What the FOKSUP? This week I’m liberating a tune called ‘Sands Of Father Time (Remix)’ that was written in Toronto during my ‘Say Something’ recordings. It was written by Tawgs, Rich Moore and myself in 2002 I believe. Tawgs originally produced it, played guitar and added a variety of sound effects. Rich Moore played the upright bass, C-Lap played the drums, Mark Lalama played the piano and on the original S-luv did the cuts. This song is a remix of the original produced by Billy Mann and I’m really only releasing this version because Billy circumcised a minute off of the original. Shorter, more aerodynamic, perhaps less sensitivity, a bit cleaner with the hood off but I’ll try not get caught up in the debate between aardvarks and purple helmets and just discuss the music. If you are an aardvark, you’re gross and you should get that shit snipped though. I digress…
There was a time when this was my favourite song. There was a song by Underworld entitled ‘Born Slippy’ from the Trainspotting soundtrack that I really liked and we tried to make the acoustic guitar drone like that at the beginning of our song.
Billy didn’t use this in the beginning of the remix but Tawgs basically took the guitar licks from the verses and drenched them in reverb and delay to make a beautifully dynamic intro. Billy laid some bells with a Spanish guitar feel in this intro and I never really got over the departure from the original. Billy also cut the the first four bars of my second verse which I was really attached to, and that was also difficult for me to recover from at the time. I do like the pre-chorus change now, it definitely adds some shape to the tune. There was an extended outro to the original that had accordion and a honky tonk saloon piano feel to it that was very original and classy. Maybe I will post the original in a later FOKSUP offering.
The song ended up not being placed anywhere because of me. I ruined it as usual. Hahaha. The narrative of the song is quite vague and when it does get specific it’s rather depressing. I also thought that the chorus was drenched in pretence that wouldn’t appeal melodically or thematically with many people. “Sharing secrets with the sea and building sandcastles in our minds” was a little out there even if it was uniquely beautiful imagery in my mind. It’s also a message of wasting one’s life, left only with the feeling of being robbed because time was spent foolishly in the end. Not a pleasant topic, a little unrefined and nothing overly memorable. In spite of all of this, there’s something about the tune that I identify with and still enjoy. It was the third or fourth song that I had written with Tawgs and our early sessions together are incredibly fond memories for me.
I gave a nod to Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ in the first verse with “Johnny’s in the basement cooking up the medicine” and then flipped the wording for my 3rd verse to set up the final theme. It’s funny that sometimes in my lyrics I foreshadow or even predict events that will occur in my life in the future. I don’t know why I was talking about getting audited in this song but it ended up happening. Why the fuck was I not talking about bitches, cars and money again? At least my song ‘Sarafina’ ended up sending me a beautiful South American wife that I love and treasure above all things. Take the good with the bad I guess.
It’s an honest song in the end. It’s a life story of sorts, not entirely my own but elements of my fears are contained within. Existing in the finite, not sure you’re on the right path is basically the crux of this tune and that’s something I often struggle with. The lyrics are somewhat linear but blur the past and present while still staying with the same concept. The sand is dropping and what are you doing or what have you done in your life? There is no looking forward in this song which to me is it’s basest and saddest element. There’s also the true reality of me making a major release in the record industry at this time and not being confident I was ready for it. I still love it, even if it misses its mark at times. “Slave to the King, I give him all my regrets.” Enjoy.
*kyprios*
Lyrics
Sands Of Father Time
I’m simply a shadow of my former self
I drink the rum slowly to console myself
“Johnny’s in the basement cooking up the medicine
I’m on the pavement thinking ’bout the government”
Time pass slow keep me in the capsule
I am the King insecure is my castle
Put me in your wallet let me slip inside your purse
I’m the change in your mind let me show you my worth
Not a damn thing since the audit I got
Pen came along to pick pocket my thoughts
Disc jock got a song that he cannot play
I don’t fit the mix because I set the record straight
How you gonna play a straight record when I straight wreck it
Reckon that you’ll never play ’cause you’ll never get
I’m a let it meditate while the critics mediate
Manipulate my words man imagine that I’m pure and
[Chorus]
Out of the sands of time
We can make sandcastles in our minds
And out of those memories
We can share our secrets with the seas
Ease my mind c’mon and ease me slow
Give me easy street on an easy road
It ain’t an easy world I need an easy girl
But I really need a friend is all ya need to know
Am I too feminine for the gentlemen
Would ya feel better when I tell ya I can bend ya skeleton?
Well I can bend ya skeleton better than the rest of them
I’d rather be eloquent chill with Duke Ellington
Elevate, sentiments, celebrate elements
Of my impediments drinking only sediment
Sell my own soul if you’d sit with me
Naked on this track could a train come hit me
[Chorus]
Ou of the sands of time
We can make sandcastles in our minds
And out of those memories
We can share our secrets with the seas
I’m merely a mirror of my current self
I sip the gin slowly to bring Courage health
Tommy’s in the penthouse, cookin’ up the poison
I’m in the gutter thinkin’ bout my choices
Time passed quick didn’t leave me with shit
Slave to the King I give him all my regrets
Placed all of my bets on the hand that I held
In the game of life kid you gotta play what you’re dealt
Feel me I’m here
You need me I’m here
But you shouldn’t let me go in the blizzard all alone
Because I’m only walking hand in hand with fear
Feel me I’ve left
My body my breath
And the way that life and time treated me in my eyes
Is a crime only known as theft
[Chorus]
Ou of the sands of time
We can make sandcastles in our minds
And out of those memories
We can share our secrets with the seas
