I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

Sigh. Another night up til 1:30 or 2:00. I'm so screwed. This song, however, keeps evolving. Over the past week, as I prepared to play live, it became an obsession. I love the slide up to hit the harmonics on the way down and that little slide back up. It seems like there's around 300 ways that can happen, and each one surprises me just a little. I added some American Clean effect to the guitar and suddenly I sound like Billy Bragg meets Gang of Four. Put the live simulation reverb on the vocals and — bang — I'm kind of an emo punk act. I can't think really of who the vocals remind me of. Me, I guess.

Tear Down Their Cottages. Burn Their Corn.

Why does this song resonate so much with me right now? Hmmm ...

I figured today out how to put my own spin on the Billy Bragg classic. I tried to get it perfect for far too long today before settling for this. You can see where I'm reading the lyrics I haven't learned yet, and my voice is hoarse in a less than pleasing sort of way, but I'm getting somewhere with it. Give me another week and I'll have it nailed.

Meanwhile, an update on the last post. I couldn't stop thinking about how absurd it was for my dentist to advise Advil for a cracked and infected molar. I googled around and discovered that the war on drugs has become a war on doctors. This from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Part of the problem is that doctors don't want to deal with the paperwork involved.

They must file records to state and federal regulators every time they prescribe a Schedule II or III drug. The state forms, submitted monthly, include the patient's name, address and birth date, the physician's medical license number and controlled substance registration number, and the amount of drugs the doctor dispenses every day.

Doctors who prescribe restricted drugs talk about frightening encounters with law enforcement agents, Hertzka said.

"Investigators ask for records (while) in some cases, these doctors have waiting rooms filled with patients," he said. "The whole thing is worrisome, whether it's the Medical Board or the DEA or federal law enforcement." ...

"There is physicians' fear (of the DEA) similar to the public's fear of the IRS," Patchin said. "They say it is just an investigation, but it is frightening just to receive a letter from any regulatory body.

The World Turned Upside Down

Lots of people have recorded The World Turned Upside Down, written by Leon Rosselson in 1975, but Billy Bragg is still the King. I'm still capable of getting a bit teary over this. Power proves its ruthlessness time and again, but in better times we tend to forget. It's an old story.

The original lyrics from which the modern version was derived appear below. These are by Gerard Winstanley and first appeared in print in 1719.

You noble Diggers all, stand up now, stand up now,
You noble Diggers all, stand up now,
The wast land to maintain, seeing Cavaliers by name
Your digging does maintain, and persons all defame
Stand up now, stand up now.

Your houses they pull down, stand up now, stand up now,
Your houses they pull down, stand up now.
Your houses they pull down to fright your men in town,
But the gentry must come down, and the poor shall wear the crown.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

With spades and hoes and plowes, stand up now, stand up now,
With spades and hoes and plowes stand up now,
Your freedom to uphold, seeing Cavaliers are bold
To kill you if they could, and rights from you to hold.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

Theire self-will is theire law, stand up now, stand up now
Theire self-will is theire law, stand up now.
Since tyranny came in they count it now no sin
To make a gaole a gin, to serve poor men therein.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

The gentrye are all round, stand up now, stand up now,
The gentrye are all round, stand up now.
The gentrye are all round, on each side they are found,
Theire wisdom's so profound, to cheat us of our ground.
Stand up now, stand up now.

The lawyers they conjoyne, stand up now, stand up now,
The lawyers they conjoyne, stand up now,
To arrest you they advise, such fury they devise,
The devill in them lies, and hath blinded both their eyes.
Stand up now, stand up now.

The clergy they come in, stand up now, stand up now,
The clergy they come in, stand up now.
The clergy they come in, and say it is a sin
That we should now begin, our freedom for to win.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

The tithe they yet will have, stand up now,stand up now,
The tithes they yet will have, stand up now.
The tithes they yet will have, and lawyers their fees crave,
And this they say is brave, to make the poor their slave.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

'Gainst lawyers and gainst Priests, stand up now,stand up now,
'Gainst lawyers and gainst Priests stand up now.
For tyrants they are both even flatt against their oath,
To grant us they are loath free meat and drink and cloth.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

The club is all their law, stand up now, stand up now,
The club is all their law, stand up now.
The club is all their law to keep men in awe,
Buth they no vision saw to maintain such a law.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

The Cavaleers are foes, stand up now, stand up now,
The Cavaleers are foes, stand up now;
The Cavaleers are foes, themselves they do disclose
By verses not in prose to please the singing boyes.
Stand up now, Diggers all.

To conquer them by love, come in now, come in now,
To conquer them by love, come in now;
To conquer them by love, as it does you behove,
For he is King above, noe power is like to love,
Glory heere, Diggers all.

I realized yesterday that this song, having three chords, is within my limited guitar playing abilities. I worked it out and later found this lovely cover by some anonymous guy who whose playing can be followed quite clearly. I was excited to see that we'd heard it the same way, bouncing the E and throwing in the grace B at the end. Rock on!