Life Without Chickens is one of my Favorite compositions. From the album of the same name, it is the longest of anything I've written, and is an instrumental. Consequently, it is the proverbial kiss of death in the sense that anyone will listen to it.
But I'm going to talk about it anyway.
Like everything else I did in those days-this was the mid-80s-it was the music equivalent of stream of consciousness. No working it out, no charts, no planning; just do it. Start with a drum track which had just been created on the Drumulator. Grab a guitar and play along with it. Or the bass guitar, which as I worked through the first part, there are 3 to the composition, I decided would be the connector between the 3. It was all very free form jazz, even though there are no horns on the recording. Mostly, it's the bass, 2 guitars, and a synth.
Perhaps the interesting thing is that it works. It probably shouldn't. I simply played along with what was there, or in the beginning, whatever I thought might be fun to play. Mostly, the framework was a series of open chords played over and over. Doesn't sound terribly promising.
Yet it works.
As I said in my last post, I don't get it. It just happens and weirdly it works.
The first part, cleverly titled: A Ticket in Bill's Shirt, which means nothing, came about as I was screwing around with the flute sound on the synth, A Korg Poly-800 for those so interested, and thought I should use it.
Part 2: Martians with Guns, features a distorted guitar lead, therefore the title. Makes sense, right? For whoever listens, note it follows no particular pattern like 12-bar blues. It takes its time, then fades out to...
Part 3: A Hymm to Life Without Chickens, is a wink and nod to Miles Davis. I was listening a lot to his albums from the 50s and early 60s and the lyricism of his playing made its way into the lead guitar that sings over the somnambulistic music rhythm playing beneath. I thought it was the perfect finish.
And because it is the absolutely most fatal way to start an album, Life Without Chickens, is the first thing you hear on the album, rather than the any of the other much shorter song that follow. I'm stubborn that way. It's also possible I'm the only person to listen to it from beginning to end.
Probably.
Which is too bad, because from a jazz standpoint, I suppose given its structure, it's quite good. Really. Honest. You'll see.
©2020 David William Pearce
