Demonstration Tapes: The Mariner's Revenge Song

A whale is calved

The author, in dubious focus, at the Prescott Church during the recording of Picaresque, 2004

This behemoth was written in 2003, in an upstairs apartment in NE Portland, on a twelve string guitar. It was born out of that A minor strum; a melody landed that immediately called out for something grander, something overlong and theatrical. I think I sat on it for a while before having the guts to finish the thing. I was emboldened, I think, by the fun we had making The Tain and wanted to do more music like that: long, rangy, narrative pieces. The song didn’t change much, from demo to final recording, aside from Rachel singing the part of the mother and the instrumental bit during the seafaring section. I hadn’t the foggiest notion that it would become a staple in our live set; I didn’t even know if it had a place on the album. It felt a bit too peculiar, maybe playing too hard to the galleries. Chris Walla, Picaresque’s producer, didn’t want it on the record. He thought it would make a great b-side. We prevailed, but I often wonder…