“Oubliette” is one of those weird songs with unhappy lyrics yet fairly upbeat (manic?) music.
It’s also a contradiction in that I really like the song, yet it just about ended up in the trash – and I’m still not 100% sure I made the right decision to release it as-is.
Caveat Emptor
Let’s get it right out in the open and tell it like it is: my vocals suck on this song.
My voice is mediocre at best no matter what I’m attempting to sing but this piece really reveals my current limitations. So much so that it still kind of embarrasses me to have it out there.
My initial attempts had me really singing it out, somewhat like I do on “No Talkin’ Points” but it just sounded HORRIBLE. Seriously. You think the singing on the track is bad? You should hear the rejects!
In the end, I discovered that the less sing-songy my delivery, the better. Unfortunately, I found this a difficult task and some of the lines got laid out on the plate like a dead fish.
And yet … dammit, I still really like the song. The music is good, it features some of my best bass playing and writing yet, and the idea of the song is fine.
Besides, all these songs I’m releasing are just demonstration tracks. I’m just over here having fun putting musical ideas together. I’d need to work with others to actually produce these as finished songs. Folks like a real drummer, a singer, engineer, etc. I’m no Dave Grohl (to say the f-ing least).
Until then, it’s important to remember these songs are just sketches. Mock-ups. Prototypes. Not the finished product. Do not look behind the curtain. Earplugs are available at the door.
But What’s It All Like, Mean, Man?
An oubliette is a kind of windowless dungeon cell with a door in the ceiling, typically well out of the prisoner’s reach. All too often one would be dropped into one of these holes and left to die. Buh-bye.
The lyrics in my song allude to a person who sees their own skull as a kind of oubliette. A person so empty they have to look outside themselves for any and all worth in their lives.
OR
Maybe it’s about someone who’s simply had too much of their own company and they’re needing some external stimulation.
THEN AGAIN
It might be a song of self-loathing, a person who’s aware their view of the world is dark, skewed, and their own worst problem.
OR
Perhaps someone suffering from locked-in syndrome?
I honestly don’t have a set idea. You decide. Or not. I’m gonna go eat an apple.
Oubliette
I’m alone
in this head
Wish I had some other voices in here
keepin’ me comp’ny instead
Echo flat
Signal dead
Won’t someone come and pull me out
of this rotten head?
I have been in here forever
Stuck behind this stupid face
with no one here but me
to fill the space
So alone
in this head
Need just one spark of light
to convince me that I’m not dead
Claw the wall
Sanity’s fled
Alone in this dark
I’m unraveling just like a thread
I awoke inside this dank cell
this pitch black oubliette
My hopes of seeing daylight
linger yet
So alone
in this head
I’m alone
in this head
But I believe one day
that I’ll be free
I believe that I’ll be free
– cae 7/2021
In Contusion
Listen to this and other hideous mewlings on my highly popular and luxuriously detailed CAE bandcamp page.
All lyrics, concept, programming, samples, bass, guitar, and vocals: CAE
