FDBK - The ballad of songwriter joe on death row - WIP

[oldgitplayer]

I thought I might write a ballad. Here's a few random ideas I'm kicking off with:

There are a lot of songwriting terms and processes that can be used as metaphors for the death row experience. I want to research some real cases to capture the atmosphere, but the song will be primarily about the character as a songwriter. It's anybody's guess what the song might evolve into.

Any thoughts?

Anybody know another song with an identical theme - Has it been done before?

 

The ballad of songwriter joe on death row

I need to tell the story

'bout a songwriter named joe

and how he wrote his final song

while living on death row

 

Which man remembers being born

Or knows just how he'll die

But when you're living on Death Row

You know the how and why.

 

And you feel your sentence rhythms working overtime

Just living out your days precisely line by line

When you're stuck inside your final dictionary of rhyme

 

Most murders are domestic, so maybe I'll have Joe kill his songwriting partner???

 

Now songwriter joe he killed a man

that's all you need to know

But maybe I should mention

He played the piece too slow

 

[LCK]

 

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oldgitplayer wrote:

 

 

I thought I might write a ballad. Here's a few random ideas I'm kicking off with:

 

There are a lot of songwriting terms and processes that can be used as metaphors for the death row experience. I want to research some real cases to capture the atmosphere, but the song will be primarily about the character as a songwriter. It's anybody's guess what the song might evolve into.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Anybody know another song with an identical theme - Has it been done before?

 

 

The ballad of songwriter joe on death row

I need to tell the story

'bout a songwriter named joe

and how he wrote his final song

while living on death row

 

Which man remembers being born

Or knows just how he'll die

But

when

you're living on Death Row

You know the how and why.

 

And you feel your sentence rhythms working overtime

Just living out your days precisely line by line

When you're stuck inside your final dictionary of rhyme

 

Most murders are domestic, so maybe I'll have Joe kill his songwriting partner???

 

Now songwriter joe he killed a man

that's all you need to know

But maybe I should mention

He played the piece too slow

 

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He killed the record company exec, the cat who stole all his money and took credit for his songs.

[oldgitplayer]

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LCK wrote: He killed the record company exec, the cat who stole all his money and took credit for his songs.

 

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Good call - There's probably a list of people that exploit the songwriter that I can choose from, but I'd better not make him a serial killer.

[Lee Knight]

Looking forward to finding out why someone drinks buttermilk straight.

 

Look to Oscar

[Lee Knight]

Wilde that is

[oldgitplayer]

 

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Lee Knight wrote:

 

Wilde that is

---

 

Ah yes - The Ballad of Reading Gaol - I haven't read that since I was a young man (and that feels like a goodly while back now). 

Good call.

[Lee Knight]

I couldn't get my iPhone to spell it right and I forgot how it is spelled so I gave up. I'm glad you knew what I was talking about. But there is a bit in there about how man kills the thing he loves the most that just blows me away every time I read it. It doesn't fit your objective but that kind of end of the line insight is what he captured so well in that home. And what you seem to be capturing so well too.

 

By the way Phil, my studio is absolutely packed with stuff and I can't get to that file just yet. But trust me it's still on my mind.

[oldgitplayer]

 

---

Lee Knight wrote:

 

 

But there is a bit in there about how man kills the thing he loves the most that just blows me away every time I read it. 

 

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There are numerous verses that refer to this, but this one seems to be most frequently quoted :

Yet each man kills the thing he loves

By each let this be heard.

Some do it with a bitter look,

Some with a flattering word.

The coward does it with a kiss,

The brave man with a sword!

[LCK]

 

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Lee Knight wrote:

 

Looking forward to finding out why someone drinks buttermilk straight.

 

---

 

I made some cole slaw last week for the first time. The recipe requires buttermilk, something we used to have in the house all the time when I was a kid. Now it's much harder to find than it used to be.

The recipe called for a small amount of buttermilk, but the smallest container available at Fairway was 1 quart. So after I made the cole slaw, I drank some buttermilk straight from the container the way I used to do when I was a kid.