notes on the second session (but substantially edited and rewritten)

today the anniversary of the second afternoon from the musicians of bremen recording campaign 2022. 

notes on the second session (written at the time but here  substantially edited and rewritten) 

murder ballad  - the first new song horsemouth had written in a long time.  horsemouth wanted to record a murder ballad but an up-to-date one, instead of a murderer and a murderee and a location and punishment (black jack davy, omie wise, where the wild roses grow etc.) horsemouth wanted to write a murder ballad where the investigation is botched and there's little  point in catching the criminal anyway. horsemouth played it through on the nylon string guitar. he recorded four minutes 20 seconds of the main riff over and over to click.  various percussion-y things added. various backing vocals sung (highs and lows). instrumental break guitar parts laid down (based on satie's gnossienne no.1) but because horsemouth has miscalculated the bar lengths it seldom plays in full. 

musicians of bremen · Murder Ballad

horsemouth still thinks it sounds more like stereotype  than ghost town (oh well). 

he also took a crack at something's on your mind (made famous by karen dalton but actually written by dino valenti). 

recorded with howard's hohner 6 string and with the telecaster copy played DI. howard added a nice reverb to it. horsemouth then doubled up the main vocal. result! horsemouth thought it was the keeper from the session  at the time (but now he thinks it's murder ballad). 

he also played if you have ghosts (roky erickson) and sometimes our dreams (they float like anchors) (william eliot whitmore). 

yesterday horsemouth walked down to the crossroads to deliver some eggs, he also posted off two letters in the post box by the village hall and took the recycling bin down the drive (remind him to bring it back up  - next week the rubbish). round the place he went out in the morning to let the chickens out and to bring in the eggs, he watered the bean plants in the greenhouse (about 4 of them have come up), some of either the onions or the garlic seeds have come up (or it's grass and horsemouth is an idiot). 

the trips (triple negative) are back at cafe OTO on 25th may (saturday, it's a saturday). 

meanwhile in the meat world it is the morning of the 11th - horsemouth has just brought the recycling bin back up the drive (so no need to remind him).  it is supposed to be quite a good day. horsemouth will attempt to get some seeds planted in pots.