Sometimes They Come Back(orders)II: My Lover's Grave

                                                 

                                                    SHOO-BE-DOO-BE-DOO-WAH

                                                                    

First stop of the world tour? As Neil Young once sang: "There's a world".


The current version of the Backorders is really the best yet. With two lead singers - Carole "Zingo" Starr and Johnny "Three Bags" Rafferty - the band features the most cohesive and powerful vocal combination ever, especially when adding the voice of talented keyboardist Chelly DuNord, who pitches in on harmonies and backing vocals. Drummer Laura McDrummie plays with style and finesse that brings to mind a more adventurous Charlie Watts with solid beat and Ringo-esque tempo control. Lead guitarist Davey The Turk can actually play guitar - I mean he knows stuff. His lead lines and chord voicings add much more to the music than my clunky strumming ever did and of course bass guy Mighty Mark Stone, who's been a Backorder since ever, locks in with McDrummie for the most powerful and cohesive rhythm section the band has ever had. That was a bit effusive but I really like this band!

"My Lover's Grave" comes from the GSE. While it was not considered for Won Out it was regularly performed by The Bonkeenies and carried over to Backorders set lists. To this day I have no idea what it's about. I came up with the melody first and then threw words at it. I like to think of it as wry social commentary. The arrangement has changed over the years but the core of the song has stayed the same. It's fun to play. Lately we've been using the beginning, solo and close of the Beatle song "A Hard Day's Night" just for fun. 


My lover's grave, my lover's grave

No one was saved, no one was saved

Shoo-be-doo-be-doo-wah


My leader's tomb, my leader's tomb

Impending doom, impending doom

Shoo-be-doo-be-doo-wah


My last request, my last request

I won't confess, I won't confess

Shoo-be-doo-be-doo-wah

(solo)


My lover's grave, my lover's grave

We'll all we saved if we behave

Let's all behave

Shoo-be-doo-be-doo-wah


hmm..you know, I think this is a comment on the Catholic church. I was baptized Catholic and performed the rituals as a child but eventually grew suspicious. Many of my songs take subtle and not-so-subtle swipes at Catholicism and religion in general.  


                                           And here for your viewing and listening pleasure...


The GSE  (Great Song Explosion) was a situation where I had to come up with a lot of songs really fast. I pulled out every song I'd ever worked on, every song idea I'd had and not tackled, rewrote some old songs I'd put aside and pulled otheres out of the air. There are songs just floating around up there - you just have to know when and were to reach. Writing that way it was inevitable that I'd search through all the closets of my imagination and come up with stuff that seemed like gobbledygook at first but would begin to make sense later. "My Lover's Grave" is a great example of that. And here we are performing it in a church!

Okay - on to the next round! IGLOO!


todays lesson: "saw" and "seen" are both past tenses of "see". The difference is that saw is used alone, as in "I saw my stupid brother-in-law at the store." and seen is used in conjunction with "have" or "had" as in "I wish I had seen..." or "I have seen...". Using "seen" without either of those words makes you sound like an idiot: "I seen my stupid brother-in-law at the store". Got it? Now go play.


The artist as a young man. Note signature red guitar and random Harry Nilsson






                                                   

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