365 DAYS PROJECT

2003   AUGUST 30   #242

P L E Z - I Get Scared/Jack And Jill/Money Honey/Thank You/I Get Scared (Alt)

Henry: These are mixes, from August 28, 1984, based on my niece Pleasance Lowengard's singing, at age 5 or 6, . My brother Ben turned on a drum machine and a tape recorder at the same time and let her improvise. He later sent the tape to me, and I added DX7, Echoverb II and Prophet 600. I still have a copy of the original tape. I've been trying for years to figure out a way to drop the drum track out, clean up the vocal a bit, and drop in a new track and music. As well as putting in a few bars before she starts singing. I kind of know how to do it. I need to experiment some more.

Ben: At the time, I was obsessed with spontaneous recordings, setting up a mike with a blank mind and a drum beat and trying to derive something out of nothing (much like The Fugs). I remember talking Pleasance into doing this stuff. I did coach a little, but only to the effect of "do something like I'm looking for my money, looking for my honey to the beat". The rest all came from her wonderful 6 year imagination. Those "heartbeat drums" are a Yamaha MR-10 (I still have it!-it still works!) and I think, besides a microphone, she was echo'd through a Korg DD-3 (I still have it!-it still works!) and a gated reverb (I know where it is!).

Lyrics and more information can be found here, http://www.echonyc.com/~jhhl/Mp3/Plez/

- Henry Lowengard

TT-10:18 / 9.4MB / 128kbps 44.1khz


(Image courtesy of Henry Lowengard)