the brief
the brief
What makes a karosong, you know, beyond its unusual backstory? Beyond all the channeling universal energies and being taught to sing malarkey? What makes a karosong just of itself?
That's a question gordon has been asking himself since the early 3.1 period when — coming up to 30 songs at the time — he realised that this odd experience had already produced a significant body of work. Deep. Complex. And constantly improving.
And since gordon considers himself to be the world's foremost expert on karosongs for some reason, he has taken it upon himself to answer that question.
What makes a karosong?
Much of the content for this exposition expedition appears in various parts of this archive, particularly in the the songs and on singing sections, and throughout the song sheets. The intent here is not to duplicate that content, but to sketch a high level view that draws the content together. An introduction to the body of work? A summary?
Up to you.
For brevity as well as tab spacing, let's call the first part of the answer to what makes a karosong simply 'the voice'. That actually encompasses a lot, from the fact that gordon is not a natural singer, to the way gordon's sungsong vocals do a duet with the lead instrument(s) rather than track the beat or rhythm, to gordon's signature spokesong styles, and to the 'persona' that emerges from gordon's voice and lyrics.
For equal brevity, we'll call the second part of the answer 'the show'. That encompasses a lot too, from the opening credits for the songs, to the 'patter' that may be a part of the credits, or an aside in the middle of a song, or a parting joke. That patter often seems to come out of left field, with little bearing on the song itself. More and more it feels to gordon as though the songs he channels are coming from a live performance, a show, and the patter is the singer interacting with the audience.
For brevity again, we'll name the third part of the answer after Eruditi, the goddess of the literary. (You're right I did just make that up. But ya gotta admit it'd be a great name for a greek grammar goddess.) Karosongs are indeed erudite. Their lyrics are tightly constructed. Their ideas are huge and varied. And they are as much poetry as song lyric, using symbols, images and cultural references to powerful effect.
And for a final brevity (in the number of tabs sense) we'll call the fourth part 'common features'. Here 'features' has more the meaning of characteristics than selling points. As the name then suggests, this includes a number of identifiable characteristics found in many of the songs.
the voice
the voice
The first thing to say about 'the voice' — the part of it that is my physical voice at least — is that it stank and it still stinks, though now with a perhaps less pungent olfactory affront. More whiffle than skunk if you like.
It stank in the early first phase days because I had almost zero conscious knowledge of how to sing, of how to use the mechanical aspects of my vocal apparatus. The voice in those early songs was coming from the top and back of my mouth with a lot of nasal but little fulness or resonance.
Finding the voice 1.0 — an all-original karosong
The first muso-flavour karosong, a celebration of the songs entering gordon's life and their impact on his psyche. arc01 / incomplete early recording with guitar from late July 1989. [6]
It took many years, many songs, and many singing lessons embedded into those songs to shift the needle from stank to just stink. In the process, the source of my voice shifted down into my throat and chest, and I gradually learned how to get resonance, fulness and nuance into my vocals. I was becoming the physical voice of karo — a numbingly slow but exhilerating, even intoxicating process.
Finding the voice 2.3 and The Flame Within by Yanni
arc02 / edited from recordings made in October-November 2021. [7]
But my physical voice remains and will always be flawed. An unusual, uncommercial voice, more something you might hear at an impromptu kitchen party than the kind heard in today's blandified corporate music.
But that's clearly the point. The songs are better than their singer so you have to get past the voice to really hear them.
Or you get a better singer. The fullest expressions of these songs will not be my versions. They will be the versions other real singers channel with the power, nuance and beauty I cannot achieve. (They may not be consciously aware that they are channeling but they will be. The energies that create the songs are not confined to my physical person.)
The second thing to say about the voice is that it does not follow normal rules because it does not understand them. I'm tone deaf, have only the vaguest conscious understanding of music and near zero ability to identify then follow a beat.
On top of that, I cannot 'hear' most lyrics. Rather, I hear most vocals as just another musical instrument in the mix, mostly devoid of semantic meaning.
So everything I do as a singer has been trained into me by the songs themselves, not by the usual process of innate talent, a musical education and working with other musicians.
Yes, on one level that makes me no better than a trained circus animal. On the plus side, I have few preconceived notions of what music should be so I am free to follow the singing lessons wherever they go. There is nothing telling me you can't do that.
The single-most distinctive characteristic of the karosongs voice comes out of these conditions — that it functions more like an instrument than a typical vocal. The 3.3 song You can say I said provides one of the clearest examples. Try listening to it without hearing the semantic meaning of the lyrics.
You can say I said 3.3 with Lily was here by Dulfur and Stewart
The song that seems to give the lily genre its name (it doesn't), a bluesy 'bugger off, you're not welcome back in our lives'. arc06 / recorded mid November 2021 [8]
Sound wierd? I suppose it is, and it took me many years to even begin to figure it out.
By definition, most karosongs are asynchronous collaborations with an instrumental track where the lead instrument acts as the vocal in a sense, creating the track's primary melodic and emotional feel. Yanni's piano. Jesse Cook's guitar. Candy Dulfur's surging saxophone.
Also by definition, karo vocals must fit into and complement the lead instrument, or musical cacaphony results. So the vocals follow the lead instrument tightly, but play with and against it. Sometimes the lead and vocal are like a single instrument, sometimes like a duet, sometimes like a call and response. But always controlled by the musical direction and flow of the lead instrument.
Being a fully fledged idiot musant, I don't know if this is unique or even unusual. It may be a common technique. There may even be a name for it. But I can't google it because I don't have the language to ask the question. But since it's a style defined by my musical disabilities it's quite natural to me.
I remember that smile 3.2 with Jacaranda by Govi
arc06 / recorded June 2021 [8]
The third thing you can say about the voice is that it's not melodic or particularly rhythmic, and it doesn't come from any musical tradition. Rather, my natural vocal patterns and pacing derive from my early years as a poet and my later years as a professional writer for the spoken voice.
At its root is a style I call spokesong where the lyrics are spoken as though reading a poem on stage. All of the 2.x songs started in this style, and a couple of them stayed entirely or mostly spokesong, including Transformation 2.3, the first asynchronous collaboration.
Transformation 2.3 with music from The Silent Path by RH Coxon
arc01 / recording from mid April 2010. [8]
But the spokesong style evolved throughout the second phase, in some cases becoming more like narration than a poem, then becoming more sung than spoken, a style I call sungsong. But the underlying spokesong patterns and pacing were carried into the sungsong.
Away is no longer there 2.3 with November Sky by Yanni
arc01 / first 'release' circa 2011. [8]
By the third phase, the sungsong style was dominant, the default karosongs voice. Still, many of those later songs include small sections of spokesong, sometimes just a small phrase, sometimes an entire verse. "Dropping down into spokesong" became a routine stylism, a way to emphasize or punctuate the flow of a song.
Nothing says 3.1 with Ocean Blue by Jesse Cook
arc01 / legacy recording from June 2019. [8]
The fourth thing you can say about the voice is that it has 'character'. No, that's not a euphemism like saying that someone has a good face for radio (which I certainly do). And it's only partly the kind of vocal character that comes with aging and many years of smoking tabacco and using cannabis. It's more the sense of a character in a play.
I have always felt a separate 'persona' pushing forward behind my voice, behind the lyrics — call it an eclectic amalgam of my conscious personality with the vocal sensibilities and 'personality' of the energies pushing the songs forward. I hear it in my vocal phrasing, in the characteristic ways the delivery drops, lifts, and holds lyrics. When I sing, I feel this persona rising into the song and taking over from my conscious awareness. It was already nascent in the very first karosong, and has become stronger, more recognizeable with every song added to the body of work.
It would be accurate to say this persona is the non-physical voice of karo, and that it uses my physical voice to express itself. It would be just as accurate to say that the aspects of the voice described above — the stankiness, the singing to the lead, and the spokesong style — create the persona. It would be most accurate to say they cannot be separated. They are of a piece.
And in this respect, the persona is of a piece with 'the show'.
(Talk about a throw to the next tab!)
the show
pitter patter let's git at'er
The persona behind the songs, the 'personality' that comes out in my voice is a performer (though I am not). Unlike my conscious identity, that inner persona loves performing, loves singing these songs. It is confident and in complete command of its performance. It has its own stage presence, it's own way of relating to an audience.
I've felt that performer from the earliest songs in the first phase, though it was strongest then in the funi- and muso-flavour songs. It was particularly strong in Better run boy, one of the few 1.0 songs I would play and sing for other people.
Better run boy 1.0 — an all original karosong with Jeremy Sagar
arc01 / recorded Easter 1994 [3]
I've even 'seen' that performer several times (in a kind of vision), standing on a stage, joking and talking to the audience, singing, enjoying the stage lights.
What is it? In the early days, I tended to dismiss it as a fantasy, as wish fulfillment on the part of my unconscious mind. I have other times thought of it as a personality external to my own conscious identity pushing forward to supplant it. But I mostly see that peformer as an emergent property of the union between the song energies and this idiosyncratic identity.
A me-not-me putting on a show. Complete down to the song introductions and rehearsed patter
opening credits
The opening song credits are a distinct karosongs characteristic, there to acknowledge the unique nature of these songs as asynchronous collaborations. However the first two of these hybrid works (Transformation 2.0 and Awakening 3.0) did not come with that acknowledgement. Which bothered me. So I was relieved when I stumbled on using spokesong opening credits for It was a gift 2.0, the third asynchonous collaboration. (The phase/type IDs were added much later, during the late 3.1 / early 3.2 period when I saw the importance of these identifiers.)
It was a gift
a karosong with
Highland by Yanni
I 'knew' right away that this would be the pattern for all the songs. Surprisingly — if you don't think about it too hard — every new song so far has had the room for opening credits except two (Teddy bear / For the record 2.3 and Turtle McTurdle 3.3). They got end credits instead. I even went back to those first two songs and gave them opening credits.
pitter patter
Adding the credits opened the songs to more spokesong patter, including the first acknowledgement of the band and the first closing joke (both in Bluebirds 2.0).
Bluebirds 2.0 with Highland by Yanni
A 'love you but goodbye' to gordon’s first wife Leanne, the bookend to Proposal and the first song in the karosongs 'karma track'. arc04 / recorded in Vancouver mid February 2023. [8-]
and I wouldn't sell it for a million bucks
and I wouldn't swap it for a hundred rollers
fact I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in china
and that's a lot
i should know. i lived there. yeah i did.
that’s where we actually met
oops sorry that’s a whole other story
no i can't talk about it really
there's an nda. she'd sue!
she'd sue my lying ass!
With more songs, the patter kept extending. More patter at the opening. More patter at the end. Even patter in the middle of some songs. The patter could be serious but was as often snarky or tongue-in-cheek. The patter sometimes added useful comment, but as often seemed to come out of left field with little to no bearing on the meaning of the song.
For many years I thought of the patter as funi-karo breaking through the seriousness of the songs. A kind of royal fool reminding the king he is only human after all. That's still a part of my understanding, but I've come to see it more as the kind of patter a performer shares with a live audience. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, sometimes merely functional.
Brick walls 3.2 with Nine by Yanni (live)
One of the odder karosongs, an exploration in multiple-voices of the ‘karo as cosmic rakes’ make a bet theory. arc03 / recorded late June 2021. [8]
Brick walls
a 3.2 karosong featuring
Nine by Yanni
and his always always marvelous orchestra
such an honour to sing with them live
well, sort of. . .
i mean they were live then
and i'm live now
no? it's not like a double negative?
darn. speaking of double negatives. . .
no i never wanted to write
a coulda woulda shoulda song
. . .
Along with that sense of patter came a sense that the genesis of these songs is in a live concert. The patter exists because the singer is performing the songs and interacting with the audience as it does.
Which I know makes no sense in the consensus reality description of the universe and our lives but — yeah, there's always a but — can make sense if you allow the possibility of parallel or deeper realities and you allow that my channeling somehow connects to a different reality where the performer is actually putting on a show.
Fragrant hookum? Sure. Proveable? Nah. Falsifiable? Not at all. But it makes sense of my experience, and helps me understand the body of work I have channeled.
Just could never feel 2.3 with In Your Eyes by Yanni
arc06 / recording from early November 2021 [7+]
eruditi
a literary wordsmith
When it comes to lyrics, being an idiot musant but a professional writer is an odd experience. The idiot musant knows next to nothing about lyrics because it typically does not hear them as units of semantic meaning. They are instead heard as just musical notes, a key part of the melody and musical flow, but bereft of any meaning.
On the other hand, the professional writer is dedicated to words. Their meanings. Their sounds. Their nuances. As a poet and television writer, the writer is always seeking the sparest words that evoke the densest reverberations. His writing is a pursuit of beauty, of finding just the right words — just the right imagery, cadence and tones — to convey his meaning.
See the problem?
Thought you might. All the writing skills — but no understanding of how to apply them to lyrics. All the word skills but no words. Just an inchoate yearning.
inside i could so feel this music
inside i could so hear these songs
just like bells across the mountains
so tantalizing . . . but so far away
— from Just could never feel 1.0
And yet. . .
The song energies know what they want to say and how to say it. The lyrics simply come, fully formed. They continually surprise the professional writer with their craft and literary quality. Their density and sense of play. Their exquisite ... well, call it appropos'ity, for want of a better noun. (All good things or these songs would be the musical equivalent of silent films. Think about it.)
As well, there was a sense of other'ness in the lyrics that was there from the earliest songs. Turns of phrase and images that did not feel 'mine' yet did not feel 'not mine' either.
Oh where is the man, the man in the moon
if you stop to think it through?
And where does the sun the sun go to
when you blink your eyes too long?
We call it away but what is that and
where is that? or is it all just a dream?
— from Away is no longer there 1.0
The more songs that came, the more their wordsmithing and literary quality stood out. There were references to painters and paintings, references to poems. There were images and similes pulled out of the zeitgeist. More metaphors than you can shake a hockey stick at.
woke up before you this morning
got coffee then sat watching you sleep
watching how the morning light worked art
across your sleeping form
picasso and rembrandt were jealous
— from In the morning light 3.1
an eponymous collaboration with Yanni
From the 3.1 set and on, the channeled lyrics felt more and more like poems. That was particularly true of Along the old Silk Road 3.1 (with Kitaro's masterful Silk Road). Written as a dramatic monologue set in a climate-devastated future, the song was overtly, unashamedly literary, even using a famous poem to drive the unfolding story. (Search for "Ozymandias by Shelly" if you're not familiar with this timeless work.)
Along the old Silk Road 3.1 with Silk Road by Kitaro
One of the most literary karosongs, a bitter condemnation of our current environmental folly from its future survivors. arc03 / recorded late August 2019. [7]
yes, you can still find ruins
from the before out here
but they built for the short term
so little actually remains round about
yay look on their works
they who thought they were so mighty!
surprised I can paraphrase Shelley?
we are not uncivilized. . .
no we don't honour our ancestors. why would we?
we spit on their memory and with these stories
maintain their memory just to spit on it longer . . .
to be our ozymandias in the barren
our reminder who we must not be
But it was in the 3.2 set that the lyricist really found its groove, and awed my professional writer with its mastery of the lyric craft. All the songs of that set staked out new lyrical ground, but one in particular stood out — As darkness falls featuring the haunting Once by Jesse Cook. It is still to my mind the single finest piece of writing the song energies have achieved through me.
As darkness falls 3.2 with Once by Jesse Cook
A haunting exploration of the loss of the 'person' in dementia and the moral quandary/duty that poses for their partners. Arc10 / recorded early November 2021. [8]
I remember you when we met
so young, so full of life
you lifted me to the sky and
twirled me like a ballerina
i thought the dance would never end
but it did . . .
I watched it end in your eyes
like bombs ripping the fabric of the sky
til one day there was no one there
just a stranger didn't know me
— from As darkness falls 3.2, with Once by Jesse Cook
common features
common features
The voice, the show and the greek grammar goddess are characteristics that apply to all karosongs. If there is a definable karo'esque style, it is mostly defined by those three aspects.
But there are a number of other characteristics that — while they may not apply to all the songs — add definition to the karo'esque style.
narrative point of view
Karosongs have come in all narrative points of view, including first, second and third person, singular and plural. But not equally. In fact, one narrative point of view has dominated, a form used in almost forty percent of all songs to the end of the 4.1 set, and in half of all songs since the start of the third phase.*
That most common narrative form is a monologue spoken to a single other person. To a "you". So, while it's one side of a two-party dialogue, we'll call it a "you-nologue" for levity. And brevity. **
the you-nologue
this song is called 'Proposal'
it's for you Jaina Lea
it’s for all the aches and pains
we felt to find our love
it's a sad song we lived through
learned from and shared
it won't be a sad song
if you say yes
— from Proposal 1.0 / 2.0, with Nostalgia by Yanni
You-nologues aren't unique to karosongs by any means. They're common in popular music. Gordon is ancient enough to think of I want to hold your hand by the Beatles or Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walking as examples. (Younger readers likely know their own examples from post old-fart-rock.)
The you-nologue's a versatile narrative form because — even though we only hear half of the exchange — it is based in dialogue, in speech. It can be used for any kind of relationship — lovers new and old, spouses current or ex, family. Even mother earth talking to humanity.
And it can be used for any kind of physical situation — say a marital confrontation, a deathbed scene, or a grandfather talking to his infant grandchild.
The place or scene where the you-nologue happens is seldom described in these songs. But it is often inferred in passing, just enough that the listener builds their own mental imagery for the scene.
These you-nologues can be personal to gordon, but only a few have been. In the very large majority of these songs, the narrator and the "you" in question are fictional. These songs explore human relationships on a general level, often using the format to ask big questions or peer beneath the surface to the underlying dynamics.
later we'll walk the winding pathways
under vincent's starry twilight
among the myriad possibilities of time
and sure in some of them we'll be lovers
who can say what else in the others
but for tonight we'll say goodbye
before the twlight's done
— from No plan 'B's 3.3, with Tears of Joy by Govi
- Proposal 1.0 / 2.0 (with Nostalgia by Yanni)
- Bluebirds 1.0 / 2.0 (featuring With an Orchid by Yanni)
- The rain must fall 3.1 (an eponymous collaboration with Yanni)
- For the record 1.0 / 2.3 (with One Man's Dream by Yanni)
- For my new lover 3.1 (with A Walk in the Rain by Yanni)
- I remember it all 3.1 (with Fields of Blue by Jesse Cook)
- In the morning light 3.1 (an eponymous collaboration with Yanni)
- As darkness falls 3.2 (with Once by Jesse Cook)
- Never-ending sunset 3.2 (with Into the Dark by Jesse Cook)
- I remember that smile 3.2 (with Jacaranda by Govi)
- Ah humanity 3.2 (with Azul by Jesse Cook)
- Since you went away 3.2 (featuring Cancion Triste by Jesse Cook)
- You can say I said 3.3 (with Lily Was Here by Dulfur & Stewart)
- No plan 'B's 3.3 (featuring Tears of Joy by Govi)
- Your lingering touch 4.1 (an eponymous collaboration with Govi)
- Forever-more 4.1 with To Your Shores by Jesse Cook)
- Have you ever 4.1 (featuring Number 5 by Jesse Cook)
the i-nologue
As dominant as the you-nologue became, the most common narrative form for a karosong up until the 3.1 set was in the first person singular. In the "i". Since these are monologues just by definition, for simplicity and symmetry we'll call them "i-nologues" and skip the levity.
About half of these i-nologues were in gordon's personal "i" — so they were songs about his life, identity and experience (such as gordon's experience channeling this music, or meeting the woman who became his second wife).
that it was a gift of love
such as i'd never thought could be
it was a gift of love
such as i'd only hoped might be
and she came with me
into ecstasy
my lady of love
my woman de guerre
— from It was a gift 1.1 / 2.3
The other half of these i-nologue songs used the first person impersonal. As in impersonating. These are songs that use the "i" voice but are not based on gordon's life. For instance, gordon has never tried to scam a banker in Miami, or even owned a dry cleaning shop.
When i went to Miami
i tried to pull a scamie
i tried to take a banker
to the cleaners
to Ed's dry cleaners
— from Better run boy 1.0, an all-original karosong
(Not that he's ever publicly admitted at least.)
(Cross his heart.)
- Finding the voice 1.0 / 2.3 (and The Flame Within by Yanni)
- Just could never feel 1.0 / 2.3 (featuring In Your Eyes) by Yanni)
- It was a gift 1.1 / 2.3 (featuring Highland by Yanni)
- Come forward 1.3 (an acapella all-original karosong)
- Let me sing lord 1.3 (an acapella all-original karosong)
- Brick walls 3.2 (with Nine by Yanni)
- Better run boy 1.0 (an all-original karosong with Jeremy Sagar)
- Then i have to ask 3.1 (featuring If I Could Tell You by Yanni)
- Nothing says 3.1 (with Ocean Blue by Jesse Cook)
- Along the old Silk Road 3.1 (with Silk Road by Kitaro)
- Damn straight i'm a liar 3.2 (with Hembra by Cook & Medrano)
- If I could be 4.1 (featuring Auspicious Omen by Kitaro)
the we-nologue
The third most common karosong form is the "we-nologue", i.e., a monologue that speaks to a "we". While there is a "you" in this form, that you is plural and includes the narrator. So these are most often eco/poli- or sas-flavour songs that describe shared situations and call for the "we" to understand and/or take action.
for these are the questions we must ask
if we are to see our way through
past the growing ills we’re creating
each and every single day
to a future for our grandchildren
great grandchildren after that
to a future that’s still worth living
a future where there’s . . . still hope
— from Away is no longer there 2.3 with November Sky by Yanni
In theory, we-nologues can be personal to gordon's life but they haven't been. Not yet at least. So far, all we-nologues have been impersonal, meaning the "we" in question is rhetorical more than actual, a structural device in other words.
- Transformation 1.0 / 2.0 (with music by RH Coxon)
- Awakening 3.0 (with Towards the Light by RH Coxon)
- Away is no longer there 1.0 / 2.3 (with November Sky by Yanni)
- City on the hill 1.3 (an acapella all-original karosong)
- Turtle McTurdle 3.3 (with To the Horizon by Jesse Cook)
- The nightmare run 1.0 (an all-original karosong)
- Got to get back 3.1 (featuring To the One who Knows by Yanni)
narratives
The last significant karosong form is the 'story', the narrative itself. In contrast to the various monologue forms discussed above, narratives may be told in any voice, depending on the story's dramatic needs. First person singular? Sure! It can even be a letter. First person plural? Absolutely! It can be a family history! A stock-in-trade omniscient narrator? But of course. Modern or medieval?
That changeable voice can make narratives harder to classify neatly. Whatever their voice, these songs sometimes walk the fence between narrative and monologue, and it can feel like you're perpetually losing your balance to either side.
- The price 1.0 / 2.0 (with Midnight Hymn by Yanni)
- Shake'n bake 3.1 (with Shake by Jesse Cook)
- Along the old Silk Road 3.1 (with Silk Road by Kitaro)
- We were brothers 3.3 (with Virtue by Jesse Cook)
- & The chase was on 4.1 (with Beneath Your Skin by Jesse Cook)
- Da loup de loup 4.1 (with Double Dutch by Jesse Cook)
- Safe in the hands 4.1 (with Playing by Heart by Yanni)
evolving choruses
Karosongs evolve. I don't mean across time, although that is true. The songs have become more complex and challenging across the years.
I mean many karosongs evolve within the song itself. For instance, several songs have evolving choruses, where the musical form of the chorus remains but the content inside the form changes. Usually in line with the development of the song in the verses.
So for instance, in the song Since you went away 3.3 (with Cancion Triste by Jesse Cook), there are three chorus forms separated by two verses. It's a lily-genre song, so the narrator is speaking to her partner, explaining in the verses why he can go . . . jump in a lake (to put it nicely).
did i hear you say
you were thinking about leaving me
did i hear you say
you were thinking about walking out that door
did i hear you say
you were thinking about abandoning your boy
well message received
loud and clear
[ verse 1 ]
so if you meant to say
you're planning on leaving me
if you meant to say
you were thinking about walking out that door
if you meant to say
you were thinking about abandoning your boy
well message received
loud and clear
[ verse 2 ]
so i don't give a shit
what you're thinking or planning to do
no i don't give a shit
if you walk out that door and it slams you on your. . .
but i give a shit about our boy
and you'll do right by him. . .
and that's my answer
loud and clear
- Just could never feel 1.0 / 2.0 (with In Your Eyes by Yanni)
- Bluebirds 1.0 / 2.0 (with Highland by Yanni)
- For my new lover 3.1 (with A Walk in the Rain by Yanni)
- Got to get back 3.1 (with To the One who Knows by Yanni)
- You can say I said 3.3 (with Lily was Here by Dulfer & Stewart)
- Since you went away 3.3 (with Cancion Triste by Jesse Cook)
consolidating choruses
Another, less common, evolving chorus pattern is that the changes in the first several choruses are consolidated into the final chorus. So for instance, the first three verses of Finding the voice 1.0 / 2.3 (and The Flame Within by Yanni) each describe a self-awareness method for 'finding the voice' — opening your inner doors, meeting your fears, and finding your faith. Each verse then ends with an evolving chorus form:
[ verse 1 ]
. . .
opening that door
was finding the voice and
finding the voice was a blast
[ verse 2 ]
. . .
meeting that fear
was finding the voice and
finding the voice was a blast
[ verse 3 ]
. . .
finding my faith
was finding the voice, and
finding the voice was a blast
The final verse and chorus then consolidate those three techniques into a single chorus form.
[ verse 4 ]
. . .
but if you try
finding your faith
meeting your fears and
opening your doors
you'll be finding the voice
and finding the voice will be a blast
(Some early karosongs also have evolving verses, where the length of the verse increases across the song. The most notable of these was Transformation 1.0 / 2.0 (with music from the Silent Path by RH Coxon).)
- Proposal 1.0 / 2.0 (with Nostalgia by Yanni)
- Finding the voice 1.0 / 2.3 (and The Flame Within by Yanni)
multiple voices
Most karosongs have a single narrator, but some include multiple narrators (as duets or even triplets for instance) or multiple voices akin to a choir. The very first of these was Awakening 3.0 (with Towards the Light by RH Coxon).
Awakening 3.0 with Towards the Light by Robert Haig Coxon
arc01 / multi-tracked mix from late December 2010 [8]
Awakening's narrator is a "we", a literal multiplicity coming out of the deeper energy levels of the universe where an "i" identity has no meaning. I was triple-tracking my vocals at the time this version was mixed, and always felt the multiple tracks gave a correct sense of that multiplicity. Ideally, the song would be recorded by 3-4 voices or a small choir.
There were two songs in the 3.2 set included multiple viewpoints. Shake'n bake (with Shake by Jesse Cook) featured three 'performance gossip stories' that ideally would be delivered by different singers (but could be sung by just one person). On the other hand, Brick walls (with Nine by Yanni) has three voices that are functionally distinct and really should be sung by different singers.
Shake'n bake 3.2 with Shake by Jesse Cook
When just plain gossip ain’t enough, try a wee bit of shake’n bake. arc03 / recorded early October 2021. [7+]
Brick walls 3.2 with Nine by Yanni
One of the most-wacked out and most challenging to sing karosongs, an exploration in multiple-voices of the “karo as cosmic rakes make a bet” theory. arc03 / recorded July 2021. [8]
a perfect duet
Perhaps the strongest of all the multiple voiced songs is one called The phoenix must burn 3.3 (with Oasis by Kitaro).
The phoenix must burn 3.3 with Oasis by Kitaro
A conversation between the deeper beings of karma partners whose physical incarnations have just come together for a new experience as lovers, the 4th song in the karma partners track. arc02 / lyrically complete but not et mastered recording the end of the Vancouver sessions, late March 2023. [7+]
The song is a dialogue, an alternating duet between two spiritual beings whose physical incaranations have just met for yet another experience as lovers. So in this case, the voices need to be different and — on first thought — of different genders.
But second thought says gender and biological sex only apply to the physical incarnations, not to their deeper beings. Thus there's no actual need to have different‐gendered voices, so both could be male or both could be female. Still, many listeners might find that confusing, even contentious, so different‐gendered voices would likely be the way to go.
a many-gendered song
However, there is another karosong duet for which any gender combination could be used. It's a wedding song that features an exchange of non-religious, non-gendered, non-romance-fantasy marriage vows. Wedding vows for the modern world in other words. Since the vows apply to any combination of sexual or gender preference, the singers could be male/female, male/male or female/female. (In fact, each combination could have its own version to match the wedding participants.)
To take to hold 4.1 (an eponymous collaboration with Yanni)
arc02 / not quite mastered recording from mid July 2022, the period gordon was re-establishing his singing voice after nearly losing it to a cardiac condition. [7+]
* While gordon had a sense that the "you" monologue was the dominant narrative form, that didn't become clear until he analyzed the songs for point of view prior to writing this section. (Remember? OCD!)
There were 44 distinct karosongs to the end of the 4.1 set (for this discussion, songs from the second phase are not counted since their points of view were the same as their first phase versions). Their distribution by point of view is shown below.
(If you're counting, there are two songs not included in the graphic as they are dialogues between two voices — The phoenix must burn 3.3 and To take to hold 4.1 )
** Apologies, but gordon's anal-ogue brain giggles at the names it settled on for the narrative forms, especially the we-nologue. You just can't stop yourself playing with that.
(See what I mean?)
See gordon's blog ruminations for further thoughts on this and other topics.
The various recordings on this website are not for download or release. They are just low resolution demos of the songs gordon has channeled into this existence. They long for a real singer to release them from their idiot musant prison. Interested parties can contact gordon @ this website.
