FAWM: "I Am Not A Robot"

I Am Not A Robot

21 hours ago by @jamkar · @stephenwordsmith

I Am Not A Robot

jamkar +1

00:00

Liner Notes

The instruments in order: Over driven Hammond organ Stock Kontakt synth Keyscape Classic Rhodes Yamaha Digital Grand piano Native Instruments Massive synth Thank you Stephen for the clever words!

Lyrics

No, I am not a robot, thanks for asking - how bout you? And once I've put to bed these things you're tasking me to do I hope you'll find the evidence presenting will suffice To let your drawbridge down and be relenting - that'd be nice

The first, I'll give, at least was quite simplistic, not too bad To tick a box with motion realistic (oh, you cad) The curving of my cursor too erratic, you will find For me to be a mouser automatic (in my mind)

But then things took a turning for the graphic, as you'd beg For me to light the lights reserved for traffic (dot jpeg) Don't think that I don't see your low conniving dirty trick That you're in firm car-hoots with the self-driving - still, I click

And yet I'm tied and bound within your fetters, hyper-linked, My eyes discerning words of swirling letters by instinct My blood set to coagulate and curdle In my veins As micro-minds devise another hurdle For my pains

So tell me, can I conquer this great CAPTCHA You've unfurled Before we're all off carried by the rapture (Goodbye, world) I'm starting to believe there's no importance, None at all In scribbling down my worth of two-and-fourpence On this wall

For is that all I'll find when I am coming? ... An internet deceased but softly humming? ... A million thumbs waved proudly as a blazon ... But not a single soul behind to raise them

Comments

@stephenwordsmith 3h

I do like the way this progresses - starting off with the initial burst of energy and angst at this routine annoyance, then the sun begins to rise on the scene, and we discover that the singer sits in the vast savannah of verification, a tiny pawn in a vast electronic kingdom, where the power is not held by the human whose humanity he is desperately trying to assert.

The pain and panic become evident in verse 3 - a Phobos and Deimos of emotion of this man marooned in an infinitely alien land.

Then the final transition into the slow, seasick beige fuzz - by the 5-minute mark, I have a real sense of being trapped in a liminal space, the CAPTCHA having pulled me slowly through the backrooms until I am helplessly lost, doomed to spend forever in a faceless corner of the dead internet.

Genuinely one of the most intriguing pieces I've heard this year. Thank you very much for your work, @jamkar !

@nadine 8h

Mike going prog? I heard somebody else working with these lyrics and you decided to create a 7 minute song in multiple chapters

@headfirstonlyMod 9h

This is wild; it plays like an entire rock opera. You could have posted this as five separate pieces instead of just one!

God, how I hate CAPTCHAs. Co-opting us as slave labour for teaching self-driving cars how to recognise their environment, all dressed up as security theatre.

@kahlo2013 19h

Very cool collaboration! The lyrics are creative and clever with words. The delivery captures the lyric so well with the instrumental layers and choices. Thought provoking with a lot of music space to contemplate the sentiment of the lyric.