This Is My Building (Now Posted Below)

I was there and got one of the drives. I hadn't heard Becker's solo stuff and now I can't get it out of my head. Thank you for this. Turns out I had one more bang to give.

Greetings and soulful appreciation (deeper than heartfelt) for these efforts. I grew up a few stops down Union Turnpike on the Q44A from WB Way and it was a great pleasure to attend the naming ceremony (I was the one who correctly responded "cup of spleen"). Howard Rodman's lovely comments alone were worth the drive from Ann Arbor in torrential rain. Perhaps his words could be posted on this site.

I finally had the chance to plug in my flash drive and scroll through the titles. I started with "This Is My Building" since I had just been standing in front of Walter's. I believe I understand reservations you might have had putting this one out considering the paucity of production. However, I hear so much more than a drum machine, dissonant note clusters on time-worn synth patches and a relatively dry mic. The under-production works more effectively without orchestration- it's a Rorschach blot: listen and extrapolate as semi-tones clash (and harmonics blossom like tubes in a boutique amp) the greater musical context with a third ear.

Considering the protagonist (the subject of the abject subject matter) it doesn't need further embellishment. The voice. In this simple demo, Walter's voice is fully exposed- drenched with raw nuance and expression. We can hear the rasp, the breaths and breaks- perish the thought of that good stuff getting buried in a bigger mix. Like Bob Dylan with just a guitar and a harmonica, no one but Walter could properly sing this song. The voice is alone as this guy is alone: a naked singularity of a soul at liberty- and he's okay for having gone low. He's playing falsetto tuba, scat singing! This is yet another "darkling" down. He's accepted it, then embraced it and, finally, celebrating it! Why not float the little flag on the buoy at the surface so everyone knows there's a diver down there. Bulls and Bears make money; Pigs like this get slaughtered (or kill themselves with three-martini lunches) Fo weal!

If there are more like this- please be encouraged by these reviews and kindly set them free.

cheers

David

ps: that would be Big Daddy from Cat on a hot tin roof. However, Big Daddy learns that contrary to what he thought, he will not live to celebrate his next birthday. Perhaps this is another haunting specimen of Walter's "late show" metaphor. We've heard it in "Door Number Two" and "Circus Monkey" - oops, I meant Money. Perhaps if our short-seller's wise-cracking heart was leaking like a sieve with one more bang to give, then maybe he's not destined to make it to the opening bell after all...

pps: hello Martha, it would have been nice to shake your hand.

Great to hear that people are enjoying This Is My Building. It really hit me hard, and I really love that it became part of the Walter Becker Way festivities. I'll be forever convinced that Walter toyed with the idea of saying "Turns out I had one more fuck to give."

And I love the bass on the track. Thanks for the feedback, Lizking and jake, it really does make all of the effort that went into putting the event and the usb drive for the event together worthwhile.

This Is My Building

Becker/Klein

First, a very rare exception for this otherwise vociferously hi-fi site:

this demo is going to be the worst sounding thing you’ll ever hear at this location!

But…but….it's a special one we think;

This Is My Building is a very rough demo of a song

written for “Circus Money” (2008) by Becker

and Larry Klein. This recording is unique (on this site) for its extremely

rudimentary form and rough audio quality, which includes some media

damage we’ve been unable to correct. It’s the only copy on either

Larry’s or Walter’s hard drives or collections of CDs.

 It was first released exclusively on a

USB Drive given away on the occasion of the dedication of 

“Walter Becker Way” on Oct 28; its appropriateness to the 

occasion was obvious and undeniable. Moreover, 

its rough quality aside — vocals were recorded in 

 Becker’s living room! — both Walter and Larry were 

greatly amused by (and proud of) this song and worked to

 complete the lyrics — and put down this rough demo— even 

though it was almost certainly too late to include on 

 the recording. 

We —or maybe a guest — will have more to say about the etiology of this

great tune later on.

We hope you agree that shortcomings

aside, it was well worth presenting to mark the

dedication of Walter Becker Way — and is worth sharing with you all now.

This is My Building

Walter Becker and Larry Klein

© 2005, 2018 Zeon Music LLC/Strange Cargo/Downtown Music

On a so-so day with the best among us selling short and cracking wise

And the also ran's are going belly up bust with the dollar signs in their eyes

Look at God's good fella in a push position drawing dead on an inside straight

Trading three martini lunches at L`upo for a South Beach diet plate

I love my job here

Hope I don't blow it

This is the good life

You'd never know it

So I hit the the street on the blazing backend of a drop dead margin call

Where I take my chances with a black car bandit with the deep Punjabi drawl

Now we zoom uptown hurry up slow down til brakes begin to smoke

Til my body's broken like the tired punchline of a bad cabdriver joke

God bless you Chandalur Singh

Thanks for next to nothing

Smooth ride notwithstanding

All the way all the way all the way all the way home

This is my building

I stake my claim here

Look on the mailbox you can read my middle name here

This is my building

This is no trash talk

This is me standing on my chunk of god's own sidewalk

So I settle on down with my brandy snifter and my beak packed full of cake

With the Knicks game over and I guess it's time for my poontang popcorn break

So I swallow my pride and I dial the number which has never failed up ’til now

And the girl on duty says I'm pleased to please you if you'll only tell me how

My soul's been broken

My skills all rusty

Who's young and curious

Sleek blonde and busty

So a half hour later when the door swings open and she's framed in golden light

With a smile on her lips and a song in her heart and a cash-driven appetite

As I whisk her bedward in my classic seven and my prospects start to float

And I tell myself ain't it lucky buddy that your old man caught the boat

Good evening star eyes

Your dream has come true

Please let me rock you

All the way all the way all the way all the way home

This is my building

You're very new here

There's only one thing for a monkey girl to do here

This is my building

This is no freak thing

This is no jokey play on words or tongue in cheek thing

My heart was leaking like a sieve

Turns out I had one more bang to give

Hallelujah honeychile big daddy's gonna live!

Ever and ever and ever and ever and more

This is my building

Can't be improved on

So hows about you make like a tree and get a move on

This is the real deal

This is no fakeout

This is the eight PM at God's own bloody steakhouse

This is my building, baby

(Fo Weal…)