Wañusqakunamanta

WARNING! You may find the above video’s music and content disturbing.

Wañusqakunamanta*
By Timothy Price

Sacrificed
To the gods
Drown in the madness of his name

Smell of the dead
And their sins
Of the dead and their sins
Of the dead and their sins

Take me, take me on a boat to see Arkos
I can’t feel the sea on Arkos

Embrace the truth
And shake us free
Make us free to rise in the end

Meet a person
Of great heart
In custody to persevere

But the devil’s in the way
Yes, the devil’s in the way
Why’s the devil’s in the way

He digs down to the core
To the flesh
And
To the bones

V for Venus

Cranes couldn’t care less

Osric Owl doesn’t give a hoot

Sandias @ the Beach

*Wañusqakunamanta is “Of the Dead” in Quechua. I have been working on the song for a long time. Originally named Weird DST, I wrote the song intending to use it for my 2024 Daylight Savings Time protest song. The idea behind the asynchronization between the metered drums and bass and the unmetered guitar was to simultaneously feel in and out of time. I tried to make the lyrics as strange as the music. I didn’t post it on DST this year because I didn’t finish it in time for the time change. Given the state of the election, I took another look at the song and decided I might as well use it to make a statement about the 2024 election.

A Whiter Shade of Pale

Teagan is warning young lovers, Tim and Laurie, to escape from the sinister circus before they too become a whiter shade of pale — Teagan Riordain Genevien.

Teagan had the idea for her and me to collaborate on a Halloween-themed music video. We chose “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” by Procol Harem. Teagan produced wonderful images of herself, Laurie, and me for me to use in the video, and she sounds great, as always. She wrote a really cool story to go with the video that you can read on her accompanying post at https://wp.me/p30Tpb-9R4.

Halloween Kitties

Nightmare on Elm Root Road

Reincarnation
Newborn into an elm root
Got mauled by a dog

Silence From The Frogs Featuring Teagan

Silence From The Frogs (Featuring Teagan Riordain Geneviene on Vocals)

Teagan was gracious enough to lend her beautiful voice to another of my original songs, Silence From The Frogs. I first published Silence Of The Frogs as a poem in 2017 while blogging on T & L Photos. I made the poem into a song in the summer of 2022. I first published the song with my vocals in February 2023. Teagan’s voice is a vast improvement over mine.

The tree trimmers cut the branch that fell on the powerline off the powerline but left it in the bamboo, still pulling down on the phone line. I have to duck under the phone line when I go out and in the gate. The tree trimmers worked late into the night, trimming the trees back from the powerlines and cutting the fallen branch off of it.

Pre-dawn

Dawn

Loki

Sunset

Social Disease

Lyrics by Burnie Taupin. Music by Elton John. Vocals by Timothy Price

Social Disease is on Elton John’s Yellow Brick Road album, released in 1973. While I never drank, smoked, or did illegal drugs when I was a teenager (and still don’t), I loved Social Disease because I could relate to it as my peers thought I was a weirdo. Many teachers and principals told my mom I would grow up to be a no-good-for-nothing social disease. I never rebelled against my parents. I didn’t need to. They left me alone to take care of the animals and the house and irrigate the property through my teen years. But I rebelled against authority and public school. I hated both with a passion.

Loki: “Reach out and touch someone with a social disease!”

Breast Cancer Rose

Marble: “Where’s the cheez?” Loki: “Concetrate hard!” Silver; “¡Milagro!”

Line of cats

Thunderstorm

I Am A Man

Lyrics by Paul Shanklin. Music by Ray Burton. Vocals by Timothy Price.

I Am A Man is one of my favorite parodies. It’s such a perfect description of a man put to the music of I Am Women by Helen Reddy. Paul Shanklin is one of my inspirations for parodies along with Weird Al Yankovic. Lyrics are at the bottom of the post.

The toad that came in from the rain.

We have jugs, fountains, and bowls of water for the cats. Now, we have to leave a cup of water out for the jumping spiders.

I Am A Man
Lyrics by Paul Shanklin
Music by Ray Burton

Pull my finger, hear me roar
Like ten thousand times before
And you know that when I listen, I pretend
‘Cause I’ve heard it all before
Pick your socks up off the floor
But you know that I’ll just throw them down again

Oh, yes, I’m right, but it’s wisdom born with pain
Yes, I paid the price; just look how much I’ve gained
If I have to, I can eat anything
I am wrong (wrong)
I am insensitive (insensitive)
I’m a man

You can try, but never break me
‘Cause my mama never made me
Do nothin’ ’round the house but lick the bowl
I’ve got bigger things to ponder
I’m not the one who’s supposed to launder
Where are more batteries for my remote?

Whoa, yes, I’m right
But it’s wisdom born with pain
Yes, I’ll pay the price
But I get to watch the game
If I have to
I can fix anything
I am wrong (wrong)
I am insensitive ((insensitive)
I’m a man

Don’t you forget it, baby

I am man; watch me mow
See me swing just like a pro
And I still like Lucky Charms with eggs and ham
But she’s still a little slow
With a long, long way to go
How can I make your mama understand?

Oh, yes, I’m right
Or else I know who to blame
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I’ve gained
If I have to
I can sleep anywhere
I am wrong (wrong)
Sure, I’m insensitive (Neanderthal)
I’m a man

I’m a man

That’s right
Don’t you forget it
I’m gonna have fun tonight
I’m headed down to the bowling alley with Tony
And we’re not gonna come back ’til 3 a.m.
You have a trailer all to yourself
Come on, Bubba, let’s go
What do you mean your wife wants you to stay home?
Are you some kind of wimp? Or what?

Teagan Does Metal

Dawn

Night To Day. Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price. Vocals by Teagan Riordain Geneviene.

I played an unplugged version of Night To Day on my freshly restored Elvis Presley Harmony guitar in my farewell to 2023 video on New Year’s Eve. I later recorded the metal version and asked Teagan if she wanted to sing it. She wasn’t sure about singing metal, but Teagan is a good sport, and she is adventurous when it comes to art and music, so she dove into the metallic pool and nailed it. Her ethereal voice is perfect for the ghostly theme of Night To Day.

If you have trouble viewing the video, you can listen to the song on SoundCloud.

Night to Day


Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price
Vocals by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

[Verse 1]
I saw Sun crash to the ground
It threw colors far and wide
With yellows into reds consumed
Swallowed up by ravenous blues

[Pre-chorus]
Dusk sang dirges to the dark
Clouds ignited a fiery show

[Chorus]
See the darkness
Nighttime’s falling
Time to slumber,
But ghosts are calling
Feel the darkness
Your skin starts crawling
Who can sleep when ghosts come calling

[Verse 2]
As embers meander through the night
Shadows creep under bright moonlight
Dawn wakes colors that light the sky
Painting darkness red, yellow, blue

[Pre-chorus]
Defeating darkness that’s Eos’ way
She breathes life into one more day

[Chorus]
See the light
Ghosts dissolving
Time to rise
A new day’s calling
Feel the light
Your skin stops crawling
When you’re up to see ghosts dissolving

[Bridge]
Night to day. Day to night
Flesh and spirits, in a moment, fight
For the right to live or die
Trading places, one sacrificed

[Outro]
See the darkness
Nighttime’s falling
Time to slumber
Ghosts come calling
See the light
A new day’s calling
Time to rise, see ghosts dissolving

Rio Samba

Altissimo

Guard hummingbird en garde

Spotted Towhee in the tree. House Finch lands in the same tree. Spotted Towhee chases House Finch away.

Spotted Towhee was all proud of himself.

Nora Owl flew over where I could get better shots of her this afternoon.

Walter and Willa were in the top of the cottonwood huddled up together and dozing on and off.

Osric Owl was trying to sleep with the wind blowing his ear tufts.

We have had persistent high winds since Thursday night. Several thunderstorms blew through this afternoon dropping a quarter inch of rain, and pelting us with marble sized hail.

Captain Jack

Captain Jack. Lyrics and Music by Billy Joel.Vocals by Timothy Price

Captain Jack from Billy Joel’s 1973 album, Piano Man, is my latest cover. I first heard this song around 1974 after I purchased Piano Man. I fell in love with it. It’s not at all biographical; however, I had friends who got messed up with drugs in the 70s. A few died of overdoses, and a few committed suicide. Seeing how drugs destroyed people’s lives, I never had a reason to experiment with them.

These spent poppies go well with Captain Jack.

Mark 5

Lyrics by Timothy Price adapted from Mark 5. Music by Timothy Price

After posting Legion last week, I decided to make a song out of Mark 5:1-18, which is the story of a man possessed by many demons who confronts Jesus. Jesus asks the man his name, and he answers, “My name is Legion, for we are many!” Legion asked Jesus not to send them out of the area or “into the abyss.” (Luke 8:31). Jesus allowed the demons to go to a herd of pigs. The herd runs into the lake and drowns. The people ask Jesus to leave. The man wants to go with Jesus, but Jesus does not let him.

1) Threatening Rain. 2) Rain. 3) Clear.

    We got .31 inches of rain today. No Fooling!

    Mark 5
    Lyrics by Timothy Price adapted from Mark 5:1-18
    Music by Timothy Price

    [Chorus]
    My name is Legion
    For we are many
    My name is Legion
    For we are many
    My name is Legion
    For we are many
    Please don’t send us into the Abyss

    [Verse 1]
    He was crazed, he was naked, and he lived among the dead
    No chains could bind him, and he broke them like they were his bread
    When he saw Jesus, he down fell to his knees
    “Oh, Son of the Most High God! Please don’t torture me!”

    [Chorus]

    [Verse 2]
    On a hillside nearby where pigs were in ecesis
    “Send us into the pigs!” The demons asked and begged of Jesus
    He gave them permission, and the man he was unbound
    Two thousand pigs rushed to the lake, where they were drowned.

    [Chorus]

    [Verse 3]
    When the people came to Jesus, they did not expect to find
    The man sitting there, fully dressed and in his right mind
    What happened to the man and pigs gave them much to fear
    They plead with Jesus, “Man! Please, go and get out of here!”

    [Chorus]

    [Bridge]
    Jesus stepped in the boat, the man begged to go with him
    Jesus did not let him, “Go home and tell how much the Lord has done for you”
    So the man went away and told in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him.
    All the people were amazed.

    [Outro]
    Guitar solo

    An Old Man’s Blues

    Lyrics by Timothy Price. Music by Elton John. The lyrics are at the bottom of the post.

    An Old Man’s Blues is my rewrite of Elton John’s Screw You (Young Man’s Blues), which was on the flip side of the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road single (45rpm) released in 1973. I bought the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road single in 1974 before I could afford to buy the album. I ended up playing the B-side more than the A-side because I identified with Screw You (Young Man’s Blues) when I was a sophomore in high school. I was a misfit weirdo, and I was teased a lot. One of the many reasons I dropped out of high school when I was 16.

    I was working on a cover of Screw You (Young Man’s Blues) when I decided I needed to update the lyrics from 1970s England to 2024 New Mexico. Plus, the way I rewrote the bridge addresses some of the recent strange encounters in the blogosphere.

    One of the images I did for the song art for An Old Man’s Blues.

    More bloomin’ blooms

    An Old Man’s Blues
    Lyrics by Timothy Price
    Music by Elton John

    Now that I’m old, I don’t have much fun
    I can’t see or hear or talk to anyone
    My back’s a pain. There is so much strife
    I’m gotta clean the kitty litter, oh what a life

    I say screw you
    I ain’t got nothing to choose
    I live on my laptop
    Cause there’s nothing else I can do

    Screw you, I ain’t got nothin’ to choose
    I’m livin’ on my laptop cause there’s nothin’ else I can do

    I was workin’ downtown when I got in a fight
    I was beaten in an alley out in broad daylight
    The cops could care less; they were downright scary
    Sayin’ “Make my day!” Just like Dirty Harry

    They said, “Screw you!”
    Oh, you stupid old fool
    You work downtown
    You get beaten by a Tool

    Screw you! Oh, you stupid old fool
    You work downtown
    You get beaten by a Tool

    See, there’s femmes who get laid for being slaves
    Femmes who get paid for being laid
    There’s femmes behind screen names who prey with delight
    Those femmes they are liars; they are as dark as the night
    They lie, scratch, and whine, trying to make a dime
    And all of them say, “Get out my way! Screw you!”

    I’ve stared at a screen from seven ’til nine
    The wear on my eyes nearly drove me blind
    Tryin’ to make riches with nothing to share
    Gettin’ hell from my staff, but I didn’t care

    They said, “Screw you!”
    That’s all we’re gonna do
    We’re not existing for someone like you

    Screw you! This is all we’re gonna do
    We’re not existing for someone like you

    Screw you! Screw you!
    (Screw you, screw you, screw you, screw you, screw you, screw you, screw you, screw you)