Lee Barry Composition (And Photo) Diary

  I know this might seem maudlin, but it's fitting for our time. The first verse was actually inspired by magnet poetry, which I used in the studio to generate lyric ideas. The genesis was random, but a deeper meaning was revealed. I found the Melville quote much later, which fit perfectly.    We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results. - Herman Melville    Threads by meta4s I fish for answers to questions Floating in the salty seas Soon to be devoured By the hungry ocean waves Exploring the dark cloud of yesterday That hangs above my head No silver lining or gold lame Only frayed and hanging threads Threads will take me places Where every soul is strange Looking puzzled at the faces Not connected with any name Always looking through the veil Obscuring what is real What I seek I find again Such a bargain, such a stea...

12/2023: A short on the first verse using text-to-speech voices and shifting the syllables to where the original vocal was. (They voices are "Amy" and "Geraint" a Welsh voice) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XRB1OXK75P4 I now realize the song could be about the Nag Hammadi but I didn't realize it at the time. When I started to make the video I thought footage of flowing and thrusting lava flows would be an interesting element. I watched some documentaries of Iceland volcanic history, then I saw the news about the current fissure eruption there. A curious synchronicity.   10/30/1996 This was inspired by a documentary on the search for a lost city in the Arabian desert. I thought that it was interesting that our digital culture will leave no artifacts at all, even in a time capsule. There are no guitars on here at all. All the "guitar" parts were played on the bass through a distortion pedal.  

Melange by Lee Barry In golden glow Of whispered ruin A falcon's beak decries the moon Time so taut with tethered claws Pent freedom rubs the restless raw Yon yellow sun so wintered cold The polar bear debates his hold Spring wound tight with anxious breath The season smells the snowman's death The falcon The falcon flies The falcon The falcon cries When good times roll to silver spoon Will riches spoil defy the tune Time once sang while friendship grew By sacred trust the unmasked drew Each victor red with passion's blood The snowman's melt decides the flood Seeds now moist from winter's loss Will search for sun yet risk the frost (Chorus) Most stories white with heart sprung deeds The blackbird's search defines each seed Trust last laid in fertile soil Still seeks to spring dance rhythms' coil In golden glow Of whispered ruin A falcon's beak decries the moon Time so taut with tethered claws Pent fr...