Abstract / Music / music video / video

Springing Forward

Timothy Price89 Comments

Here in the US of A, all states, with the exception of Arizona, Hawaii, and some of the territories, will change to Daylight Savings Time at Two O’Clock in the wee hours of the morning in the year of our Lord March the Twelfth, Two-Thousand Twenty-Three. That’s tomorrow for me, today for some of you, and yesterday for others.

Since I will have to get up to pee at 02:00, I will be squealing “Ewe Oui Wee Wee!” all the way to the bathroom since I will be holding it in an extra hour since the time will be springing forward an hour at 02:00 (making it 03:00) when I will get up to go. I hope I make it.

I wrote, recorded, and posted The Dreaded DST near the end of March last year without a video after Marina Kanavaki complained about “the dreaded DST” (Greece changes later than the US of A). This year, I used AI to generate all the images for the video. I incorporated ChatGPT’s DALL-E 2 together with Draw Things, Fotor AI, Craiyon, and Night Cafe to generate and gather the images for the video this go around. I only insulted DALL-E 2’s rather sensitive ethical and moral standards a couple of times asking it to create images based on the lyrics for The Dreaded DST. However, I ran out of credits to ask the AI apps to draw things rather quickly on everything but Draw things, which I have unlimited credits with (DT likes my credit score).

The Dreaded DST
Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price
Inspired by Marina Kanavaki

Daylight blinds fools who have no skills
They create silly rules they are so unreal
Daylight’s scarce, why don’t we care?
We save it eight months out of… every year

Bedtime at ten feels like nine
Don’t feel sleepy? Have more wine
It’s midnight damn, the bottle’s empty
I’m still awake… I’m feeling pretty cranky

Now we’re on the dreaded DST
Body clocks are broken why can’t we see
That hour we save every single day
Is two-hundred forty hours of daylight that we have… stashed away

Alarm at five it feels like four
Like a zombie, I hit the door
Preparation-H on the old toothbrush
Toothpaste up my… Whew! What a rush

No time to shower, sleepin’ on the job,
Stinkin’ up the office, what a slob
Head bobs up and down, fishing at the screen
My boss is cranky… making quite a scene

Now we’re on the dreaded DST
Body clocks are broken why can’t we see
We can look forward to falling back
We get one hundred twenty hours of daylight from… our stash

We’ve changed to DST for 56 years
That’s six-thousand seven-hundred hours, my dear
Of daylight, we’ve been banking away
So let’s go spend it on our… sanity

Now we’re on the dreaded DST
Body clocks are broken why can’t we see
That hour we save every single day
Is two-hundred forty hours of daylight that we have… stashed away

89 thoughts on “Springing Forward”

  1. I could do without the PST/PDT clock changes myself. Cat stomach clocks never change.

    I know you at one times you said you didn’t like your own vocals, but I think they are getting better and better, Tim. Keep singing!

    Reply

    • Thanks, Lavinia. I’ve been working a lot on my vocals. My voice seems to be a little better when I put on a countryfied voice, but I cannot play country worth a darn. I can’t get the country sound when I try to play country style.

      Reply

    • Thanks, Dawn. In 1918 when the government first tried DST, it might have saved some energy, but I doubt it saved much. There was no reason to make it law in the 60s IMHO. Arizona was smart enough to opt out when they changed the law so states could petition to not change time. Several states have opt outs on their books, but there are not enough states in a north-south lineup to make opting out practical. If NM, CO, WY and MT would all choose to stay on DST (the proper timezone for their longitude, that would work without other states opting out. It makes little sense for Hawaii to change time since it’s close to the equator. Do you remember when Nixon forced all states to stay on DST to save energy in the early 70s after the oil shock? He also set the national speed limit to 55 mph. Do you remember that? 55 mph was torture.

      Reply

  4. I have to say this is one of your best, Tim. Effing DST is observed up here, too, except for Nunavut and Saskatchewan and certain areas in BC, Ontario and, I just found out, Quebec. How inane is that?

    I always loved this: Native American said “Only a white man would believe you could cut a foot off the top of the blanket, sew it onto the bottom of the blanket, and you’d be left with a longer blanket.”

    Reply

  5. Oh gosh no! I forgot about daylight savings time! I hate it! Even though I don’t have to change my time, it’s so annoying remembering if others do! 🤣
    All my clocks in my home are 5 minutes early or late depending which one!

    Reply

  7. Don’t like the DST switches each year. I don’t see what it’s good for… Our clock changes at the end of March.

    Reply

  9. Oh my!!!! Gosh my mind was trying to forget… we’ve got till the last Sunday of March. The dreaded DST has just gotten its anthem! And what a brilliant anthem it is! Now I’m gonna be singing it to give myself courage till the day they steal our hour. Appx 3 years ago, European citizens voted to dump DST… I wonder [rhetorically] why we’re still at it!
    I love it, Tim!
    ps. AI video improved [excluding the slightly deranged interpretation of “Body clocks are broken” 😂]

    Reply

  10. I love this so much and hate when we change the bloody clocks!! We do the same here in Blighty, but at a different time to you which means that my daughter and I have to adjust for our weekly Skype. You did make me laugh about the peeing….:). oh and by the way the Amish (who I think are much more tuned in than us…do NOT change their clocks, rather they work to the rhythms of nature….Enjoy your day Timothy:)

    Reply

  17. LOL Oh my goodness, Tim!!! This video is excellent and had me laughing at that. And you with the pee at 2am ….. that is why I NEVER look at the clock when I awake with gotta go.

    I’ve not thought about that one hour taken from us and it being saved. I’ll take some of that light, thank you!! Where DOES that one hour go? In this simulated reality called 3D, this is the only place time exists. So who gets that one hour stolen from us? And what do they do with it? I want those hours BACK!!!

    Reply

  18. Very good. I ‘d try it also with rock steady drums throughout the song. Love the guitar.
    You’re absolutely right about DST, one thing I cann’t stand is sunlight at 9:00 pm, and that’s what we have here because of this nonsense.

    Reply

  19. Well, you will be able to add ILL to the exceptions not too long from now – as if that is the most important issue this state has to deal with. Really enjoy the concept of AI generating the images – never know what you are going to get – what will be interesting is running those same lyrics through it a year or two and see what it has learned since.

    Reply

    • I don’t think the NM legislators has discussed DST this year because they are so wrapped up in trying to make most of the descent people in the state into criminals. Thanks, Brian.

      Reply

  20. 👏👏👏
    Don’t know if it’s the key, or the feel of the genre, but your voice is perfectly suited to this song. I adore this. Fun work with the AI, but it (AI) does freak me out somewhat.
    I’d like to reblog, or repost this. Is it on youtube? I’m worried the video won’t come out, if not.
    I’m going to try reblogging on my QE blog, where no one goes. This way I can see if the video comes out.
    I’ll be back, and let you know!

    Reply

    • The video is embedded in the post, so it should work fine. I no longer have videos on YouTube. Thanks, Resa.

      Reply

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