(More) Josh Ritter

Post date: Nov 05, 2012 1:3:36 AM

One of my favourite Josh Ritter songs is "Monster Ballads".  It has such a lyrical quality to it; you can almost feel the spray from the Nile and the Egyptian dessert sands.  This ballad is from "The Animal Years" an album with strong allegory to the Iraq war.  Although most war protest music has a very deliberate and direct message, the beauty of this album is that it delivers a very subtle in message.  For instance, the word war is never specifically mentioned in the song but the tone and language used is unmistakable.  The opening verse strikes you immediately with the sense of conflict: "Radio waves are coming miles and miles/ Bringing only empty boats/ Whatever feeling they had when they sailed/ Somehow slipped out between the notes."

The song itself is rather difficult to sing despite being limited to only one octave.  It's not perfect, but probably the closest I'm going to get!  I also made on small (but significant) error in the lyrics as the book that I'm using was incorrect.  The last line of the last verse should be "smiling" instead of "sighing".  Listen carefully, it completely changes the meaning of the song!

Production notes: recorded using an AT4040 microphone.  Vocals and guitar recorded simultaneously into one mono track.  Piano was overdubbed as a VST instrument using a midi keyboard controller.

Monster Ballads (MP3)