...But don't get your hopes up. No, just kidding, go ahead. Wait, don't. I don't know.
"One":
"One" gets it's name because it is played entirely with the right hand. This is a revolution. finally are we free from the tyranny of two-handed guitar-playing! Just think of all the things you can do with your left hand now! Now stop thinking such things, pervert. There's still a whole post to read.
Actually, I wrote a whole song this way. Ironically, it was my singing that was was the problem, and the whole thing was scrapped. Probably. Maybe. If that song ever happens, I never said any of this. Also if you want to hear part of it, it's buried far back in the mix here (named as track 6, 7, 8).
Also, the other thing here is, of course, the fuzz. There is no way to avoid the fuzz. I tried recording in a different place, I tried mixing it out, but the problem remains: my guitar isn't loud enough on its own and to record it at all I have to overcrank the mikes. Microphones and I have a long history of animosity.
"Testify (Acoustic)":
As promised. I actually had something much more ambitious planned, but if I had started it this morning, I'd probably still be working on it. Which wouldn't work, since I was asleep this morning. Plus I heard the original on the radio yesterday and it sort of reëntered* my brainstream.
This song is worth hearing for the first thirty seconds alone, but I'm worried maybe it goes on too long. There's a lot of noodling, which I would have cut, but on the other hand, I like to have things kind of loose and extemporized. I'm a big fan & supporter of improvisation, but I don't know, maybe I went too far here.
On to lighter things. I've been thinking about the subtext of this cover and it's twin (linked to above). When I first did "Sleep Now In the Fire", I wrote it off as a joke, a parody of the slow, "serious" acoustic covers we've all heard before. But while I was doing it, and after I finished, I got sort of soured on Rage Against the Machine for a while. It was almost like, without really meaning to**, I had sent out my attacked in both directions. For a while, I couldn't help but think of the whole thing as a bunch of posturing-- a lot of words but no meaning.
Eventually I stopped caring. Bad lyrics never killed any bands before, and "Testify" is a great song even if its actual politics are murky at best. Tom Morello*** is still pretty good at that whole guitar thing, and those guys no one can name in the rhythm section do what they do pretty good. And even if he can't write lyrics (and his side project sucked, you know it and I know it), Zach Hardtospelllastname can shout (it's not really rapping-- you know it and I know it) with the best of them. So no hard feelings.
So with all that on my mind****, I can't decide if this cover is more serious or less serious than that one. I wasn't thinking as hard about that one as this one, but I was trying not to overthink it as I did it, and just concentrate on the music and the emotion and all that other gay shit.
*Alt+137
**Maybe a little, but not all the way.
***And on a completely unrelated note, did anyone else know that Tom Morello is black? I just found that out a couple weeks ago.
****Kids, feel free to use that transition in your little homework papers about George Washington and mathematics and To Kill A Mockingbird.
[Man is this post long.]
DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: "One" is remixed for hopefully better quality. "Testify" is unchanged.
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