An unreleased song from the 11 Tracks Of Whack era (c.1992-3)
BONUS alt take: No "talking intro", w/ extended outro. By Download only
movie: matt kerns
Our Lawn
Words and Music: Walter Becker
© Zeon Music, 1992
They very best days of the summer
Now will they jazz us no more
Spare parts and leftover pieces
Lay out across the garage floor
Babe it's a sad situation
Tell me, what can it be?
What's happening all over Elm Street
Is happening all over me
We frolicked here once in reckless green abandon
Stretching out to the horizon line
Even as the season ended
We were running low on sweet borrowed time
Those dead leaves piled up out by the mailbox
Stacked up against the first decent blow
You wonder what would it feel like
To just dive in and let go
All of sudden there's that tear in your eye
It’s the end of an era so kiss kiss goodbye
Our lawn is dying, we're watching it die
Well when the sun starts looking lazy
On ‘bout a quarter to five
The girls are talking and laughing
Up at the top of the drive
Me stuck here in my wood-paneled dungeon
Wondered what we're gonna do
Who's gonna save the Bermudas
Now that we've forgotten to
A little taste, a little light conversation
Isn't that the way it always was
No lousy zero-sum equation
Nor a lesson in some long-lost losing cause
Green Peace Whole Earth Utne Reader
Tell ‘em that I already gave
Tell ‘em it's the midnight hour
Dancing by the side of the grave
The margins are crumbling now and its starting to show
You might not even notice cause it’s going down slow
Our lawn is dying, in case you don't know
Let's throw a party on this doleful occasion
Show the bastards who you really are
No aging overnight sensation
Hitched his hammock to the wrong shooting star
All the way from DC to daylight
Illumination in the cold, gray dawn
Jacked up on the cellular level
In case you got to call someone
There's no one to blame now
And there's nothing to do
Let's just make the best of
What's real and what’s true
Our lawn is dying, so what else is new
Walter Becker, Vocals
Adam Rogers, Guitar
Dean Parks, Guitar
Fima Ephron, Bass
Ben Perowsky, Drums
John Beasley, Keyboards
Engineer: Roger Nichols
2nd Engineer: Dave Russell
Thank you for the download, as a drummer, I am learning more about Ben Perowsky.
Don
The jazzy chord progressions on here are to die for. Fagan and Becker have such an original sound in "rock" because no one in rock writes stuff like this. They really carved their own niche, which explains why their work remained quality, even as they got older, at least imo
As for the track itself, I love it. A great bitter fall tune for a very bitter fall season
Apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. But I've been thinking of a WB song that had these lyrics:
Still too green behind the ears to know his right from his wrong
And:
Never known for passing on a chance to just say hey.
Can anyone tell me the name of this song and/or where I might find it?
Patrick
Would it be possible to publish the chord charts for Walters compositions to edify us afficiondos And assorted wanna-bes out here?
Heard this song on the usb drive I got at the street name event. I remember this one was played live on a tour or two in the 90s and I thought it was a Steely Dan song. Now I think listening to some of this stuff that there isn't much difference between Steely Dan music, Fagen music, and Walter music. It all sounds different but you can really see both guys in there. I didn't know how much I would like Walter Becker's voice until I really got to listen. Cheers.
Did anyone ever actually call him Walty? Or, for that matter, Walt? Normally when I see someone refer to him as Walt it’s a dead giveaway for me that the person is pretending to be familiar with him when they actually have no clue. 😂 But I’m sure you would know if those nicknames were ever used
well I'm a little slow...it's just now I realize that the alt take [by Download only] has an echo on the vox, and it sounds like it may have been mixed a bit, compared to the 1st posted take (the master volume also sounds boosted). When I'm next reunited with the DAT log I'll see if there's a relevant notation
EDIT: PS the vocals on this take are, imho, mondo jombo. He's quoted more than once saying that "believe it or not", he really likes to sing. And I think the Walty Scatting (tm.; pat pend.) in particuar here fairly radiates that enjoyment.
This is a amazing song. Love
LOL yes kids Daddy is a bit unusual. Was that in the Words and Music interview?
speaking of bass parts and the precision of same so often important to him -- : was listening to an old promotional interview W did after release of 11TOW - and was interested (it was news to me) in his answer to the interviewer asking something like How did Book of Liars” come about?
and Walter said (paraphrasing) well that’s interesting — I was taking the kids to school, still half-asleep — and the moment I pulled out of the driveway this great bass part came to me. This was in the days before portable recording pocket devices etc, and it was such a cool and *precise* part that I had to keep singing the part to myself overand over, all the way to school and back, a good 40 minutes. I knew I couldn’t loose the precise rhythmic aspects of that part. Another way my children came to feel their father was very strange. In any case, that bass part…things just sort of dropped in from there.
Great stuff D-Mod but I have a question: in the credits you posted with the original version, Fima Ephron was on bass. In this version, is it Walter all the way through on bass? Or just on the outro?
BONUS alt take: No "talking intro", w/ extended outro. By Download only
Sublime acoustic interlude by Parks; more Walty Scatting (tm.; pat pend.); Special Becker (sung) bass part at the end of a lovely extended outro
The more I hear from them via this site, the more I'm somewhat disappointed that 11TOW, as great as it is, didn't feature more of The Lost Tribe. Live musicians playing the chords WB originally stacked in a sequencer produced a very distinct sound that is unlike anything else.
An embarrassment of riches already on this site, but this is my favorite. The little wonky keyboard flourishes; the Walty Scatting (tm.; pat pend.); the already-mentioned drums. & those lyrics! Thx so much DB. Xmas in Sept.
Hey All -- looks like a tagger over at walterbecker.com could be a member of this group :-)
Great to hear this. I saw SD last year in London. It was disappointing, as there wasn't another guitarist apart from Herrington.
WB was so much of SD, let us not forget.
Great song! Thanks for getting it out to the masses!
I'm flummoxed as to just how in the hell this song didn't find a home on 11TOW. This is so, so good. (Also, I am in awe of how punchy and crisp Ben Perowsky's drums sound in this recording, and jealous of how whenever I dabble in recording/mixing music, I can't even dream of getting drums to sound that good.)
A large part of our lives. One of us.
D-Mod it sounds great just the way it is. I'm very glad, I have this chance to hear it. I enjoy everything produced by Walter Becker. There is and will be no other Walter Becker.......................RIP Walter, many people miss you and your special talents.