Nicholas Barbon
11/17 '17
I posted this to Facebook on time last night, then I just had to get some shuteye. Sorry I'm late, creative accountability pardners.
Creative prompts from Aaron Humphrey: Nicholas If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned Barbon, a candelabra, "the wifi is down."
YouTube absolutely crucified the audio here. I don't know why. It pains me to say this but it sounds way the hell better on Facebook. Lyrics below, it would be nice if you could hear them.
Some
Some people
Some people make
Some people make it up as they go along
Some
Some people
Some people can
Some people can do anything they want
Some
Some people
Some people will
Some people will say anything
Some
Some people
Some people have
Some people have a lot of fucking nerve
An asymptotic curve
Approaching infinity, ay ay o
You thought you were the grasping man’s Galileo
And the only thing that bothers you
Is posterity
So you wrote and wrote and lectured with
Such clarity
And you tried to sell the rights to what you’d never owned
As the lord protector shoved the sword back in the stone
As you fought the lawyers in the street
I admit that part was kind of sweet
But you did it all for you and you alone
Nicholas Barbon
Now
Now I don’t
Now I don’t know
Now I don’t know how to get along
Without your shiny toys
Now
Now I see
Now I see why
Now I see why the end of every song
Became a royalty check
Now I’m insured against
All acts of God
You’re betting that he won’t show up
The cobbler’s kids are wonderfully shod
And if the candelabra ever falls
You’ll have plenty of time to pack and skip town
While we’re all still asking why the wifi is down
And you tried to sell the rights to what you’d never owned
As the lord protector shoved the sword back in the stone
As you fought the lawyers in the street
I admit that part was kind of sweet
But you did it all for you and you alone
Nicholas Barbon
MOST MEMORABLE/MEANINGFUL ELEMENTS: The simplicity of the verses when contrasted with the bridge. The human, accessible, "yes this song is about me" -ness of the verses.
"The cobbler's kids are wonderfully shod."
"An asymptotic curve
Approaching infinity, ay ay o
You thought you were the grasping man’s Galileo."
It was meaningful to me that you alluded to his middle name without straight-out using it.
QUESTIONS:
Why did you choose to avoid deliberately using his middle name?
Do you feel that Barbon's work as one of the first proponents of the free market makes him a forerunner of Creative Commons licenses? Is that why you used the phrase, "the wifi is down?"
OPINIONS:
I think your points about Nicholas Barbon are excellent and relevant to life today. I think this is an important song, though it needs some practice and refinement: I'm well aware that this is a first or early draft.
I have an opinion about your guitar playing and the melody, which could be helpful, or not. Do you want to read it here, or should I keep it to myself?
The song is a bit scathing but my actual views on him are more sympathetic. Whadda fuckin' guy.
His middle name is really long and would take the song over... Or maybe drive a great verse about the English revolution and the dawn of free market theology. Hmm.
His middle name would entirely take the song over.
What I was going to say is, when you are really relaxed and confident with playing this musical composition (it's clear this song is new to you, as it should be), write a second guitar part to go with it and fill it out. You may find that having a guitarist and songwriter who is unbiased about this song may be a good choice to write that, rather than having you do it, because they may be able to see a contrast of your melody more easily than you can.
Really, you shouldn't have a second person write the second guitar part, you should just write it when and if you feel like it. I know nothing about music composition. But, I benefit from my collaborators having a different perspective on my work than I do, so my gut always tells me to say, "find a collaborator!" when that may be totally unnecessary. Which is why you should take my opinion with a grain of salt.