ADAM N. COPELAND
A commissioned work. My better half, Shannon, was planning a couple months ago on getting back into making ‘zines. The end result is Parlor. The theme to the first issue of Parlor (coming out before the end of this month) is wandering. There are poems, stories about an abandoned utopia, hobos, and people crazy enough to bicycle around the world.
I suggested that it would be a good idea to try to write a song to go along with it. It would pose an interesting challenge for me, but to make things worse I decided that I would record the entire thing alone. I took the inspiration for the project name from the tale of Hal the Central Park Coyote. (I like the story and idea - a pack animal by himself in a strange environment - so much that I think I’m going to put all my complete solo ideas under this name from now on, whether they are put together for Parlor or not.)
Inspiration for the song itself came rather circuitously. Andrew (coincidentally, he who bikes around the world) sent me a link to a survivalism web forum, which got me thinking about Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD. As bleak a story as it is, there is a dim glimmer of hope at the end. The song wound up only being only tangentally related to the story, but it nonetheless bears its mark.
The end result took a few recording sessions at my tiny space in Pearl Studios, Jersey City and countless hours overdubbing and mixing at home. To say I’m pleased with how it turned out is an understatement! Enjoy!
Ingredients
One drum kit played mostly separately with soft mallets
3 beer and wine inspired tracks of vocals (pitch correction, auto-tune: GTFO)
One acoustic guitar track
2 electric guitar tracks
1 bass guitar track
An egg shaker
A tambourine
Hand claps
A track of me stomping on some goat toes.
Fun trick: try playing it on repeat.
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