Music Monday - Take III

House of Jeffrey - lyrics at end of post

This song was written on a front lawn one lazy Saturday, when Remy decided he wanted to write something with a slide guitar part. I hummed along a melody and slowly started patching words in, inspired and saddened by the fact that I would soon be leaving Davis and all my friends behind to start school someplace else. We came up with the idea of writing about a tree-house because it embodies childhood nostalgia.

The next day we set about recording the song, and rushed around the house "exploring" for sounds to compliment the whimsical mood of the song.  Everything you hear (aside from guitar and vocals) were made by the following:
-A guitar pedal
-A wine glass
-A parasol
-A cymbol
-A ruler
-A cellphone
-Wind chimes
-10 overlapping tracks of us yelling like pirates
Remy made a much better pirate than I did; I sounded more like an orc.
The song remains my favorite track from that particular collaboration. It stands as a monument to my best college years and very fond memories. I hope it invokes something similar in others who hear it too.

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Here are the lyrics:

I went home last summer
to get my roots back in the ground,
and I was back at the old tree house
with no one else around.
And I found myself thinking
of all the things it once had been:
spaceships and time-machines,
and Big Jeffrey looking in.
He was a mean old kingfisher
with a beak of plated gold,
and he'd sit upon the bow
as we'd let the day unfold.

Time-travel?
Not a problem.
Dinosaurs?
Yeah, we rode on one or two,
and the passers-by all swam in lava
though they never had a clue.
Yeah, we rode on for hours
'till the dinner bell was rung,
and we'd hitch our pterodactyls
and wash up for some grub.

Though seasons have changed and winters come along,
the memories remain and keep it standing strong.
The bones that we've broken and trouble that we've made
just help us to find the dreams we have today.

Aliens?
Green and slimy.
Flying saucers?
We flew them at light speed.
We'd drag race any comet
and explore the galaxy.
Pirates?
Fought 'em often
Treasure?
We dug up our fair share.
We made our sisters walk the plank
and hung their dolls up by their hair.
We'd sail on for hours
'till the wind blew out our lights,
and Jeffrey would sing us to sleep
it's how he liked to say goodnight.

Though seasons have changed and winters come along,
the memories remain and keep it standing strong.
The cannons have rusted. The crew has gone away,
but adventure lives on in the things we do today.

Remy became a river boat captain along the river Styx.
I work in a bar on Mars where I sing and do magic tricks.
We may not really be in the places that we claim,
but life looks a little more manageable through a childhood window pane.

Now a new crew has taken over
to get it running once again,
and they was up in the old tree house
with Big Jeffrey looking in.