The Amazon River Dolphin
Mar 12, 2023
TylerK
First Words
This challenge was difficult for me. I never write lyrics first and my poem of the day didn’t really speak to me. So I decided to try another day and that one spoke to me a lil too much, so I went back to the first one. I just wrote a bunch of nonsense rhyming lyrics down based on a line that stood out and after looking at what I wrote, I wanted to try and frame them correctly. What genre do these lyrics feel like? Who writes absolute dogshit lyrics?
I never make jam music (can’t improv) and I didn’t realize how hard it’d be to sequence an entire ass jam band song bit by bit but it ended up being a lot of fun.
After putting the two sections together it didn’t really sound like Phish at all and I couldn’t figure out why. I had all the ingredients. So I tried just putting some random crowd noise underneath the whole song, boom instant Phish. Close your eyes and you’re there. I might just throw some crowd noise into my projects going forward, it’s super encouraging to hear people cheering you on.
Shout out to future chef Cooper Leardi for going tit for tat on the solo with me. Mine took like 30 takes to get and his was done first take as he was hearing the song for the first time.
“Will you record a solo for me while we’re waiting for food to get here”
“What’s the key?”
“I don’t know.”
Lyrics
So say it with your chest
But baby don’t hold your breath
This flipper extends its hidden hand
Don’t be so sore skinned
You asked me what was my porpoise
Tipped the scales like a poor fish and ran
For miles
These dolphins travel for miles but how far could they go?
For miles
They often travel for miles
The Amazon River Dolphin By Linda Rodriguez
The sudden pink shape
surfacing in black-water lagoons
shocked explorers.
All dolphins share man’s
thumb and fingerbones,
but these also wear his flesh.
When the river overflows
and floods the varzea,
these dolphins travel miles
to splash in the shallows
amongst buttress-roots of giant
rainforest trees.
The waters abate, trapping fish,
dolphins never.
A lamp burning dolphin oil
blinds. At night
the pink-flesh contours melt and blur.
The flipper extends the hidden hand
to lift its woman’s torso
to the land. An Eve,
born each night from the black Amazon,
roams the dark banks for victims
to draw to the water and death.
Taboo to the Indians,
this pink daughter of the river’s magic
always looks, to explorers,
like she’s smiling.
Looking for feedback on
How's my mix on this? I didn't plan ahead to do a real solid mix but I gave myself the excuse that part of the jam band experience must be improv audio mixing as well. It's gotta be.
Discussion
EliasSZ March 24, 2023 10:04am
I wish I had been at this show. The a capella section with the crowd noise killed me in the best way possible – and the whole next bit as everything layered just felt so classic. Realllllly fun.
Tengo March 14, 2023 8:18pm
this is just so sick.
nick March 14, 2023 3:22pm
this is a real first for ncbc. so well executed and so fun. just ridiculous and awesome. would literally believe this was phish. my only tiny ask would be let the bass shine through 1:51-2:00 without any drums, and then have drums enter with that fill at 2:00. Just a thought. great job dude.
daeclan March 13, 2023 9:41pm
could 200% see trey anatasio flipping his lid and losing his cool to a pink dolphin fantasy. i love the vision, you captured the energy of a summer show and the lyrics are in line w this phish or dead songs i know (in a good way). mix was present and full, nothing stood out as lacking or out of place. maybe a little de•esser on the main vocal for some of the verses, but that could be an audio quality compression. agree w ryan re: 2’s & 4’s we need to have a little talk w this audience.. but solid work and fun interpretation / execution of this idea 🙂
Ryan March 13, 2023 1:07pm
I don’t remember the last time I had such shit-eating grin on my face listening to a recording for the first time. The screaming organ in the big sections aaaahahaha. The honkin’ piano. The dualing guitar solos. And of course the crowd noise—”instant Phish”. Goofy and playful as this is, you still ended up writing a banger of a chorus. It’s so good. Honestly a hell of a verse, too! Your dad’s live Rolling Stones DVD’s finally paying dividends. You’re a melody wizard, Harry.
Okay, mix stuff. Works for me. It’s bright and hot, but I dig it—that’s par for jam town, sugar. I’d bump the verse vocals up a fair bit and throw a slapback delay on there. Great bass entrance after the breakdown—that tone is killer. Guitar solo tones can easily be annoying but these are not. Good job with that. Bashful verse vocal is the only real mix miss, for me.
But also: HOW did the audience not starting clapping on the 2 and the 4 during the a cappella breakdown section?! Not a mix note, just a little disappointed in the crowd for not participating in a more specific way.