New Filk: Hold On

[mneme]

This was written this morning, with an idea popping up as we set up for
working on our Band Scramble set. It almost certainly wouldn't have been
finished if it had not been for the enthusiastic help and encouragement from
my insta-band mate, Dawn Jackal.

Hold On
Lyrics: Joshua Kronengold, with help and encouragement from Dawn Jackal, to the tune of "Calm Down," by Kathy Mar

Musicians have invaded, they're everywhere you look
And they speak of each performance from a music theory book
They rant of broken measures, rave of substitution chords
I'd love to find some way say I don't know all those words

Hold on, it's only pitch and rhythm,
Hold on, it's only G and A
Hold on and speak to me in English
Please realize, I'm a filker, and that I just want to play

They sit around for hours as I'm sure you've seen and heard,
But though the music's nice, we cannot understand a word
With meter, modes, and intervals, time: broken, cut, and whole
You work each piece of music 'till it starts to sound like coal
The theory group is growing and the hour may not be long
Before you need doctorate before you sing a song
I'd rather be a maverick and just sing what sounds good
Than have to make my music sound like others think it should

Hold on, it's only pitch and rhythm,
Hold on, it's only G and A
Hold on and speak to me in English
Please realize, I'm a filker, and that I just want to play

One day I'll study theory -- get a doctorate or two,
And throw it all away to talk like normal people do,
I'll make a music language that is clear, concise, and clean,
With terms derived from English and that says just what I mean

Hold on, it's only pitch and rhythm,
Hold on, it's only G and A
Hold on and speak to me in English
Please realize, I'm a filker, and that I just want to play
Please realize, I'm a filker, and that I just want to play

Comments

[hms42]

I need to get a good recording of this. (The debut recording is unknown at this time.) Also, it was nice to see you break Kathy Mar on this song.

[calimac.livejournal.com]

What brought this on?

[mneme]

Inspiration. Mostly, working with Dawn, who had to cope with my throwing out technical music terms periodically and had to get us to tone it down a bit so she could figure out what we were asking her to, you know, do.

Plus, of course, going from there to some close (but not, I think, too close) parallels with Kathy's original ("Calm Down" -- about techies and Technese), and written before she had to learn enough to get by in self defense.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

You broke Kathy?

[mneme]

Not that I noticed, but I was busy singing. I certainly got an immediate copy request from her.

[madfilkentist]

Nice. But I notice that since you don't have an equivalent to "Oh, no" at the end of the final chorus, that means ending on an incomplete cadence -- though, wait, you could keep the implicit change into the relative minor which starts the chorus and end on a startling minor chord. Yes, that's it exactly!

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

*rapidly administers Keyboard of Correction*

[mneme]

Actually, I shift in the repetition of the penultimate line up into the relative major -- thus ending on the (new) tonic in a major key and a nice musically satisfying resolution. But that would work too.

[mneme]

note to self: swap in the changed final chorus.