Body Talk

Lyric by Briyan Frederick
Music by Keith Hanlon, Briyan Frederick, Joe Maki
Arranged by Briyan Frederick, Engineered by Sunoai
Drums, bass, seed audio by Keith Hanlon/Zapruder Red via Tapegerm Collective
Other instruments and vocals by Sunoai
Published by Blind Mime Music, ASCAP
© 2024 Brian F Baker

Body Talk was originally a song created on 4-track cassette with Joe Maki for our Baby Fred band. I’m not sure if this was something where Joe came up with the music and gave it to me to write the lyric.

Last night I was writing with Sunoai and Tapegerm. The source is something from Zapruder Red’s February 2001 project, a selection of loops ranging from grooves to more ambient chimes. I took the one below, extending it with silence to adhere to Sunoai’s 6-second minimum requirement.

You can see that she is heavily relying Keith’s source as the basis for our new song. It’s these kinds of AI blends that are providing me the greatest thrill at the moment.

First, I started this out as an instrumental and Sunoai delivered some cool tracks. I was thinking of maybe doing an instrumental album this time around (Body Talk is the first track of album 17 now in progress). At this point, the song was being called “Fire Was Involved Apparently” which came from a text my daughter, Allye, sent me in regard to a late night text that was sent in her sleep.

Here are a couple variations:

I like these and I’m thinking of archiving some of our outtakes. It could make for an interesting companion album. Especially, I think, if I approach album 17 starting with instrumentals. Could be cool.

Anyway, I finally landed on something I wanted to take further and I had the Body Talk original lyric laying out since I was planning to do something with it. So I thought I’d try it here.

The lyric sheet I had only had the first verse and chorus on it, so the rest of the new Blind Mime Ensemble track starts with that and the rest of the lyric was written last night.

It’s about an awkward encounter…

Body Talk

[intro]
Maybe I'm a stranger
A stranger to love
Maybe love's a stranger to me
A stranger to your riddle
It whispers jabber jibber
But I am drawn to all its synergy

Ooh, your body talk
(Every time you say it)
Your body talk is foreign to me…

Maybe I'm a stranger
A stranger to love
Maybe love's a stranger to me
Maybe I'm a willow
Facing the breeze
And you're blowing me right down to my knees

[chorus]
Ooh, your body talk
(Every time you say it)
Your body talk is foreign to me
Ooh, your body talk
(Every time you say it)
Your body talk is foreign to me

[break]

[verse]

Could be worried I'm in danger
This is a dangerous love
They say that these are dangerous times
But love's been such a stranger
Elusive and cruel
Shadow boxing awkward pantomimes

[chorus]

[bridge]
Body talk in false time
Foreign words your lips convey
Mystery in me

[break]

Maybe I'm a stranger
A stranger to love
Maybe love's a stranger to me
A stranger to your riddle
It whispers jabber jibber
But I am drawn to all its synergy

[chorus]

Putting the whole song together required stringing four chosen extensions, using about forty seconds of the first, two minutes of the second and a minute or so from the last.

Sunoai tacked on another variation as an afterthought to the last extension and after I had downloaded the full song and played it back, I thought it might work to use that variation as a kind of intro to the song, so that’s what you hear in the final version embedded at the beginning of this article.

So, here’s the first track of the, as yet, unnamed next Blind Mime Ensemble album. Let me know what you think.