A Mighty Nut: March 2012

Monday, March 12, 2012

Berlin Oregon [original song by Heitor Borsch and dwdeclare]

lyrics:
anna morning brought me to this song
it's the 90s talking through your glow
and i send them a chair to sit on
notes are driving at the spree along

you know you know, you know you know
(i don't know why, i don't know why)

in the evening standing at my door
she's like a shadow from illusions formed
urging us to climb a little more
and move beyond the lies we lived before

(you know you know, you know you know)
i don't know why, i don't know why

instrumental break

no i can't sit on my elbow
then stand upon her shoulders, peer outside
and i sit on my eyes, and talking through my ears
we're so deaf and we're blind

you know you know, you know you know
(i don't know why, i don't know why)

this song is a collaboration between heitor borsch (lars2immermann) and me. it came about from a comment he made on one of my songs on youtube called, "green borsch-sorrel" saying he'd like to do something together.

the development of this song kind of reminded me of the way concretions form, by mineral deposits precipitating around some organic nucleus, then growing. but in this musical version, it was sound deposits that were added to and molded around the original melodic seed created by heitor.

pretty cool how influences we absorb from our external environment can be reworked and modified by us, then transmitted back out to form something new and unexpected...and sometimes beautiful.

back in school, in drama class, the teacher would sometimes get us to do this project where one student would go to the center of a circle of other students and do some small movement or sound or a combination of both. then another would join him a few moments later and do a different movement and sound, until eventually you had several people involved in this long nonfunctional chain of unique artistic expression.

i love that idea of creating something utterly nonfunctional except in how it can elicit a visceral or psychical response in the observer. marcel duchamp would often take machines apart and put them back together in a different way that pleased him, and in the process left behind something which had transcended the use it once had, in a similar way to how natural selection will work upon structures that have one use and cause them to be useful in an entirely different, and perhaps more advantageous, way.

a song can be an organic entity which grows and develops from simple beginnings into evolved forms most beautiful and wonderful. even if the influence which began the song was not entirely original, it can still take on a shape it never would have enjoyed before, had it not been for the existence of those partaking in its manufacturing.

when it comes to the idea of originality and ownership, we must realize that all we do is take in things which are already in existence from our surroundings and refashion them a bit with our bodies and minds, then spew them back out into the real world, creating not something original, but merely something derived from that which already was.

we do not own, we merely borrow for the time being and share. that's why the world is so fucked up, because people believe they have a right to own the products of the earth that rightfully belong to all creatures who inhabit this planet.

the sooner we come to the realization that ownership is theft, the sooner mutual aid and fair exchange will be guiding forces in the economy of our lives over ruthless competition and selfish acquisition.

music, like any other creative undertaking, can be harmonious or it can be discordant, depending on the whims and desires of those involved in its soft construction with boiled beans (with all apologies to salvador dali). our political and social systems are no different. they are not "natural". they are man-made and can be changed to achieve a form and arrangement more amenable and just to human and nonhuman well-being.

art can be a gateway to the rejection of how things are, and the gross unfairness and barbarity with which we treat other sentient beings, and cause us to question what the majority may take for granted as "that's just the way it is". BULLSHIT! the way it is, is not immutable. it is the way it is because of violence, weaponry, force and ignorance. it takes a lot of secrecy and cruelty to maintain this way of life.

artistic expression can open the door allowing new and better ideas to flow in so that we can tangibly create a more beautiful and just world where not so many are suffering.

and if that doesn't work, my old man is a television repair man. he's got this ultimate set of tools...i can fix it!