Demonstration Tapes: Acts of Men (aka A Beginning Song)

An early early draft

The artist and his analog mixing board (RIP)

I am waiting
Should I be waiting?

This song lived for a time being called “Acts of Men,” taken from its earliest first line. I wasn’t sure what that meant at the time. I still don’t. The *truth* of the song didn’t reveal itself till quite a bit later, when I was determined to find a way to make it work. It became “A Beginning Song,” which would be the last song on our record What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World.

Here is the very first demo of the song. I recorded it in my studio up on Springville Hill. I played live drums on it, which is a thing I was attempting to do back then. I remember living with it for a while, never quite satisfied with how it turned out. I ended up rewriting the top of the song and adding a discursive bridge at the end. I think it became a better song, but that song owes everything to this, its embryo-form. Please forgive my time-keeping; I am not a drummer nor, I expect, will I ever be one.

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