Mystery Tree

[Mark Kaufman]

Here's a new collab with Couchgrouch. Any comments or suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks! -mkhttp://soundclick.com/share?songid=6996548Mystery TreeIt stood near my granpa’s acres‘cross the fence line on his ranchHollow, crooked, dead and barrenNotches in the lowest branchAnd when I went out that summerVoices whispered low to meAnd when red moons rose, spotted owls and crowsPerched upon that mystery treeLate one night I tried to climb itAnd that tree trunk seemed to moanBy the starlight in the meadowWeeds grew up through mounds of stoneI ran quickly through the high grassMidnight shadows chasin’ meGhostly howlin’ dogs, posses made of fogCircled that ole mystery treeNext day granpa chopped and burned that big dead oakWe could hear the four winds chokin’ on the smokeThen he said a prayer like he’d set somethin’ freeHaunting roots and hollows of that mystery treeLast July at some museumSaw an old electric chairChildren laughed and played around itLike a funhouse at a fairSuddenly I knew the meaningOf that childhood memoryAnd I understood, why granpa burned the woodOf that cursed mystery tree©2008 Robert George

[matthoggard]

Mark and Robert.This gives me goosebumbs guys. Sitting on the edge of my chair and leaning in to the speakers so I can get the full effect!I dont see "commercial" in this but what an incredible scene you guys have painted. The guitar is haunting and moving and really captures the feeling. I am very very impressed with this song. Lyrically it is full of imagery and emotion and really draws the listener in to the depths of the "ghostly howlin dogs and posses made of fog".Thd drop D tuning is just perfect. I love the acoustic licks. That is probably my favorite tuning for acoustic guitar.Gotta listen again.Oh yeah. I hear Johnny Cash speaking the verse about chopping the tree down. Speaking in that low baritone/bass voice.AWESOME!M~

[Mark Kaufman]

Thanks Matt!The music was written and recorded this morning. I actually played it in DADGAD, then pitched it down two semitones to CGCAGC. Some real cool chords you can make with two or three fingers...sounds like more than one guitar, but that's played straight through. My fingers hurt.I have no idea what sells...the few songs I've had signed sure didn't strike me as commercial, so I'm just trying anything these days. Thanks for the input!-mk

[djdale]

Man Couchgrouch is one lyric writin' machine! I got to meet him and his wife at the Wild Horse in Nashville a few years back and they are SO COOL and down to earth!Certainly this song is more folk ~ story laden ~ as POP couter parts, but well played and sung.The only part I would suggest to smooth out is where you sing "four winds chokin'..."This could be a Halloween song with the right production as well.Hats off,Dale

[cameron]

This is REALLY a good song Mark! Add a chorus with a big hook and I think it could even work as a commercial country tune.The only thing I'm not sure of is how the narrator made the connection between the electric chair and the mystery tree. Not sure if it's because I'm dense or the clues just aren't big enough.Good vocals and playing as well. Nice work!!Cameron

[heinsite]

man mark,you guys are gettin' a bit more diverse with the definitely folks song, and i DIG it.to me the folk comment by djdale is right on...personally, i wouldn't make it a c/w tune, though you could, dig it the way it is.the last verse is priceless--to me because it leaves some stuff to the imagination, and because it's damned poetic/and the image is way cool--i too am not positive what the hell it means, but i supposed that's just part of the "mystery", the climbing, the fright, etc. etc. the spooky kinda birds perched in that tree, etc....images man, images that are very nice. might be just as simple as that. (is to me....)love it guys,the best,warren

[billg]

Cool song and I LOVE the guitar work.

[zoom]

This is very cool Mark! Fantastically haunting, spooky, eerie... really plays on the imagination on lots of different levels... it has real potential to sell to tv/film listings IMO as it gives off a powerful vibe from the very first 4 seconds.Ok.... so I'll just make some suggestions on production, take 'em or leave 'em. I think more development could be very powerful as long as it's not in the standard way of trying to make it fit with the songs of today. Delta blues is so clearly NOT modern, why try to fight it?I think going more cinematic (symphonic) on this would be great to provide more of a background to ramp up that eeriness even more -- but restraint would be key here, as I think a minimal effort would bring huge impact. So string drones and touches of percussion perhaps, but nothing overproduced. Also, adding banjo, slide work, and other instruments (again, a minimal approach... just as a touch of environment) that will conjure up images of a movie like "Deliverance" or some of the darker pieces in "Crossroads" and "O Brother Where Art Thou?" could be extremely cool too. Again, just one opinion on where it could go...But I'm sure that as a master of musical ADD your mind is reeling with the possibilities! HTH

[wignelson]

Really cool sound and song, Mark and Robert. I got a Neil Young kind of vibe from it. Like the open tuned git. Vocals were very nice. I like the lyrics a lot. They are the meat an potatoes of the genre, but the connection to the "chair" lost me a little. I think that Robert could have just alluded to the wood had a familiar feeling to the wood of the old mystery tree.To suggest that the wood came from the tree is confusing, because to mill the wood you would have to take the tree. If the tree was taken, it couldn't be burned by grandpa.The connection would be stronger IMO if there was a suggestion of similarity instead of an understanding why grandpa burned the tree.But that is a small nit that most civilians wouldn't even pick up on.Lyricists agonize over carefully placed words as I'm sure Robert does. Thank God for the re-write and that we don't use a chisel to put down the words. Chisels don't have erasers. Wig

[good4somethingbum]

thanks everyone. I really liked the rawness that came across in what Mark did. more than technical precision, I think that's what it really needs.wig, the connection is this: people are put to death in electric chairs. the wood itself has no connection and I don't think there's anything in there to suggestion that there is. the images to look at are the notches in the branch, mounds of stone and what posses do.