"Cans of Tears"- The April Track

...and it's wedged between other songs- in an EP!

The New Phone Book’s Here! There New Phone Phone Book’s Here! Yes, I’m really excited. I was told it would be a good idea to release this new noombah, plus the previous ones that have come out already, in a nice little basket. The goal is to increase Riffindots release surface area because as it stands, YOU can BARELY stand on it if you’re on your tiptoes. The title of the new EP is “She Ate My Red Glasses. ” And it is true, she did!! I’m not lying. My dog ate my SECOND pair of Tom Ford Red glasses and I’m mad! My kids broke my first pair. I guess I just wasn’t meant to have them. God I miss them. They were comfy and lightweight, and I never had to worry about them sliding down my face.

So the newest member of the Riffin World is wedged betwixt the January/February/March releases and it is a song called “Cans of Tears”. It is track #2 in the order of things. It is about this: if you’ve ever traveled though Europe, you are reminded when you are leaving town. You’ll see a sign with the town’s name and a diagonal red bar through it. BUT it seems that there are fewer signs that indicate “you are now entering HöFßtrattleBourgenvillaConchà” I lived in a town that sometimes I couldn’t even tell that I was in it!

I loved living abroad, don’t get me wrong. But as I’ve probably blathered on about in earlier posts, I found it hard to be a loud mouth, spirited, silly American twit in a distant land. I thought i could change everyone and everything around me. Nope. And it was very lonely. That said, this sentiment and frustration of not fitting in was spun into song, and uh…I belive I am the first to do this!! I cried a lot while living there. So I canned the tears and theyr’e now stored in the basement on shelves next to cans of pickles and olives.

Those close to me that I could probably act out the entirety of Ken Russell’s “Tommy” right in front of them! My children hate this about me. To wit:

Look, if I see a remotely fitting Tommy location, costume, prop or curly hair scenio, I jump! How many times did I fall into a pool backwards and emerge singing “I’m Free” when I was a kid!?!? Many! In my hospital bed just hours after the birth of my second, I pretended I was Mrs. Walker after she found out it was a boy! My. Poor. Children! Actually, I had been wanting to renact this Acid Queen Scene on this playground in Saint Jean De Luz, France, forever! It’s just that the place had always been inhabited by screaming children and drunken Petanque players. So when I made the above video, it was a quiet morning. Sure, I probably disrupted some old people’s daily complaining far off in the distance somewhere. But their senses will never be the same! I gave them something else to complain about!

Ok, so coming back to “Cans of Tears”, I do conjure a little Tommy-era Ann-Margaret vocal style. A breathy, throaty brassy over the top vibrato. That WAS on purpose. It kind of wasn’t at first, but then it was! She really really lay it on thick in her drunken rendering of “Champagne”-you know the scene where she throws a champagne bottle into the television set before it vomits out a sea of Rex Beans into her white satin boudoir! THE scene! With this vocal style, I am addressing YOU who tried to show people a good time in a sleepy town. To show that so much was possible, that dreams do come true! You thought you could change people and be the feel-good movie but in reality you got dirty looks! You smiled. They glowered! Well maybe I was an absolute twit!

The narrative of the song is interspersed with a guitar doubled with synth new wave hook. It’s as if it’s nodding in agreement with the vocals that “well you did this, and you did this, but it didn’t work out so well for you, did it?” The song is melancholy, but it’s energetic-it’s definitely MELAN-getic, or melangetique, si vous voulez! The chorus is escorted in each time by shimmering soundscapes that remind me a little of this early 70’s PBS station ID.

Or if you’re French, The Charles de Gaulle Airport announcement indicatif, which is so fucking creepy!!! Thank god they don’t use it anymore, or I would freak out even MORE during travel days (My. Poor. CHILDREN!)

The song offers a little closure at the end, only to be interrupted by chanting which cuts to whispers as the coda commences. You might feel as though you are surrounded by a coven of witches. Ok, so a little nod to “Rosemary’s Baby” in there too, You know, THE scene!

The new song is here! I worked real hard on it. I hope you like it and I hope you tell EVERYONE about it! It is catchy. It is contagious and above all, it is MELAN-getic. And YOU can use that word from now on!!

“Cans of Tears”