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So there’s another song on the 52 to change the world project and I’ve pretty much got “Respect” recorded. I’m going to give that another couple of days to see if I can get it super perfect then maybe treat myself to a session with a pro to mix it. We’ll see…
Going to see Jan Garbarek tonight at the Barbican. I’m a lucky man:-).
 Back to 52 To Change The World
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Go to previous song "The Free Software Song".
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Go to next song "Money Don't Matter".
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You only get one chance to live or so they say The question is how far I go so I can stay Don't get me wrong I love my life as much as anyone But you can't love yourself if you don't love others too Them or us just doesn't happen every day But when we're fearful we lash out and lose our way But I take pride in being true to the very best of me So it's with a joyful heart that I say I'd rather die, I'd rather die today Than know I'd clung onto my life in such a way I know I'd die, I know I'd die today I'd rather die than be so cruel I'd rather die, I'd rather die today Better off dead than chasing demons like that away I'd rather die, I'd rather die today I'd rather die than be so cruel What is it you think of when you say your name Do you feel proud or do you hang your head in shame And did you try your very best to do no harm Or did you stamp your feet complaining life don't treat you fair? |
Week 6: First a disclaimer. I owe my life to the skill and dedication of our modern medical profession. I also have suffered horribly and needlessly as a result of their blinkered and often plain wrong understanding of health. The same applies to other people close to me and to many people I have met, many more I have read about. Anything you read here - read it in that context. This song more than anything makes me question my 'song a week' mission. I would simply love to spend a month playing around with it. It's sorta losely in a Lewis Taylor circa "Lost Album" style singing. Far less harmonies but the same idea that the melody carries the emotion and the singer does less expression. I really love "Rather Die" and want to play the drums live and record a real piano... Anyway, the lyrics... ...I read a couple of the fact sheets on the kinship circle site about animal testing for medical research. It's truly abhorrent. Then I read huntingdon's site (they are an animal testing company). They would have us believe that the animal rights people are outright lying about the conditions they keep the animals they're testing in... ...maybe... who should I believe? Instead I have decided to sidestep the whole issue. In principal, I do not believe my life or comfort is worth more than that of an animal. No doubt in a moment of desperation I would place myself above another creature but I'm not going to spend my whole life torturing animals on the offchance it *might* yield something that *might* help me live longer. I've seen people close to me suffer horribly from disease and have had far more than my fair share of misery myself for someone my age. Firstly, my hard won experience is that there is generally a better solution than anything a pharmaceutical company has or will ever come with. The reason these solutions are not popular is because they usually involve giving up some of the luxurious trappings of modern life - food being the prime example. Also, these solutions tend not to make any money for anyone in the way that drugs do. I fear the reader will believe all that if they want to, disbelieve it if not. The most convincing set of testimonials I saw was in this book. What I'm trying to say is there are generally better solutions than causing suffering of others in order to solve a problem. And even if there aren't it's up to us to look for them. When all is said and done I would rather leave a legacy like that than a long life and a chain of labs like Huntingdon. Here is the Diigo list. Not much in it this time. Just seems like two groups of people who say the other is flat lying. |
So another week, another song, another sunday sat catching up with emails, reading suggested links from people online as well as my own research…
Well into the second month of my “52 to change the world” project I’m starting to understand the implications of what I’ve started here. I’m not just helping others with what talent I have (my original intent) – I’m clarifying what’s important to me. For example I’ve focused a lot on animal rights so far. It’s important to me and next week’s song will probably follow that same theme but doing the free software song and reading the fine information on Richard Stallman’s homepage has prompted me to wonder which battles I actually want to dedicate my life to fighting. I think this exercise in “musical philanthropy” (I really like that:-) may eventually give me the answer.
Meanwhile, last night, I put a new version of Respect up on the work in progress page. It’s getting there…
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Back to 52 To Change The World
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Go to previous song "Pigs".
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Go to next song "Rather Die".
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January 23, 2010 |
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Join us now and share the software; You'll be free, hackers, you'll be free. x2 Hoarders may get piles of money, That is true, hackers, that is true. But they cannot help their neighbors; That's not good, hackers, that's not good. When we have enough free software At our call, hackers, at our call, We'll throw out those dirty licenses Ever more, hackers, ever more. You'll be free hackers, you'll be free. |
Welcome to "week" five of 52tochangetheworld! This week's song was originally written by free software activist Richard Stallman.
There's links to information about the original in the Diigo list The song is itself derived from a folk melody "Sadie Moma". Here is a bulgarian style version more akin to the tune the song was based on. It's in OGG format (think WMA but open source) so windows media player users may struggle... No video this week. I'm rubbish at them, have a rubbish camera and am better off spending the time doing a proper recording (for now:-). Meanwhile here is a video about my studio for the more technically minded among you. As you may know I'm a die hard linux user. I'll spend weeks fiddling with something complicated to avoid using a windows machine. Basically windows machines are no fun. Everything works... ...or doesn't... and it's totally out of your control. All you can do is phone up the company who provided the software/hardware and get put on hold listening to Carpenters songs in lo-fi GSM... I could go on all day about how different things are with linux but for me (with software and music too) licensing comes down to a philosophical question: Are you just trying to make vast amounts of money for yourself or are you trying to build something amazing for all of us (and of course make lots of money and have lots of fun along the way:-). I think you can guess which camp I'm in. If there is a founding father of the free software movement it's Richard Stallman. So using Ardour and Ecasound on Gentoo Linux to record a cover based on a folk song felt like something of a homage. From a musical point of view it was a joy to dust off the trumpet and the bongos:-). Pitch bend wheels rock! Thankyou to Tom Fotherby for the idea to cover this:-). |
That’s the first time I’ve recorded drums properly on a recording and I’m real pleased with it! The song sounds like it’s taking shape to me now with the intro/outro sections going a bit simpler and the differences between the verses. I think I’ll scrap my bongos plans – it doesn’t need it – although I think a little hand percussion might go down nicely. Also I showed my girlfriend the wah-guitar part and she said it was out of tune… I’ll re-do it and make it really tight:-). Click here to listen.
On a slightly different note – it was amazing the way Ardour (the recording sofware I use) handled the drum tracks I recorded yesterday. If you’re into linux pro-audio at all here is the blog post I wrote about it.
