Uncut Rubber

All right, this might be my greatest work so far, both in lyrics and in composition. It is about the changes in the world in the past 30 years or so and how they have made the world increasingly less "real":
all kinds of fruit available all year round rather than just in the particular season for that particular fruit,
the "artificial" Euro supplanting traditional national currencies,
companies proclaiming they offer "solutions" or "experiences" rather than a certain commodity or service,
people using computers for everything,
goods not being made in the countries where they are consumed but in some Export Processing Zone at the other end of the world,
public services in the hands of faceless private corporations rather than the government,
seasons becoming less and less pronounced because of climate change...
in short, the feeling that real-world time and place seem to matter less and less, and the feeling of alienation and nihilism which accompanies it.
Here are the lyrics:

Well, now you're linked in, now you're in tune
And there's so much to be seen
You've got so many friends when you log in again
All the world's on your silver screen

Now you don't buy too many records
You've almost forgotten what records are
You just buy personal audio experiences
From some online shopping bazaar

And the shops, they don't sell you clothes
They sell lifestyle for you to buy
So lifestyle can be a product?
Well, I fail to see how and why

CHORUS:
Whatever happened to the real world
Am I the only one who gives a damn?
Whatever happened to the real world
Am I the last
Real European man?

There's a memorial down in the square
But you forgot what it commemorates
Something about bombs and heroes
Must have been another terrorist raid

And there used to be a steelworks down the road
But it was closed down long ago
All the real work got moved to China
Where people are much more expendable, you know

CHORUS

Well, what is the meaning of England
Or of Denmark, Scotland, Germany?
You may not care about them
But those places mean a lot to me

But place doesn't seem to matter
When things can be sent without borders in between
At the click of a mouse in some council house
By some so-called "global teen"

CHORUS

Please let me know what you think of this one, for I think it is better and more important than most of my earlier works.

(And yes, I stole the chorus melody from Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him"... I apologise, but it was in my head like this, and I couldn't imagine a different chorus)

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__________________
I hope that you will understand I do not mean to cause offence, and that no wolfbirds will be sent upon me as a result of this post.
Yours sincerely, Uncut Rubber

 

Uncut Rubber

Bump. I don't want to be impatient, but it would be a shame if this thread just disappeared into the archives with nobody noticing.

__________________
I hope that you will understand I do not mean to cause offence, and that no wolfbirds will be sent upon me as a result of this post.
Yours sincerely, Uncut Rubber

RickenbackerBassPlayer

Good song

This one was pretty easy to follow with the lyrics. My favorite part probably has the be the rhythm and lyrics of the chorus, because is went so smooth. Though it did make me chuckle when the lyrics said: Am I the only one who gives a damn? and the song had such a happy tempo . My favorite non-lyrical part was at 2:29 (nice solo).

Nice work.

__________________
"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." - Ludwig Van Beethoven

Uncut Rubber

Well, that was the part where I stole the melody from Joe Jackson There is a saying in Dutch that goes 'better stolen well than created badly', and it is proven here once again.

__________________
I hope that you will understand I do not mean to cause offence, and that no wolfbirds will be sent upon me as a result of this post.
Yours sincerely, Uncut Rubber

Mycheaprecords

You did a nice job Uncut, the melody definitely sounds like one of these songs that even 50 years later you still listen to it.

The only thing that I enjoyed less are the lyrics. I mean, they are very well-written and you already showed us how good you are at writing lyrics, but these ones reminded me of the O! music and bands like Skrewdriver, though they're definitely not as extreme as theirs.

But I kinda know the way you think, and I know it has nothing to do with the way Skrewdriver thought. Still if someone happens to read them without knowing who the author is, they may misunderstand what the real meaning is.

All in all, it's a great song you got here and it's definitely worth of being translated into "real music", but beware of hints and secret messages

__________________
So I was watching CSI last night, and came up with something about the episode I'd just seen. Wanna hear how it sounds like ? Here you go.

"...He waited till she got asleep..."

Baphomet

Ok I'm a monkey.... What program should I use to open that file with? Is it a midi file?

__________________
We walk without eyes, chained to these.
We stand pseudo life, slaves to machines.

http://www.myspace.com/prosedescry <--My new band!!

RickenbackerBassPlayer

I just use Real Player, just like all other files.

__________________
"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." - Ludwig Van Beethoven

Baphomet

I hate realplayer... Grrr....

__________________
We walk without eyes, chained to these.
We stand pseudo life, slaves to machines.

http://www.myspace.com/prosedescry <--My new band!!

RickenbackerBassPlayer

What do you use? iTunes?

__________________
"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." - Ludwig Van Beethoven

Baphomet

Nah just media player...

__________________
We walk without eyes, chained to these.
We stand pseudo life, slaves to machines.

http://www.myspace.com/prosedescry <--My new band!!

Uncut Rubber

Well, it is a MIDI file, so WMP should be able to play it... if that doesn't work, I suggest you try Winamp.

Hmm, you have a point there. The bit about countries may be misinterpreted as nationalist or supremacist - but all I mean is that we should have some respect for our national cultures, and not let those things that make countries different from each other fade away; in short, that we don't all become Americans.

It is indeed easy to misinterpret this as a "far-right" message; I think this is partly because the far right thrives on the same feelings of alienation and frustration I express here. For a large share, they feel the same pains as I do, but they deal with those pains the wrong way.
Another difference between me and the far right is that they see it as a problem when people with different cultural identities (e.g. Muslims) come to live in your country, which I don't mind at all. I am not hostile towards immigration. My problem is not that different cultures are being "imported" into my country, but that all cultures are becoming blander and losing their meaning, as described above.

Anyway, if I ever perform this it will probably be under a fluttering red flag, so that should clear up any misunderstanding.

__________________
I hope that you will understand I do not mean to cause offence, and that no wolfbirds will be sent upon me as a result of this post.
Yours sincerely, Uncut Rubber

Mycheaprecords

Yeah I hear you Uncut, and your point of view is legitimate. It's hard to not share the idea you depicted in your song, and I must admit I feel kinda ashamed to be "in love" with the american culture, which has obviously been "uniforming" all of our national cultures and identities...

To be honest, do you know how I felt when I stepped foot for the 1st time in the united-states ? It was like I was eventually going to see where everything comes from, like I had reached the source and the core of this culture I was strangely familiar with...

Anyway, this subject is way too large to be debated I think, so I'm going to leave it this way : Both of your song and lyrics are really nice, and that's the only thing important here, right ?

__________________
So I was watching CSI last night, and came up with something about the episode I'd just seen. Wanna hear how it sounds like ? Here you go.

"...He waited till she got asleep..."

Baphomet

I am sorry but most of American culture is nothing more than homogenization... There are American sub-cultures that are great and then some inner cities have a wonderfully blended culture of many many different peoples but plain old media induced American culture is the worst thing ever. For shame!

Sorry Uncut did't mean to derail your song thread!

__________________
We walk without eyes, chained to these.
We stand pseudo life, slaves to machines.

http://www.myspace.com/prosedescry <--My new band!!

Uncut Rubber

Never mind, never mind. But keep in mind that this song is about more than just cultural homogenisation... it is also about the way technological "progress" is affecting our lives, and about economic matters such as the outsourcing of public services to private corporations. And a lot more.

Oh, and bump for Aqua, by the way.

__________________
I hope that you will understand I do not mean to cause offence, and that no wolfbirds will be sent upon me as a result of this post.
Yours sincerely, Uncut Rubber

Aqualung

Nice work. I thought this one definitately had a very strong and interesting melody, which hasn't been the case in some of your other ones. I really like the social critique in this one. Some of your others have been about subjects that I really have no tie to at all, but this one actually makes sense to me.

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Here we go. Mushu cereal for breakfast with duck sauce.

Uncut Rubber

Wow, that's quick.

Thanks for the feedback! I'd be interested to know which of my songs don't have a "strong and interesting melody" - could you name a few examples?

__________________
I hope that you will understand I do not mean to cause offence, and that no wolfbirds will be sent upon me as a result of this post.
Yours sincerely, Uncut Rubber

scottpetesanchez

Hello good work. I like the lyrics a lot as they remind me of Roger Waters after Pink Floyd. I would say though that you should come up with a chorus melody of your own. Overall nice sound though!

Scott

Uncut Rubber

Wow, it's quite an honour to be compared to Roger Waters
As for the chorus, yeah, I tried and tried to come up with something, but you know how it goes... once you've got a certain idea for how it should be it's very hard to let that go.

__________________
I hope that you will understand I do not mean to cause offence, and that no wolfbirds will be sent upon me as a result of this post.
Yours sincerely, Uncut Rubber

Aqualung

Um, most of them. Lol. Usually the melody gets burried beneath the really strong rhythm and walking bass line.

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Here we go. Mushu cereal for breakfast with duck sauce.