Soundcloud: Artefacts
Youtube: Artefacts

We are the sum of our experiences, and these human artefacts accumulate to shape us - at least that's the implication of this song. Of course, this ignores how our genetics also shape us. The lyrics culminate in the notion 'The artefact is me'. I think back on some of the things I have done in my past (well intentioned) and cringe. While a very introverted young man, I long for some of the sensitivities I had when I was younger, so this song is quite the introspection.

The song originated in March 2016, and from my records, I believe I added the music for a bridge in 2018. The words for the bridge were added in 2024 along with a rewording of all lyrics from the second person to the first person. I toyed with the idea of adding words to the chorus, but decided to leave it as it is for something different (I heard the story about Gerry Rafferty's 'Baker Street' sax chorus being an intentional move to p155 off the record company who were insisting he honour his contract and release a single - he was thinking a song without a chorus would flop and they'd be irritated, but it was a huge success. I'm not sure if that is urban myth, but interesting nonetheless).

Musically, the melody refrain of the intro and chorus was there from the beginning. I was really taken by the organ 'poke' on beats 2 and 4 in the BIAB style, and I've always been intrigued by slow yet rhythmic 1/16th strum songs that have a 'boom boom' bass on the 1.&. of each bar. On this recording, the drums, piano and organ are from the Band-In-A-Box style, while all guitars, bass and vocals are mine - recorded in Cakewalk.

****** BIAB Song Summary *************
Title: Artefacts
File:Artefacts 2024.MGU
Key=E , Tempo 75, Length (m:s)=3:50
Style is =AGRASCL.STY (Slow Ballad Strummed Guitar)
Style MIDI Instruments are : Acoustic Piano (1),
RealTracks in song: 784:Bass, Electric, PopCrossover Sw16 075 – replaced with my own bass
RealTracks in style: 625:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Rascal Sw 075 – replaced with my own guitars
RealTracks in song: 1159:Organ, B3, Rhythm ReggaeSlow Sw 075
RealDrums in style:NashvilleSwing16^4-a:HiHat, Sidestick , b:Snare, Hihat

LYRICS
INTRO

VERSE 1
I’ve become a different kind of man
With my relics and artefacts on hand
Excavated from the past describing who I am
Manuscripts and carvings in the clay
The key to deciphering who I am today

CHORUS 1 - guitar refrain

VERSE 2
I was quite reserved when I was young
Occasionally I’d talk out of turn
Now I look myself up and down, via objects buried low
I created them, collected on the road
Testaments to shaping me. Where did that young man go?

CHORUS 2 - guitar refrain

BRIDGE
Things have not come easy I’ve worked hard
I feel unsettled now with what I have become
Bring back that younger man with pieces of yesterday
And hoping that the artefact is me

OUTRO

Regards,
Andrew D
Adelaide, Sth Aust
Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/SQE4btVvNVkLq74e9
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewoftheantipodes

Profile pic 'Air Guitar' - a carving in pine I made of the F major barre chord.