Harmonica Dan And The Pancake Man
While recording "The Tentcoat" Cold Bones and I would watch old black and white cartoons on mute. All day. This sparked an interest in cartoon music. Carl Stalling's amazing output. The first use of a click track for musicians and for animators. Similarly, Spike Jones use of foley sounds in big band arrangements.
The characters names came first. I figured if this were to be an actual cartoon, every episode would have the same plot. Each episode starts with the characters serving out a punishment for something they did in the previous episode. They would be released and quickly get in to trouble again. J.B. Loxley would always be the instigator. They would always get caught and they would always die at the end.
Put in the key of Bb to keep the orchestra happy and the guitarists on their heels. The melody stays the same for the three verses, the chords change slightly to support the mood of the story. The middle section represents the characters being chased and shot at by "the musket and his man."
Ted Eliason- Lead Vocal, Backing Vocal, Piano, Bass, Sleighbells, Kick Drum and Crash cymbal intro, Organ, Sound FX, Mellotron Cello
Cold Bones - Drums, Clarinet, Tremolo Guitar, Mellotron Saxophone, Percussion, Sound FX
Chase Bowman - Half Speed Saxophone solo
The Cicada Utopian Proposal
Written sometime after the summer of cicada. (2008?) It took me about a year to get everything together. (music/lyrics) Suddenly surrounded by noisy insects. A comment on the relationship between humans and wilderness. The push for wilderness to be placed in convenient areas. Cicadas don't seem to play to these rules. If a cicada could speak english, I think we'd have to cover our kids ears for an entire summer don't you think? (hot sex) I always picture a "misanthropic philanthropist" singing this song. (John Lennon?) He's trying so hard to persuade the unpersuadable.
We tried recording this song three times, in different ways, before this version came about. Finally we decided to have Chase play his piano part first, and have all the other instruments get out of the way. The exercise of this song was to have three different ways of leading up to the chorus.
Ted Eliason - Lead Vocal, Backing Vocal, Electric Guitar, Bass
Cold Bones - Drums, Backing Vocal, Clarinet
Chase Bowman - Piano, Backing Vocal
My Favorite Word
A celebration of leisure. Sucessfully letting go of the stress you didn't know you had. I wrote this song during a long bike ride. I probably came up with parts of a lot of these songs on bike rides. It's a wonderful feeling not holding a guitar or sitting at a piano and just singing out into the air. You should give a try. A simple self portrait.
Ted Eliason - Lead Vocal, Backing Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Synth
Cold Bones - Drums, Bass, Backing Vocal
Chase Bowman - Saxaphone, Backing Vocal
Helga The Hungarian
I received a copy of The Kinks album "The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society" from a Mr. Ken Olsen. This song is a thank you to him. I breathed that album for a year solid. Make no doubt about it, Helga is a beautiful woman. (both the inner and outer kind) Some kinds of love are complicated. Not this kind. This love is as pure as gold. The line "Someone was saying on the radio / How it was one of the most beautiful launches of love they'd ever seen" I got from late night news on the TV. I thought it was humorous so I changed it up slightly and stuck it on the end.
Ted Eliason - Lead Vocal, Backing Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass, Piano, Organ
Cold Bones - Drums, Tambourine, Backing Vocal
Chase Bowman - Saxophone, Backing Vocal
On Snowy Days Like These
This one started out as a joke. Just singing the title over and over during band practice. Some laughed. The rest of the words came to me later while shoveling snow. The music came much later. All parts of the words and arrangement needed to float and swirl around itself. The idea of exchanging shoveling services for cheap soup and routine sex is both funny and romantic to me. A relationship filled with secret codes, odd instrument jam sessions and phallic wake up calls sound ideal.
Ted Eliason - Vocal, Backing Vocal, Piano, Electric Guitar, Organ, Harmonica, Half speed piano, Mellotron strings
Cold Bones - Drums, Percussion
Chase Bowman - Saxophone
The Zookeeper Knows The Jailer Is Asleep
Ted Eliason - Vocal, Backing Vocal, Electric Piano, Organ, Electric Guitar, Piano, Xylophone
Cold Bones - Drums, Bass, Sound FX, Acoustic Guitar, Programming
Ken Olsen - Electric Guitar
A Poem To Recite After Being Caught Staring At A Woman’s Perky Tits
Ted Eliason - Vocal, Backing Vocal, Piano, Bass, Electric Guitar, Toy Piano
Cold Bones - Drums, Backing Vocal
Chase Bowman - Saxophone, Backing Vocal
The Syncopated Cat
Ted Eliason - Vocal, Backing Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Piano, Ending Bass
Cold Bones - Drums, Percussion, Bass, Backing Vocal
Ken Olsen - Electric Guitar
Jen Buhrow - Backing Vocal
Dynamite Fight
Ted Eliason - Vocal, Backing Vocal, Piano, Electric Guitar, Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Synth
Cold Bones - Drums, Backing Vocal
Chase Bowman - Saxophone
The Pearl
Ted Eliason - Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Synth, Mellotron Bass and Vibes
Cold Bones - Seigh Bells
Piggie Bankin' It
Ted Eliason - Vocal, Backing Vocal, Piano, Electric Guitar, Bass
Cold Bones - Drums, Backing Vocal
Lavatory Party
Ted Eliason - Vocal, Backing Vocal, Acoustic Guitar, Bass, Piano, Toy Piano, Xylophone, Percussion
Cold Bones - Drums, Percussion, Synth, Backing Vocal
Jen Buhrow - Backing Vocal
John Till - Backing Vocal