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Drain Pipe Card Connectors

from Suburban Hermit Musings by John Tabacco

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Words and Music © 2011 by John Tabacco
Published by It Iz What It Iz Music (SESAC)

There were four spoken word pieces I recorded for a female client back in 2002. They were all wise, mythical type stories. I was very moved by the tales she weaved and the sound of her voice reading them was extremely intriguing. On my own time I thought it might be nice to underscore these tales with a little music. So being the motivated hair pin I am, I came up with music for three of them. The fourth piece I underscored with a Jim Dexter instrumental that he and his friend (who used to play this exotic homemade electronic guitar like instrument) recorded. Excited as usual with most things I do, I played them to her. To my surprise she was not amused. In a most polite way she said she would rather have these spoken word pieces stay naked. Bummer. As time went on and I transferred things to mp3 and CD-rom etc... I kept coming across my orchestrated versions of these little tales. Eventually, when I was in down time mode I’d write an off the wall parody of her stories and substitute her voice with mine. Well in this case, the woman from It’s Out There + (Trish Amendolia) does the talking on top of the orchestration. For one of the pieces I actually just wrote a song over the music bed. That would be the track, When The Iceman - A- Cometh found on the Music Box Orphans collection. The other one is on the CD, Patience, my boy entitled In The Land Of Wasselette. Whether there will be a fourth one, I know not yet. Stay tuned. Trish has done other readings for me.

lyrics

THE DRAIN PIPE CARD CONNECTORS

In the land of Wasselette there were the drainpipe card connectors.
They lay buried in the recesses of the subconscious beneath lamppost and grime.
And with the stealth of a Jesus, quiet like cotton pins on a rooftop,
they connected holy water with slime.

An old priest in the land had succumbed to a deep existential sadness caused by the death of his own flawed philosophy. His suffering was immense. And one afternoon he gathered up his scruples and ventured off towards the token ivory cliffs to have a talk with his maker.

“Please help!”, he cried but only his faint echo lamented.
“Please help!”, he cried louder but this time his echo was overtaken by the a-rhythmic chirping of a lone cricket.
Then once more, “Please help!”. Silence…

And just as he was about to take his final leap into the unknown a sudden itch fell upon his right foot begging for a scratch. He involuntarily obliged and as he bent down he spotted a curious drain pipe card. It appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Then another appeared. Then another and another, forming a path along the edge of the cliff.
The priest, mesmerized, followed the curious trail of cards with a vigor and determination he had not experienced since puberty. This went on for forty days and forty nights eventually leading him to an old “Chinese replacement warehouse” where he was suspiciously welcomed with open arms. He stayed in that warehouse for the next 11 years, happily fathering several beautiful faucets and an elbow neck.

After which he was never heard from again.

credits

from Suburban Hermit Musings, released March 31, 2015
JT : Music
Patricia Amendolia : Reading
Music bed recorded and mixed at Suburban Hermit Studios I, St. James, NY, 1985
Overdub: Recorded and Mixed at Suburban Hermit Studios II, Stony Brook, NY

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John Tabacco Stony Brook, New York

John Tabacco is a composer, singer-songwriter, producer, recording engineer, and visual artist.

Like an unfolding musical diary / puzzle, Tabacco’s music and art are constantly being re-worked, juxtaposed and intertwined.

For more info : www.johntabacco.net ... more

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