Pinocchiobot

Explicit content warning

05/25/09 • 3 min

Sometimes when I start a song, I have a vision. Sometimes by the end, that vision is realized, and other times it isn’t. The idea behind Pinocchiobot was that all the the vocals would be performed by a computer voice. I figured that I would write some lines, stick them in a text-to-speech program, and then do some chopping to make them fit into the song. Instead, I ended up proving that even a monotonous, emotionless human voice is difficult to replace with a machine. I gave up on the text-to-speech idea and made Pinocchiobot an instrumental track.

Though the computer voice was left out of the song, as I worked on it, I imagined words a machine might by saying. This song is about a machine that moves and acts according to the whims of it’s puppeteer, but craves the type of attention a real boy would receive.

Previous Episode

Summertime Rain

Lyrically speaking, Summertime Rain is an odd song for me. Instead of trying to tell a story, when I wrote this, I was trying to tell a particular feeling. If you mix feelings of expectation, uncertainty, mortality, and happiness, you will have the feeling I was trying to capture. Musically, I was going for something that’s kind of funk and kind of calm at the same time. This is a song that is easy for me to see imagine as a video. Maybe someday . . .

Lyrics are after the break.

Summertime Rain
lyrics and music by Ahd Child

Chorus
I’m gonna wait
For that summertime rain
I’m gonna wait
To get washed away

Verse 1
Standing by the curb looking down at the dirt
I’m waiting for the rain to kiss the earth
Up in the sky, all I see is the sun
But the weatherman promised, so I know it’s gonna come

I been waiting all year, So what’s one more day
If the cutter of threads will let me stay
It’s been a whole year since I wet my throat
So the grim reaper might make me go

Chorus

Verse 2
My life hasn’t been long, but I’ve loved what I’ve had
So if I don’t see this water, you don’t be sad
Sometimes the drops fall and sometimes they wait
I’m in the hands of the clouds and at the mercy of fate

I been waiting all year so what’s one more day
If the cutter of threads will let me stay
It’s been a whole year since I wet my throat
So the grim reaper might make me go

Chorus

Bridge
I’ve seen a lot of rivers and I’ve seen a lot of lakes
But in the end it’s for these drops that I wait
Waiting for the rain

Chorus

Verse 3
My life hasn’t been long, but I’ve loved what I’ve had
So if I don’t see this water, you don’t be sad
Sometimes the drops fall and sometimes they wait
I’m in the hands of the clouds and at the mercy of fate

I been waiting all year so what’s one more day
If the cutter of threads will let me stay
It’s been a whole year since I wet my throat
So the grim reaper might make me go

Chorus

Bridge 2
I don’t want to be saved or to go back in time
I just want the water to fall on these eyes

Next Episode

That’s Dirty

I was looking through my archives and I found this unreleased track. I made That’s Dirty several years ago as a favor for DJ Dirty of Sundae Philadelphia. This one was made with the dance floor in mind because DJ Dirty wouldn’t have it any other way. Unlike most of my music, I did use a sample in this song. It’s a well known bit from Funkadelic’s Not Just Knee Deep. I didn’t try to obscure the sample in any way, but hopefully this should be a completely new way for you to hear it.