Sci-Fi Song #11: Lonesome October Night

Lonesome October Night.mp3

Sci-Fi Song #11 is based on Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October . This was one of the books of the month over at the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Club at GoodReads. Thanks to all of the members and moderators for picking excellent books each month and facilitating such intelligent conversation. If you aren't already a member, check it out and join.

Normally, I spend a long time editing and arranging my songs. I record each instrument and vocal part separately to a click track and spend about two weeks editing and tweaking sounds. This is a short, folky type of song, so I decided to take a different, more performance based approach.

I set up two condenser microphones; one for my voice and one for my guitar. I stood up in my living room and performed the song straight through without a click track. This is one performance with no edits. I went back later and overdubbed the harmonica and tambourine parts.

I had a great deal of fun recording the song this way. I don't foresee recording many songs in this fashion, but if a song calls for it, I would certainly do it again.

Hope you enjoy it,

John

Here are the lyrics:

Lonesome October Night

Jack the Ripper and his old dog Snuff

prepared themselves with a wand and knife

Everything will be changed by the end of The Game

on this Lonesome October Night

Crazy Jill went to the top of the hill

Gray the cat was by her side

they had to open the gate before it's too late

on this Lonesome October Night

Snuff the Dog and his Master Jack

were the only closers there that night

Larry Talbot howled at the moon

to give the openers a fright

The Great Detective had it all figured out

before the clock had struck midnight

The Elder Gods will return and the city will burn

on this Lonesome October Night

Jack and Jill faced each other on the hill

Snuff and Gray were by their sides

Now everything's changed at the end of The Game

on this Lonesome October Night

Other songs inspired by the GoodReads Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Club:

Rachel Rosen: based on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep