Bird

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

Hearth/home intimacy meets fairytale whimsy. Authentic/simple emotionalism woven into fanciful storybook setting.

Lyrics:

I made my home with you

I buried my bones beside your bones

Oh won't you come a dancin' in the graveyard?

We could slip out the gate, to where there grass is cleaner

Chorus:

You lay down in the chapel

And let me crawl inside your skin

And stitched yourself around me, and told me I was worth it

Oh, won't you come a dancin' in the graveyard?

Section B:

See, I've been kickin' around this broken patch of dirt for so long

And I've got earth so deep beneath my toenails and I'm so happy

I'm so happy you're here

verse 2:

Oh take me home with you

I wanna plant daisies and lilacs by the back porch

I could sing you to sleep, drape my hair across your pillow

Chorus 2:

Now I lay me down beside you

And tangle your fingers in mine

We're breaking, we're breaking, we're breaking

To tender little pieces that can't be separated out

Chapter 2 Rurality

Kansas Drought

Key: C

Instrumentation:

Piano

Clarinet

Double Bass

Squeaky gate effect, etc

General Aesthetic: As if it were a field recording in a big drafty old barn on a dead farm

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

This introduces the rurality set, and the underlying aesthetic/flavor of older folk old-Americana. None of the songs are direct copies of style, but rather ghosts of the style. Shadows and references filtered through imagination or (as in this case) memory.

Lyrics:

Brother Paul was a farmer once

He still remembers his mother crying across the hall of that drafty old house

And all she ever wanted was for rain to fall in 1949

Brother Paul hung all his own dust-choked hopes on

Four-part hymns and straw-bible promises

And sometimes he prayed, but all he really asked for was rain, to fall on 1949

Chorus:

And how do you do then, brother Paul?

Are you waitin' - Are you waitin' for your rain to fall?

And what will they tell you when it don't?

And who will you be and what will you believe in?

verse 2:

Brother Paul, he don't believe in purgatory,

But it can't be much worse than a dust bowl

And where is God, and where was the rain in 1949?

God, He'll send you a flood to blot out most all of creation

For a sorry band of semi-faithful He'll make the rocks bleed water

And what about brother Paul? All he ever wanted was mama's rain in 1949

Chorus:

And how do you do then, brother Paul?

Are you waitin' - Are you waitin' for your rain to fall?

And what will they tell you when it don't?

And who will you be and what will you believe in?

Chorus 2:

And it's never like we planned it, brother Paul

It'll shake you till you're dust it'll shake you till you're nothing at all

And it's love and it's gentleness and it's openness, brother

If you'll have it -

Will you have it, will you have it?

Tommy Was a Little Boy

Key: C

Instrumentation:

Piano

Whistle

General Aesthetic: Andrew Bird

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

This one is like a combination between a backwoods ghost story and a lament. It’s not heavy-handed or melodramatic. The aim is that it simply be haunting.

Lyrics:

When Tommy was a little boy, little boy, little boy

When Tommy was a little boy in Arkansas,

Little Tommy had a little gun, he said

"I ain't scared of anyone.

If the devil's comin'

Let him come to Arkansas."

Chorus

Mama, don't lay me down, lay me by

Don't ye leave me, leave me lie

Baby's a goin' to cry

When dark come rollin' down the mountain

verse 2:

The devil plays a charcoal flute

In a tall white hat and a linen suit

When the devil peddles thorny fruit in Arkansas

Sorta sweet and hollow, thin and low

It stains his lips, but the stains don't show, whisperin'

"Hey now, where'd your daddy go?"

Interlude Chorus

What Mama Wants (the great unwindup)

Key: G

Instrumentation:

Upright Bass

Steel Guitar

Drums

General Aesthetic: Old Country Blues (Blind Willie Johnson singing “Dark was the night cold was the ground,” but more movement in tempo)

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

Hot, hot summer evening deep in the rural South. People are gathering in a local ramshackle restaurant/bar and the house band is turning up their own kind of heat. Song starts with a heavy/slow tempo that reflects the oppressiveness of the heat. Slowly starts cooking and everybody gets into it.

Lyrics:

‘Bout time you came a knockin’

Go ahead and shut the door

And it’s ‘bout time you got that coat off

Just leave it on the floor, honey

Now, I don’t mind you gettin’ cozy

Go ahead and make yourself at home

And I don’t mind that night is just around the corner

I’m not plannin’ on spending it alone

Chorus

Mama’s gonna get what mama wants

Mama’s gonna get what mama’s got comin’ and

Mama made her mind up

Didn’t have to think long about it

Mama wants you

(Verse and Chorus a second time, but faster)

(Verse and Chorus a third time, but faster)

“Hold up!”

Mini Unwindup (3 times, speeding up)

Mama’s little baby’s gonna shake it off, shake it off

Mama’s little baby loves

Mama’s little baby loves

How, how she knows she’s got him

Now, now she knows she’s got him

Final Run Through Verse and Chorus at Fastest Tempo

Ash Tree Lullaby

Key: Eb

Instrumentation:

Flute/Recorder

Bass Clarinet

Bassoon

Contrabassoon

…or string equivalents of all these

General Aesthetic: tree creaking/leaves rustling in the wind

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

From a story I wrote once that took place in the mountains of Appalachia. Tucked way up where almost no one goes there was this grove of trees that were so old they were alive before the ground hardened itself to mankind at the fall. In this part of the story a pair of children are rocked to sleep by the swaying of a tree. As it groans swaying back and forth, a lullaby slowly materializes. Musical/instrumental underpinnings of this song provide (at least this would be the goal) the sound of the tree’s movement out of which comes its voice.

Lyrics:

Sleep Baby, don't you worry

Lean your head on me

Know I see you, precious as you are

Know I love you

Sleep Baby, Little Firefly

How you're dear to me

And I will never leave my baby, so

Sleep Baby

Sleep Baby

Revival Tent

Key: B minor

Instrumentation:

Piano

Drums (old, old sounding drums)

Other super old, rural instrument sounds

General Aesthetic: Simultaneously Earthy and Otherworldly

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

At the turn of the century in rural America, when a revival would come to town it was as big an event as the circus. To many in the least developed parts of the country, it was like nothing they’d ever seen. My imagination was sparked at the image of families rowing across the bayou or riding across the prairie at night …toward the light of the revival tent. I am so intrigued by what it would have been like for settles to draw near to the tent, step inside and have the experience wash over them. Both Rurality and Urban Scrawl have lullabies. I think they both have siren songs too. This is it.

Lyrics:

Refrain:

Do you know my God?

Do you know my God?

Do you know my God?

Chorus:

I will arise and go to Jesus

He will take me in His arms

In the arms of my dear savior

Oh, there are ten thousand charms

Refrain

Verse 1:

Come ye sinners, poor and needy

Weak and wounded, sick and sore

Jesus, ready, stands to save you

Full of pity love and power

Refrain (2x)

Verse 2:

Come ye thirsty, come, and welcome

God’s free bounty glorify

True belief and true repentance

Every grace that brings you nigh

Chorus (2x)

Interlude

Verse 3:

Come ye weary, heavy laden,

Lost and ruined by the fall

If you tarry till you’re better

You will never come at all

Refrain/Chorus (2x)

Chapter 3 Urban Scrawl

Siren Song

Key: C minor

Instrumentation:

Piano

Drum-set

Whistle

Kazoo

General Aesthetic: Tom Waits/Fiona Apple

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

This song introduces the urban soundscape that defines these five pieces. It’s the call of the city itself: concrete, raw, alluring in a strange neon-lit, but dingy kind of way.

Lyrics:

I'm a sweet little thing,

Sweet baby with a sweet voice

God help me, I'm delectable

You can find me just this side of where I'm gonna break ya'

Sweet undertow will take you down

La la la la

Chorus:

Come on… Give me just a little bit of you

I swear, all I wanna do is rub shoulders with ya'

Come on… Really, any little bit will do

La la la la

Valentine

Key: C

Instrumentation:

Piano and/or equivalent instrument to serve as bass

Percussive hand clapping (like percussion on recording, but made to sound like school yard hand-clapping games)

General Aesthetic: School yard game… taking place on urban playground

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

I live across the street from an urban elementary school. I imagine little girls with their hair beaded/braided surrounding the singer. Maybe they’re just elements of her imagination, but the song is about the loveliness that exists in seeing someone you thought of as a child grow into the things children imagine they’ll be someday.

Lyrics:

Rhyme A1:

Would you promise to love me forever

If I set down my head on your knee?

If I took you for bad and for better

Would you promise to take care of me?

Rhyme B:

Tie a ribbon in my hair and kiss my face

And let’s get married

Hold my hand and butter my bread

And give your knee to rest my head on

Rhyme C:

Hey hey, little sister

Where ya gone, where ya gone?

Mama’s prayin’ in the kitchen for goin’ on how long?

Hey hey, little sister

Put your ear to the ground

There’s a rumble in the belly of the earth

S’gonna turn around

Rhyme D:

I want to be so gentle you could find yourself in me a little

And strong enough to hold somebody

I want to be a woman

Rhyme A2:

Would you promise to love me

Whatever it turns out I turn out to be?

‘Cuz I promise to love you forever

If you promis to take care of me.

Baggage Claim Incident/Baggage Claim Ballet

Key: G- ish

Instrumentation:

Piano (also maybe creaky sounding strings)

General Aesthetic: Dreary sounds & Elephantine plodding of baggage claims/Circus… …also Paul Simon à la “Punky’s Dilemma”

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

The first section… the part with words is pretty self-explanatory. The piano solo section is the baggage claim ballet: the real soundtrack of the incident.

Lyrics:

Jimmy and Janice stepped onto a carousel

Never supposing a moment it wasn’t for them

Passing beast after beast, Janice wrinkled her nose

At their rumpled androgyny

James thought it strange that no music was playing …nevertheless,

The menagerie spun in its silent ballet and a horse

A horse, after all, is a horse if you want it to be

Verse 2:

Rita’s son George was devotedly boring

Forever reminding her just what she ought not to do

And she was just saying she never much liked him,

When merrily, merrily round drifted Janice and Jim

Calling to George, Rita gestured obscenely

And flung herself onto the very next suitcas that passed her way

Chorus:

“Come twirling, come.” sang the children,

“For nothing is finer than animals dancing on panels of tin.”

Verse 3:

The gentleman nearest to George quite mistook his intention in

Boarding the carousel after his mother escaped

It was all the encouragement Larry required to jump on behind him

Marge Robinson soon followed suit, then

Allison, Benjamin, Nathan, Fiona, and Phil

What came over them no one could ever afterward quite understand

But they rode till it finally broke down

Chorus

Baggage Claim Ballet

For Hans

Key: A

Instrumentation:

Harp doubling strings:

Double-Bass

2 Cellos

Viola

General Aesthetic: Mother singing to baby in city apartment …drawing/weaving sweetness out of urban sounds

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

I wrote this song as a gift for friends of mine on the occasion of their first child’s birth. It happened to coincide with a season of grief for them… the husband in this family lost his father in the same period of time. The lullaby is a song of the constancy of love and the baby’s safety even amid outside turmoil. Setting it in a city apartment (and not a fancy apartment) in my imagination accentuates this dynamic.

Lyrics:

[Lullaby Theme]

Eyes will close and eyes will open

Baby knows he's safe and warm

As seasons pass, and souls thereafter

On, whence baby's lately come

Blink your eyes, baby

Nod your head

Lay ye easy in your bed, baby

Love you now, baby

Love you ever

Rock ya slow and there,

There ya go, baby

[Lullaby Theme]

For Whatever Intellect I had, I Always was a Little Mad

Key: E minor

Instrumentation:

Clarinet

Upright Bass

Accordion Sound

Violin

Piano

General Aesthetic: old cabaret Berlin 1915

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

This is an urban scene from another time. It has modern elements/general tone, but the approach is reminiscent of the kind of bars that existed in what were more elegant, but unmistakably hardscrabble times. I always pictured some woman in her 40’s who looked like she was in her 60’s (hard living) chain smoking her way through a rendition of this piece.

Lyrics:

Sanity is vastly overrated

Give it a whirl, I'm sure that you'll agree

Just plant your feet on solid ground and take an honest look around

I wager it could never be as simple as "it's out here with me,"

See, everyone is scrambling for their marbles

As if they're any fun to have at all

I knew right off it wasn't true

Now, Sanity, I'm on to you

Chorus:

Oh Sanity, dear Sanity, you

Silly little figment of our vanity

They say you're real, but they can't fool me

You keep your marbles, dear, and leave me be

verse 2:

I lost touch with reality in childhood

No hard feelings, we were never very close

- And think how lonely it would be to hear one voice in place of three:

No me, or me, or me, or me to keep me on my toes

Now who that has a mind wants to be IN it?

What a silly thought and what a dreadful bore

Oh I have one, if you must know

But I just keep it 'round for show

It's really not the fashion to [wrinkling nose] use them anymore

Chorus 2:

Oh Sanity, dear Sanity

Little box of nothing wrapped in rationality

Try and catch them all, but you can't catch me

No you can't… catch...

…me

Chapter 4 Me and My House

Occasionally Average You

Key: C (w/ a key change at end to D)

Instrumentation:

Piano (or ukelele)

Sesame Street sounds

General Aesthetic: Sesame Street/School House Rock/lFight of the Conchords

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

This song is very, very Sesame Street. In Henson’s music, there was often a funny element of not pulling one’s punches, but managing say startlingly honest things in a way that in no way belittled whoever they were singing to/about. It’s a big sing-along fest that ought to have puppets… though we’ll have to figure out how to make it work as a recording. It will always be easier live, but I still really think it’s worth tackling.

Lyrics:

Yesterday they told me it was possible that you didn't know how to fly

Well, I tell you, I was shocked… Shocked

Next they'll be saying that you can't breath under water

-You do know how to breathe under water don't you?

Chorus

It's alright with me

You're alright by me

You don't have to fly for me

-Though I was hoping you could breathe under water

And whatever you turn out to be

You can count on me

To love the true

Occasionally average you

verse 2:

Rumor has it, there may not have ever been a time you put your cape on in a phone booth…

Which, in truth, is better, I think, considering the startling lack of American phone booths that really have doors anymore

And unconfirmed reports cite anonymous sources who were hesitant to mention There's a chance you might not be that good with girls

Not that I agree, mind you ...

But even if I did

Chorus 2:

It's alright with me

You're alright with me

You can hide from girls in the general vicinity of me

Anytime you like

And whatever you turn out to be

You can count on me

To love the true

Occasionally average you

Sister Sang a Love Song

Key: A

Instrumentation:

Piano

Whistle

General Aesthetic: sad Joni Mitchell/Regina Spektor

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

The melody of this is the “love song.” It’s supposed to be as sweet as the makings of forever referenced in the song and as poignant as the reality of the plans needing to be set aside.

Lyrics:

…la la la…

Sister sang a love song

Took pictures of her sneakers

And ankles linking ankles

Thrown over a ratty trampoline

And everybody said

"It's got the makings of forever"

Sister wrapped her tennis-shoes in

Tissue paper, folded up the couch, and

Pulled the walls down -

Her makings of forever -

As quiet as she could

...la la la...

Little Boy Green

Key: C

Instrumentation:

Old-style blues piano

Drum-set

Upright Acoustic Bass

General Aesthetic: OLD blues feel …Bessie Smith (folk blues) …a little bit Norah Jones

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

A living room setting. Alone, but presented in a conversational style.

Lyrics:

I stole a kiss from Little Boy Green

Leaning soft against the shadow of summer

And he forgave me so gentle I was frightened, but

He took my hand, trembling in his own trembling hand, and

Shy as he was he looked me in my eyes, and he said,

Chorus

"I just saw me clearer than I ever saw me before I looked at you

And I know nobody knows me from Little Boy Blue,

But if you thought that you could ever need me

I don't know if I could leave you now,"

And how I loved him

verse 2:

Has anybody seen my boy Green?

You might pass him in the tall grass,

His belly to the earth

And you might pause to hear him speak

You might sew him up small, you might sew him up weak

And you wouldn't have been the first

Hey, Little Boy Green, come on over and

Lean your face in the crook of my neck for a spell

Well enough alone's never changed sweet water into wine

'Sides... I…

Chorus 2:

Love you more than ever I have loved one thing I ever knew

And I wouldn't trade you, baby, for a lifetime of Little Boy Blue

And I could never live without ya

Can't you see the way I'm twined about ya?

And how I love you...

Piano Solo – into Chorus 2

Darkness is a Funny Thing These Days

Key: B

Instrumentation:

More or less exactly what Damon did for pre-recording

General Aesthetic: sad Joni Mitchell/Feist

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

Perhaps most intimate of all the songs in that it exists in a single headspace. It addresses the outside world, but takes place solely inside the mind of the speaker. It’s a reconciliation and reordering of perspectives that functions not unlike a journal entry. Existing in the landscape of the mind, however, it opens up possibilities for otherwordly, sounds or effects.

Lyrics:

Remember when I scared you

'cuz I was mad and I was bigger

And you forgot the way you knew me and you took Molly to the neighbors' house

And left me like a kind of ogre on the furthest isle of nowhere?

Well I named my island "sorry"

And I decided never to get angry again

So one morning, when I woke up and I'd forgotten how to do it

I decided I was better off

Chorus:

Please don't tell me I'm not dark as you

What do you know about it?

I just don't wanna hurt nobody and

I wonder if you ever scared your mother

verse 2:

Chances are it's still lying there, my anger,

On the furthest isle of "let's pretend it never happened"

And I can't seem to get back to it

So people think I'm silly

'cuz I don't grind my teeth the way they do

and I don't rub nothin' in nobody's faces

And I don't wanna hurt nobody

And I wonder if they've ever scared their mothers

Chorus:

You shouldn't tell me I'm not dark as you

You don't know anything about me

And I just don't wanna hurt nobody - I don't wanna hurt nobody

And I don't wanna hurt.

Me and My House (to be finished soon)

Key: C#

Instrumentation:

Piano

Synth

Guitar

Bass

Various Eastern Percussive Elements

General Aesthetic: Peter Gabriel “Down to the Earth”/Sufjan Stevens/India-influenced version of Beatles

“Story” to be portrayed ultimately through song:

This are pictures from my live at different ages/locations that all become a kind of celebration in the end: of the adventure that life is and of home.

Lyrics:

Refrain:

My name is R-E-B-E-C-C-A

I sing and play piano

Who are you and what do you do?

Verse 1:

Back when my head was so small

My brain was made mostly of playdough and paperclips

Dad says I imprinted on him like a baby duck

And I followed him everywhere

So he taught me party tricks and funny words

Chorus:

And I said, “This is living,

This is where I want to be.

I could stay here forever

And all I’d need is you and me.”