An experiment in sound design, with Olivia Brownlee
art by Olivia Brownlee
“Do you have any original swing tunes that would work for this show?” Olivia asked me, in the summer of 2020, when I joined on fiddle for a private concert she was playing for an elderly couple’s wedding anniversary.
“Sure!” I said. “As long as we do the version without the f-bomb!”
I sent her the chart for my tune “Dancing,” which I wrote back in 2010 and released on my 2014 album Conversations Over Breakfast. As is often my way, it's a tune that juxtaposes a "trad" genre with lyrics and musical elements that aren’t typical for the genre.
In this case: a swing tune about awkwardness, body odor, and yes, an f-bomb. The melody is similarly irreverent, shoving in extra syllables and flourishes where no classic composer of American Songbook standards would agree they belong. Well, they make me laugh.
After the show was over, Olivia and I sat on the hoods of our cars in a strip mall parking lot, drinking takeout coffees. (Remember, this was the summer of 2020; this was “going out after the show.”)
Reflecting on “Dancing,” Olivia said to me, “it’s like you took an existing jazz standard and wrote an improvised vocalise, version with new lyrics… except the standard it’s based on doesn’t exist!”
(I was highly complimented.)
“I wonder,” she went on, “what that standard would sound like? It would be a fun exercise to write it.”
By the time she had driven back to Spokane, she’d finished it.
I had to tell this whole story because we still don’t really know what to call this kind of collaboration.
Is hers a cover? No; she wrote new lyrics and a new melody.
Is it an entirely new song? No; she followed my chordal and narrative progression, and her melody is a distilled version of mine.
Is it a parody? Maybe, but she’s the “straight man” to my “funny man,” which is not usually how we think of parody.
Whatever it’s called, her reverse engineering here is brilliant, and a huge honor to me as a songwriter.
We’ve experimented with a few different formats for a duet/mashup of the two songs (that are one song… argh, terminology!) The recording that follows is definitely not how we perform it live, but it was a fun experiment in sound design.
NOTE TO THE LISTENER
If possible, listen in headphones or on stereo speakers with enough space between them to be able to take turns with each side. If not possible, enjoy the sound of two people having completely different experiences on a dance floor.
KAT'S DANCE (left side, ©2010 Kat Bula):
It doesn't bother me if you step on my feet while we’re dancing.
I'm doing all the steps wrong and your feet belong where mine are dancing.
But this makes me feel weird, my forehead's scratched by your beard while we're dancing.
Oh, I hope I don't have BO! I'll try not to look up your nose while we are dancing.
I can't tell if you're hitting on me - I don't think that I want you to be -
but if you are, I can't blame you; we're the only ones here under 40.
And I'm grateful sir you're teaching me these steps, but don't you think it's weird that my hand's on your bicep?
I wish I could remember your name!
It's not my usual tack to let a strange man put his hand on my back, but... we're dancing?
I don't usually move the way a man tells me to, but... we're dancing?
This rhythm section's got mojo... I wish I could take a violin solo instead of dancing...
Let's face it: you are better at music too than you are at dancing.
I don't think you're any more attracted to me than I am to you, so why the hell are we
swaying and holding each other where everyone can see?
Maybe it's FATE'S way of making us friends, and the way this awkward story ends
is that we go outside and talk about books till it's morning.
Let's go outside and talk about books till it's morning!
Let's go outside and not fuck each other.
OLIVIA'S DANCE (right side, ©2020 Olivia Brownlee):
Whatever way that you sway, I'll be swaying that way while we're dancing.
Move your feet side to side, let the beat coincide with our dancing.
And isn't that odd? It seems angels have trod where we're dancing...
In an act no on buys, I'm avoiding your eyes while we're dancing.
It's not hard to gradually lower my guard,
'cause I've got your name on my card already circled and starred.
Let's allow a moment to make a vow
that we'll never ask ourselves how we came to be dancing now.
Put your hand on my back, take a step - look at that! and we're dancing.
For the length of the song I'll be tagging along 'cause we're dancing.
This band really swings, makes us feel like kings while we're dancing.
And don't make a fuss, but they're playing for us while we're dancing.
It's okay, not matter what people may say,
to rip up the rules and just sway like the love-stricken fools from the play.
It's alright, and I'm feeling high as a kite.
The future's unbearably bright 'cause we're dancing tonight.
It's unbearably bright because we're dancing tonight.
I'm feeling high as a kite 'cause we're dancing.
Recording paid for by Olivia’s supporters on Patreon - join for as little as $1/month here to support her incredible output
Recorded & Mixed by Alicia Healey at the Winterblue Room in Seattle, WA
Guitar, Vocals: Olivia Brownlee
Fiddle, Vocals: Kat Bula
Bass: Aaron Harmonson
