Car Song Sinking Sunrise

Socratis at Oannes has been posting songs about cars. I keep commenting: “I had that car! Oh, I had that car, too. You are not going to believe this, but I had one of those cars, also!” From Oannes I was inspired to put together a spreadsheet of all the cars that have been in the family, and I had driven since I got my driver’s license at age 15. We still have some of the old cars that were bought new. The stats break down as follows: 33 cars over 48 years. 25 Model years from 1955 to 2017. 14 different carmakers. 26 different models in 10 different colors with green, yellow, brown, and red the predominant four colors. We’ve had more Mazdas than other cars with six. Volkswagon came in second with five. We still have two Mazdas, a Volkswagon, a Ford pickup, and a Datsun 280ZX on the property.

I was also inspired to write and record a Car Song about some of the cars that stood out over the years. I played the bass lines on my 5-string, multi-scale bass. I played my black Strat I built a few years ago for the rhythm guitar, and I played my 7-string, multi-scale guitar for the guitar solo (the song is above, lyrics at the end of the post).

Marble Sinking

Sunrise

Car Song
By Timothy Price

This is a story about a few of the many cars that graced my life

My dad, he was a Rambler man
1964 classic I learned to drive
Three on the tree with no air
Bench seats without belts

The ’55 Cadillac was a tank with tits
Big silver bumper boobs oh they couldn’t be missed
Slushbox tranny liked to bump and grind
Lumbered down the road in style

1960 Rambler in Pepto Bismol pink
Nearly cost me my life and limbs
A boy driving a pink car in 1975
Was worthy of a beating, so the other boys thought

[Chorus]
Thirty-three cars have graced my life
Over two score and 8 years
From green to pink to yellow to blue
Red sports cars are the final two

’66 American in canary yellow
The cubic inches under the hood wouldn’t do
I cut and bent to retrofit a power plant
I lost traction, tickets, I paid for my sins

’65 Corvair. Yep that’s the one
It was “Unsafe At Any Speed”
That car was fun to drive I never rolled it though
Not to say I didn’t try.

The Volkswagen Thing was a Thing of wonder
As I wandered from here to yonder
Weirdly shaped, like a Jerrycan on wheels
It did nothing for my sex appeal

[Bridge]
Cadillac, Chevrolet, Rambler, and Ford
Volkswagens, Honda, Triumph, were never bored
International, AMC, Renault, and a Datsun
Dodge, Kia, and best of all is always Mazda

Eldorado, Americans, a Classic, and a Bus
Travelalls, beetles, and a Triumph GT6 Plus
A Sun Bug, Pickups, Hornet, and a Le Car
Taurus, Rio Cinco, N600, and a Corvair
Granada, Dart, ZX, Five, RX, and a Thing
323, Speed 3, my Miata is really mean

[Guitar Solo]

’79 Renault Le Car was one of my
All-time favorite cars
Smooth ride, canvas-covered sunroof
That got Swiss-cheesed in a hailstorm

The RX-8 was as exotic as I got
A Wankel whining under the hood
Demanded high revs lots of speed
Suicide door, it seated four

My MX-5 is beautiful to drive
Small, responsive, quick, and sassy
A hot profile and racing stripe
It’s total fun and fantasy

Jake & The Bass

I ordered an Ibanez multi-scale 5-string bass in the middle of August. I just got it last week. I was thinking the fanned frets on the fingerboard would help my poor arthritic fingers. Why not get a fretless bass, you might ask? I did consider that, but I like having frets. I’ve been practicing with it and I finally got time to record two new songs this weekend. The one I recorded today I’m calling “The Bass” and I put it together with video of Jake chasing a stick and rolling in the dirt. It’s a jazzy piece. The other song I named “Black Widow” is very hard and dark. I don’t have a video for it unless I do a visualization. I’ll post it at another time after I figure out if I’ll at video or go with the audio.

The multi-scale fingerboard is a lot easier for me to play and my fingers and hands are not hurting or swollen beyond normal after hours of playing and recording. I played the Ibanez multi-scale 7-string guitar on the recording.

Psycho-Delic

In trying to come up with a solution for video when I can’t be literal, I got the idea I could use a music visualizer to create psychedelic allegorical images. I tried a couple of different music visualizers and I liked the one I found on a gaming site called Animus. I decided to use my five-movement song called T.U.L.I.P. for the test. Some of you might remember that I posted T.U.L.I.P. on Tuesday back in early January as five separate short songs. I put them all together into one song with 5 movements. The five songs are more coherent as a single song.

T.U.L.P
Five-Point Calvinism in five movements
By Timothy Price

Total Depravity

Sitting shivering
In the heat of night
Sliced by rays
In the dark of light

Soul lies frayed
So depraved

Every thought a mortal
Every action a mortal
Every thought and action
A mortal Sin!

Unconditional Election

Some are elected
Others left in sin
Punished and damned
For their many transgressions
They can never win

Those few saved by grace
Unconditional love
Receive salvation
They are the few
Elected from above

All others
All the others
All the others get
All the others get damnation

Limited Atonement

Limited Atonement
Didn’t die for all
Elected are saved
Reprobates fall

No prevenient grace
Jeopardy double
Only the elect
Will make it through
Without any trouble

Redemption certain or
Redemption none
It’s predestination
Foreknown by

The One

Irresistible Grace

Irresistible Grace
Efficacy calls
Only some
But not all

For salvation

It could be me
It could be you
It may be neither
Grace for the few

Is Irresistible

Perseverance of the Saints

One saved always saved
No more death by
Trespasses and sins
Security of sanctification

Condition is secure
Eternal justification
Salvation for the
Saints persevere

Glenda doing the TULIP

Coyote Convention

I stepped down onto the sandbar at Beaver Point last night and found myself in the middle of a coyote convention.

Click on a photo in the gallery to enlarge in a slide show.

This one took off on its own stepping over piles of trees and sticks left by the beavers.

He had to take a break to eat some grass and make silly faces while chomping on the grass. Click on the gallery for to enlarge the photos in a slide show.

Lots To Look At

Bazooka’s fist Dragonfly

Major Tom Peepers, Sleepy and Mona Lisa.

Finch

We finally got Laurie’s new MacBook Air M1 so I could have my MacBook Pro that I use for recording back. The first thing I did after I got Laurie’s new M1 set up yesterday was to go into the studio and re-record the lead guitar parts and cleaned up some parts with the bass and rhythm guitar where I was out of compás in Wood Duck Daze. Then I put the new track with the video. I think there are still one or to rough spots, but overall it’s much improved and the lead guitars are really wild like those crazy Wood Ducks.

Tabatha Towhee gave us her rendition of Habanera from Carmen by Bizet.

Bravo! Bravo! Tabatha Towhee.

On the flip side.

Well done Tabatha.

Major Tom Peepers and Mona Lisa.

Lizards looking for love. The male, above, was chasing the female, below. He was doing a bobbing lizard dance for her.

Larry Lizard

Lorena Lizard

All three owlets snoozing.

Altisimo in profile.

America

Mama Owl

Lady Banks in her massive Glory.

Honeysuckle

Mona Lisa and Major Tom Peepers. Sleepy is, you guessed it, sleeping.

Lilac

A pearlet on Marina’s Incognito Pear Tree.

Mona Lisa and Major Tom Peepers posing.

“Hey Mona. I think we need to get that stupid Paparazzo to build us a shade structure.”

Dancing Daze

The Dance Floor Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price

The Dance Floor is an original song I wrote and recorded recently. It’s a song reminiscent of the days when people could gather together, dance, and put on whatever charm they could muster in attempts to go beyond the dance floor. Maybe Dancing Daze will make a comeback.

After another long day of dismantling the old office, configuring VPNs, and breaking into the WiFi units in the new office building and configuring them, I did manage to get out to see Mama Owl and Daddy Owl after I got home at sunset. I couldn’t see Mama Owl in her hole when I got in view, but I called her, and she gave me an ear tuft up to let me know she was still steadfast on her nest. Daddy Owl was gazing out at the bosque and gave me half eyes over his shoulder for my calling out to Mama Owl.

Speaking of chicks, I did see a few on my way to and from my visit to the owls. Our mini daffy’s bloomed.

Towhee

Sparrow

 

Challenges

There seems to be all kinds of challenges in the blogosphere, mostly photo challenges, and writing challenges. Here are a few challenges I recorded.

The first challenge was the song that started out as a drum track that Joel put together. He sent me the track and gave me the challenge to make a song out of it. I laid down a bass track, followed by a rhythm guitar track. I made up a vocal track on the spot, so I have not written down the lyrics, then I laid down the lead guitar track. One take for each track. I named the song  Joel’s Beat.

 

The second challenge was when I was finally able to get my car washed (car washes had been closed under the lockdown). I washed my car and what did I get? Dust and muddy kitty prints all over the lid.

IMG_6403

 

The third challenge was for Big Baby Owl who had flown over to another branch on the cottonwood tree, then decided to climb the trunk of the tree to get up where Mama Owl was perched high above her. Big Baby Owl climbed and climbed, flapped her wings over the more difficult parts, and finally got into a fork in the tree about 10 feet from Mama Owl. She looked up at Mama Owl and Mama Owl flew off. Big Baby Owl was devastated. She just stood in the fork of the tree with her head bowed (click on the photos for an enlarged slide show).

 

The fourth challenge was photographing black Irises that are bleached purple in our intense sunshine. The irises look almost black to the naked eye, but properly exposed photos show how purple black really is.

 

The fifth challenge was doing super wide-angle photos of Spunk and living to write about it and post the photos.

 

Dead of Night

After posting Lovelorn Wasp performed by Coughing Cooties last Sunday, there were requests to hear something by Violent Phlegm, another virtual group that collaborated with AWB to form Coughing Cooties. Dead of Night is Violent Phlegm’s first single.

Dead of Night
Words and Music by Timothy Price
Performed by Violent Phlegm

Still standing I’m bleeding in the dead of night
Battling daemons ’til dawn’s early morning light
Reaching for the future, tried shaking off the past
Following ambitions holding dreams were fading fast
Wading against the current, I stood against the wave
Control-alt-delete, I refuse to be a slave

Tumbling through the ether in the cold and dark
Social media’s shadow leaves its ugly mark
Cyberspace warriors fight by fiber’s light
Daemons call me out in the dead of night

Control-alt-delete, I refuse to be a slave
Wading against the current, I stood against the wave
Following ambitions holding dreams were fading fast
Reaching for the future, tried shaking off the past
Battling daemons ’til dawn’s early morning light
Still standing I’m bleeding in the dead of night

Tumbling through the ether in the cold and dark
Social media’s shadow leaves its ugly mark
Cyberspace warriors fight by fiber’s light
Daemons call me out in the dead of night

Lovelorn Wasp

With lots of colds, flu, allergies, and hacking making the rounds, Teri Dashfield, who has Images by Dashfield, inspired the Average White Boys to collaborate with another obscure virtual group of allergy-infested hackers known as Violent Phlegm to form a new virtual music group called Coughing Cooties. I am happy to release the Coughing Cooties’ first single, Lovelorn Wasp.

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