"Death is a Distance" : FAWM

Death is a Distance

5 days ago by @philkmills

Death is a Distance

philkmills

00:00

Liner Notes

#banjo #fiddle #other

While walking to a store, I was wondering why my previous song, Love at Last Sight, was stuck in my head. There were no more than two autobiographical lines in the whole thing, but it felt true anyway.

Then I explained to myself that there's more than one kind of going away. So this came home with me. It feels to me like something that allows for an infinite number of verses...if you could find enough monkeys.

I don't know what to say about the arrangement except that slow and sad didn't seem like the right thing to do.

Edit: New audio! Thinking about Bill's comment, it seemed the easy way to tighten up the song was to turn each 4-bar solo into a 2-bar turnaround.

Lyrics

Death is a distance. You never know how far. You’re on the right road But you don’t know where you are.

Death is a distance. The signs are plain as day. Don’t worry if you’ve missed one; There’s another on the way.

Death is a distance along a one-way track. There’s no stepping sideways And there’s sure no turning back.

Death is a distance, designed to make a mess. It makes your maps look blurry And confuses GPS.

Death is a distance that you have to travel blind Even eyes wide open You can only see behind

Death is a distance. There are monsters every mile. Though you might outrun them Haste would hardly be worthwhile.

Death is a distance. Looking for your friend? Keep walking in his footprints You’ll both get there in the end.

Comments

@nancycunning 13h

I like this title so much. The fiddle and banjo landed as an invitation to dance along through however much time we’ve got left. I also found myself thinking about those blurry maps and a recent trip to Massachusetts where the street layout in Cambridge and Somerville defies my internal assumptions that the world is a grid, and streets that feel parallel quickly diverge.

@chipwithrow 4d

Yes indeed, you could keep adding to this one, and letting different instruments solo. Such fun! As I gave a second listen, new verses popped into my head.

@quadrivium 5d

I love the structure that lets you just keep adding verse after verse if you want. It would make for a fun house filk party game. My favorite two verses are at the end. The monsters one appeals to the grim cynical gamer in me, while the last seems wickedly funny evoking both the Tuscan raiders Star Wars fame and that "I Carried You" poem about footprints in the sand.

@dodekabill 5d

The verses are working, but I have a problem with the substantial instrumentals between each verse, which cause me to feel like the song is losing momentum.

It would be nice to have a chorus of sorts that goes where the instrumentals are; then double up the verses, so you'd start with one verse + chorus, and then two verses and a chorus the rest of the way through so that you come out even.

But, yes. Happy and cheery death! :)