My Poison
by SmokeyVW

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Licensing Information: Attribution-NoDerivs

Guest views: 511 Member views: 0 Song comments: 25 Tokens: 0 Plays: 35 Last Played: Downloads: 18 Fans of this song: Submitted on: Apr 26, 2008 - 09:23:24 PM Last Updated: Oct 06 2008 - 04:55:38 PM

dajama said 256 days ago

Wow This is mesmerizing - and intriguing. I started listening while I was typing something and found myself unable to focus on anything else but your voice! Not having the page out front, I couldn't see the lyrics, so I found myself sitting and listening, waiting to hear each next line. Like I say, mesmerizing. I love this track - haunting and clever, with those Jim Morrison style vocals pulling you in. Excellent. Now I want to know - what was the proposition?! Very cool. Nicely done. Peace.

SmokeyVW said 253 days ago

. so, there is no actual proposition like in a song comment. i was using the whole song comment thing as a vague metaphor for something else. i recently went through the process of deciding it was time to retire, you know, stop working, start living off our savings. it's a huge life-changing event. the whole point of the lyrics of this song is that an idea can completely turn your world-view into something new... from the perspective of my "worker self" the retirement concept acted like poison: once my wife and i knew it was feasible to retire now, the idea slowly disassembled all my ambition and interest in my former job. within days, the decision "made itself" so-to-speak. i am now in fact retired. the full reality of that is still sinking in... thanks

SmokeyVW said 253 days ago

. the artwork is meant to represent me unmasking myself. perhaps in two ways, showing that MyFakeIdentity is really SmokeyVW - and that worker-bee me has changed into retiree-me. the time sig thing snapped into place since Mary Jane adores 5/4. i sang the vocals as crisply as i could to let the vocal transformer get a clean signal to lock into and minimize artefacts to create Mary Jane's voice. a few days later, i realized i liked the un-effected vocals enough to feel like i wanted to post it too. the revealing of my two identities in this way appealed to me. again it plays on the retirement dual-self too -- the before and after me. i find it fascinating how the same exact vocal recording makes the emotional delivery and meaning of the words change so much, very strange... thanks Drak!

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. Mary Jane likes echo too much! in my previous post i mention that i tried really hard to be crisp while singing (although i wish i could sing better). that's a lot of the reason why i posted this version of the song. i'm happy to hear you noticed the vocals. maybe i'm on the right track to improve my singing. thanks

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. it sounds like you did the same experiment i did: i played both versions simultaneously - and it's a third version of the song the male and female singers together bring yet another perspective to the song - it's like a unification of both halves of the self... very strange... any way, thanks Kenta

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. ignoring all the vocal stuff, the bass line is my favorite element in this. thanks

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. i actually played at a coffee house years ago. (not this song.) a small intimate crowd, lots of fun, full of energy. glad you liked it thanks

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. the drums started out from a 4/4 jazz brushes loop. i changed it to be 5/4 and then spiced it up (the original loop was very laid back) bass line started out as a 4/4 loop, but heavily modified here. there's little left of the original. chords and piano were all pulled out of thin air. thanks

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. please do read the earlier replies... yeah, that rhythm was definitely the idea reprogramming virus thing happening... i worry a lot about my mind; i hope it's still working properly after all this time. i think it's out of warranty by now. :-) thanks!

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. i'm glad you said this: "... the more I listen the better it gets ..." exactly! thanks

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. i wish i could remember how the MacJams hook occurred to me. i guess it's from hanging out here too much :-) thanks for listening Tobin

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. Traffic - yeah, it hadn't clicked till you said that - you are absolutely right. Low Spark of Highheeled Boys - right? Always liked that song. thanks

	SmokeyVW said 253 days ago
	. you caught that strange thing about the lyrics - the gender of the singer changes the nuances of the words. isn't that really strange? glad you liked it thank you