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The Minstrel
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An inspiring tale of the great minstrel James. Like an epic tale told around a giant bonfire, only better. //Kurt:Vocals, Guitar, Programming //Laura:Vocals, Percussion //Michael Anderson:Vocals, French Horn //Kim Burkhart:Flute //Erica Werner:Vocals
electronic folk funny pi sampling ukulele garageband circuit bending melodica djembe mbira theremin technology tetris vibraphone jacques forbidden parallels kurt werner laura grace whackzaphone belka loeuf cigar box thunder tube tubular bells
Forbidden Parallels Kurt Werner Laura Grace Minstrel Whack-za-phone Belka Tetris garageband ukulele theremin L'Oeuf Folk melodica cigar box guitar funny electro
The Forbidden Parallels are a musical collaboration between Kurt Werner, Laura Grace, and a plethora of miscellaneous ladies and gents. As of late, TFP has been a more consistent group of individuals who play and rehearse together on a regular basis. Ostensibly pidgeonholed into the "indie rock" genere by Soundclick's system of categorization, they generally prefer the label "Alternative Folktronica." Kurt Werner plays the bass for the most part, but in studio he has been seen on ukulele, guitar, programs pleasant and not-so-pleasant blips and bloops, and sings (as well as a variety of other delightful noise-making activities). In addition, Kurt writes most of our music and plays with the band "World's First Flying Machine." Laura Grace plays drums for the most part, but has also branched out to ukulele, melodica, harmonica, and gizmos on occasion. Micah Sweeney is our guitar player (electric and acoustic) and also our lead male vocalist. He has also done some writing. Sam Fahlberg plays a mean trumpet, dances around, and plays the bells (when we let him). Giulia Mazza is our beautiful lead female vocalist, although sometimes we demoralize her into playing tambourine and the egg shaker. She also plays the bells sometimes. Laura Lynch plays the violin and is awesome. She might do some back-up singing in the future because we recently discovered that she is really good at it. Matt Dordal plays euphonium and helps us achieve a pseudo-ska feel on some of our songs. We all wish that he would wear tight pants. The aforementioned ladies and gents that we sometimes collaborate with include but are not limited to: Sean Hart, John Swisher, Erica Werner, Kyle Werner, Chris Howaniac, Steve Kuhn, Kim Burkhart, Michael Anderson, Daniella Farah, Danny Zeckhauser, and Joel Caracci
Song Info
Genre
Alternative Indie
Charts
Peak #206
Peak in subgenre #37
Author
Laura and Kurt/Kurt and Laura
Uploaded
May 07, 2007
Track Files
MP3
MP3 4.2 MB 128 kbps 4:32
Story behind the song
This is a song about my old roomate James, if he were a minstrel. For various reasons, it took over a year to actually record it.
Lyrics
There once was a minstrel of great renown Who travelled all the world Many have called him by many a name But the common people just know him as James His music inspired both freedom and love To all those within his good sound He shared his tales of joy and of pain The children adored him, their minstrel named James Tra-la-la, Tra-la-la, Tra-la-la, Tra-la-la Jame could hear his people crying out They were down-downtrodden A dragon had stolen the song from their soul Burning their cities had taken its tool And so he set out in search of the lair Of the fiery beast He entered the cave and loudly exclaimed: "Fear for thy life for thy doom shall be James!" Lute in his left hand and sword in his right James fought the dragon with all of his might Victorious, from the rubble he crawled Singing a joyous refrain Telling the tale of the dragon's demise As the people looked on at the fire in his eyes In one great voice, the people cried out: "Oh minstrel, sing us a song!" The humble man took no note of his fame, This king among men, the great minstrel James Tra-la-la, Tra-la-la, Tra-la-la, Tra-la-la James, James, singer of songs Slayer of dragons and righter of wrongs!
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