March, '16
Comments: Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, my latest recording, It's a Bit (Over), made decidedly Celtic, or maybe undecidedly Bluegrass by my esteemed Dawdlers colleagues and longtime friends, Tom Fleming and Vlad Malinovsky (same tandem from The Best That You Can Do). Tom pretty much ran the table with an embarrassment of riches display of musical prowess, playing around 50 instruments one night in about 10 minutes, and again making me sound like I know what I'm doing, while Vlad dug out the violin he played as a lad, long ago abandoned for keyboards, to close the deal on the Bleltic backdrop of Tom's banjo and mandolin, and helping me realize a tune & sound I've had in my head for awhile. Great to hear it done. Big thanks to those boys. Hope you like hearing it as much as we did making it.
Cheers, Jim
Note on Lyrics: Because I've been asked about them, without spelling it out entirely, I'll say that this is not about a personal relationship, but about the relationship between an empire and its citizens, and mostly about the predominant mindset found among the "Roman" citizens. It's a take on the notion of the banality of evil, and of which I am myself guilty.
Credits:
Written & Produced by Jim
Arranged & Engineered by James Funk & Thomas Fleming
Performed by -
James Funk: Lead & backing vocals, acoustic 6-string guitar, bass guitar, drums & percussion programming, live percussion, & electric piano.
Tom Fleming: Electric guitars, banjo, mandolin, 12-string acoustic guitar, pedal steel guitar & harmony vocals.
Vladimir Malinovsky: Violin (verging on fiddle).
Lyrics
It's a Bit (Over)
A Malediction for Empire
Well, it's a bit of an open play, no attempt to conceal it, and what to do with it anyway, this pretty badly kept secret,
'cause it's a bit of a slippery slope so, let's pretend we've not seen it,
'cause it's a bit of a long shot to say;
That it could be over, that drunkards get sober, (that) we're out of the clover, as quaint as a drover, that bells are a'tollin', the fat lady's sung her song, 'cause we would be somber, to think it was over
Well, it's a bit of an open sore, some people clink and they clatter,
a spot of bother away offshore, I hardly think that it matters, 'cause it's a bit of a normal day here, see how the women still chatter?, 'so it's a bit of a tall tale to claim;
That it could be over, that drunkards get sober, (that) we're out of the clover, as quaint as a drover, that maybe the ship's sailed, that maybe the jig is up, 'cause we would be somber, to think it was over
Well, it's a bitter pill, we're a bit underpaid, we've got to get a bit o' gumption,
and never mind about the children or the women dead, it's best to keep a bit o' distance and see a little bit the bigger picture way, that's the better play, keep your head in the game, there's nothin' anyone can do, anyway
Oh, the barn door was left open, and baby that horse is gone, 'cause we would be somber, to think it was over,
Don't tell us it's over, so we might be spared this fate, 'cause we would be somber, to think it was over, oh yeah
To think it was over,
that it could be over, that it could be over, that it could be over, oh, it should be over