Sweet Freedom

Sweet Freedom

(Party Acoustica)

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Songs and instrumentals from 1989. These songs rely more on the acoustic guitar. Several were written in Vienna, where I lived for the first half of the year. The songs that were later migrated to Adventures of Freddy are: "Haircut for Me " (written as "Yugoslavian Haircut") and "The Heaven We Knew So Well ."

1. Sweet Freedom

My original slacker party song. The chord progression of the verse turns out to be The Stones' "Beast of Burden" sped up. (cassette)

2. A Key and a Uniform

A bit of fun with a metaphor for college as prison. I must have taken the"Message in a Bottle" chord progression as a starting point. I'm giving away too many secrets! (cassette)

It's been five long years since they sent us here
And we've grown beyond their wildest dreams
We've learned to speak like they do
And we've learned to control our screams

We never figured out where we went wrong
But it doesn't matter anyway
We've learned to enjoy the jailman's song
For it signals another day

Days go by months go by
And we know not what we're waiting for
Maybe some sunshine, maybe some fat guy
With a key and a uniform

Thanks for writing, I know you have
And that's all that really counts
I see you in my daily water
That comes in small amounts

They tell me that I talk to myself
And that my imagination runs wild
Well I wouldn't know for I haven't changed
Since I was a little child

One day I know that I'll leave this place
And they say I can learn some more
Maybe even get a job like them
With a key and a uniform

3. The Hideout Stomp

I owned a 12-string at this point, and this is just a dig into drop-D 12-string bliss, a la Zep's "Bryn Mawr Stomp." In honor of The Hideout, the house in Oberlin where I lived with friends. (cassette)

4. Back to the Farm

A sentimental roots rocker. Intended a sort of REM/Mellencamp (contemporaneous) electric sound (or Uncle Tupelo/Wilco, to be anachronistic). I have also sung the poem "Keepsake Mill" by Robert Louis Stevenson to this tune. (cassette)

5. Der Bahnhof (The Train Station)

A straight-up Vienna song. I had a classical guitar in my hovel there with 4 strings. Written after a day of wandering. This recording is from a 1992 recording session I did in Cleveland with Brett Kopf singing. (cassette)

6. Wooden House

I think I wrote this during the 1989-90 school year after I got back to Oberlin from Vienna. Recording is same as #5. The words are about the Hideout or any other decrepit student-slum house. It is adream of violating it and burning the sucka down because that is what is best for it. (cassette)

6. Lay Low

Another version of my playing the ending to "Wooden House," this time electric. It's some of my favorite music to play. I call it "Lay Low" as a pun on "Layla." The latter song also has a cathartic ending instrumental section in the relative (or parallel?) major. It's an interesting 2-part form from the rock canon. (cassette)

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