Like many sculptors, I have a tradition of adding one last WHACK at the end of my album-making process: in this case, it was this thing.
PAUL COUNT: 5 (three lead vocals, one bassman, one falsetto)
I improvised this song in its entirety and tacked it on to the end, unlisted. It’s just a stupid thing, in this case excusable by my reckoning because I didn’t screw it up with lyrics. It consists of the following words:
Inoshimaso
Benedino
Binwah
None of them had any significance to me. The first is kind of Japanese-sounding? The second I am clearly inflecting in my best Julio Iglesias impression, and the third is probably just funny to 1996 Paul because, well, “Balls.”
(I promise you.)
Heh.
“Balls.”
OK. So, the arrangement is stupid but fun. The panning is so stupid but I kind of love it, and I was clearly trying to make it as much of a song as it could be, and probably I also just wanted to show off my ability to be an entire a capella group via STUDIO MAGIC.
Maybe I felt badly enough about Castle of Cards being so stupid that I needed to add a bonus track. I’m glad I did. I remember Marbles, the online zine dedicated to Pittsburgh music, making the case that this was “arguably the best track.” I can’t say as I disagree (although I also can’t say that was any real distinction). It was definitely a portent of how I’d want to work going forward, vocal-wise.
Next up, I’ll be hanging it all on my parents.