Third Rail

mp3

Notes:
The hardest part about this song was that I had a phone message, and I wanted to create a noise track that would pan back and forth and I wanted the message to follow it, representing the desperate chasing of the drug addled rock star's addiction to noise. I wanted the message to follow it exactly, though, not just hand pan it and have it be sort of close. How did I do it, you ask?

Well, first of all, if you believe that, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. Really, I had the message and I wanted it to be on the intro because it makes me laugh, but it was noisy as hell. I couldn't get rid of the annoyingness though, so instead I accentuated it by telephoning the eq, and pre that, running the track through a LADSPA digital distortion plugin (details when I can go look it up). Then I panned it back and forth and finally I felt like it at least sounded like we were screwing with it on purpose.

Drums were recorded at CCRMA Studio A. Gabe did a fantab job picking it up and coming up with something to do. I used an Electro-Voice ND-868 for the kick, two Shure 57s (one on top and one on bottom) for the snare, some hairy cairy shure clip ons for the high and mid toms, an EV of some kind for the lo tom, some kind of condensor or something for the hat, and a spaced pair of AT 4049s (I think) for stereo overheads. I reversed the phase on the top snare mic in the mix. That's right, I reversed the top. Sue me.

Lyrics:

sometimes I see a flash from the third rail and I wonder where it's from
it's like a pinhole shot from a .38 that broke the aching sun
I look to daylight for the answers but there's nothing left to ask
and daylight just laughs and breaks his foot off in my ass
sometimes its way too bright in the grainy place with this gathering of souls
and just to get a sense of dark we need that little hole
even the sun needs help some days to make it through the cold
'cause answering every question in the world can get a little old
it's like a way tall man began his day by sharpening a stick
and gave the light a little prick since it was feeling sick
and on the other side of this broken ball of dirt we call the Earth
a little woman in a scarf begins to say a prayer

she says "Release the sun from all its woes and I will be your slave
let 70 and 21 begin afresh today"
and the little woman made a pact with everybody tall enough
to give the god of heat a little break and let the cold come in
so every day a little baby dies or someone chokes
or someone hits a stroke of bad luck and ends up in a box
behind a fence inside a vast expanse of dust
and every evening someone lingers in a broken doorway shallow
and he knows he'll have to sleep tonight on concrete wet with breath
and when he wakes up it'll rain and no one walking by will care

but it's a cost, he pays it gladly so the rest of us can see
we call him crazy but he's just a prayer sent all the way from somewhere else
and everyone in Columbine or Red Lake, Minnesota
will shed another 7 years of tears we'll use to lubricate
the stones we'll use to sharpen every stick
that every tall man needs to prick
a little pinhole in the sun who aches for someone to appreciate
the days we're sitting in the sand and nothing in the sky
can contemplate another strategy to make us hate this nutty fate

I remember everything I said when I was mad
I can't believe the things I've seen
I can't believe the things I've had
I jerked my mind off in my liver
and I waited for it to cum
now everybody's watching me
and can't believe the shit I've done
I stare off into empty space when I look in people's eyes
it's like this train has got a hold of me and I need a new disguise

I see a flash from the third rail and I wonder where it's from
it's like a pinhole shot from a .38 that broke the aching sun
now what it's gonna take to give the light a goddamn fucking break
I can't believe the things we leave
I can't believe the things we take...
I see a flash from the third rail and I wonder where it's from
it's like a pinhole shot from a .38 that broke the aching sun