5090 by FAWM: "It's A Nice Day To Be The Moon"

It's A Nice Day To Be The Moon

1 day ago by @carleybaer

It's A Nice Day To Be The Moon

carleybaer

00:00

Liner Notes

#girlwithpiano #melancholy #lullaby

Hanging in the slack chat, @charliecheney remarked on tonight's lunar eclipse and then followed up with, "It's a nice day to be the moon," and it immediately shook something loose in me that's been bound up in logistics and obligations and honor-bound duty since summer began.

I just recently finished moving, and my studio is still mostly in storage, but our previous tenants left us a wonky barely-tuned piano so I did my best.

Lyrics

Yesterday’s daylight
Skitters like paper in a pirouette
Down an alleyway
Summer’s a convertible
Driving off to Malibu
And the night sneaks in earlier
Every day

The world just gets louder
Can’t turn it down
They grind you down to a powder
Til you finally skip town
And in the rearview mirror
You realize not a moment too soon
It’s a nice day to be the moon

Everyone’s antsy
Legs are all shaking like they fell asleep
On a cross-country flight
Play like they’re angry
And tough but like everyone
They just want to know
It’ll all be all right

Through the cacophony
Somehow we strive
To turn our eyes to the sky
Remember why we’re alive
She passed through the shadow
While me and the rain played a tune
It’s a nice day to be the moon

Comments

@metalfoot 1d

Wistful. That's the word. I mean I could go on and on about the voice, the melody, the lyric-- but everyone else has. I'll just say that I am blessed to be in a world where Carley is writing music.

@peterxml 1d

Damn! I cannot even say how much I love the sound of that piano and your voice. Wonderful song, brilliant recording!

@jeff9 1d

Absolutely marvelous song! The lyrics are so touching and well crafted, the sparse piano tone creates a perfect emotional setting and then that vocal--wow! So tender and so completely invested in the words, plus with a top line melody composition that is to die for. Applause from me.

@sbs 1d

Beautiful scene onstage as our heroine sings this song to the moon. Gorgeous!

@headfirstonlyMod 1d

A free wonky piano? How cool is that? It sounds lovely, too. Charlie's comment was a gift, and this is an inspired response to it. So much to empathise with in those lyrics; we *do* all want to know it'll be all right, I'm sure.

@berni1954 1d

I'm with David T on that piano. It fits these lyrics and that vocal perfectly.
"They grind you down to a powder
Til you finally skip town" ain't that the truth, sister!

@davidtaro 1d

Wonky piano for the win! You really make it work for you, I feel like you'd put A LOT of vintage tape plugins onto a studio piano to try and get a similar effect, and you still wouldn't quite capture the magic. Anyway, piano chat aside, I'm really glad I came to this one as it's hands down my favourite track this 50/90. I'm a sucker for a song about the moon, and also those happy accident Hard Days Night style titles. I think pretty much every line is a winner. On a first listen 'grind you down to powder' stood out - I suspect because it's such a good description of modern life - but 'Skitters like paper in a pirouette down an alleyway'... that's just insanely good writing. From your liner, it feels like you've put a lot of your recent frustrations into these lyrics. And then the music is so so good. Love the little melodic step on 'paper' and 'Malibu', and the neat way the refrain closes each chorus. Could be an old Tom Waits tune, or maybe someone like Aimee Mann. I sort of wanted to hear a string quartet (or just a cello) coming in on the second half - maybe one for when you get the studio back online - but it's also wonderful as is. Only issue is it's made me a bit sleepy, and it's 9am UK time...

@coolparadisoMod 1d

That’s a pretty and descriptive lyric and your vocals match up to it perfectly! The sparse instrumentation just further focuses you! Like the piano effect as well. A really good song! Nowhere to hide in this!