• Limited edition of 200 units pressed on 180g black vinyl
• Double-sided colour printed insert
• White innersleeve
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about
Chris Rainier: voice and Adapted Guitar 1
1. Today I Am a Man
2. Gentlemen
3. Considered Pretty
4. A Very Good Idea
5. Possible Rides
6. Jesus Was God in the Flesh
7. You Lucky Women
8. Why in Hell Did You Come?
The score's colophon reads:
"April 14 - May 18 La Mesa - Los Angeles Convict Camp"
The title page of the score is followed by this page of explanatory text:
"EIGHT HITCH-HIKERS' INSCRIPTIONS FROM A HIGHWAY RAILING
AT BARSTOW--For Adapted Guitar and Contralto or Baritone.
I took the following eight inscriptions from a highway railing just north of Barstow, California, on the road either to Needles,153 miles to the east on US 66, or to Las Vegas, Nevada, 157 miles to the northeast on US 91. The way toward either destination is through the townless waste of the Mojave Desert, and rides are scarce. Hitch-hikers get to Barstow easily, but there they are stuck in a bottleneck, and many of them never get rides, finally giving up and taking freights.
For the hour-on-hour of probable waiting under such circumstances they generally choose a place just outside of town in the direction they are going, some place where a motorist would have to slow down, a sudden turn in the road, or some obstruction, and above all, a good place to sit down. This particular spot supplied just one of the requisites--a place to sit, and incidentally a place to scribble.
Only a hitch-hiker would see the inscriptions. They are generally written in pencil, or carved in the wood with a pocket knife. Every so often highway workers come along, and these little stories, epics of American hitchers, come to oblivion in a few strokes of white paint. I took all the legible inscriptions from this particular spot, and I think they are representative.
The words are first spoken freely, then any phrases that suggest music are repeated, either in a semi-spoken manner or in caricature, in harmony with the guitar. H.P.
-----0----- "
//
lyrics
Number one
It’s January twenty-six. I’m freezing. Ed Fitzgerald, Age Nineteen – five feet, ten inches.
Black hair, Brown eyes – Going home to Boston, Massachusetts.
It’s four, and I’m hungry and broke. I wish I was dead.
But today I am a man
Number two
Gentlemen: Go to five-thirty East Lemon Avenue, Monrovia, California, for an easy handout
Number three
Marie Blackwell, Age nineteen – Brown eyes, Brown hair.
Considered pretty.
One eighteen East Ventura Street, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Object, matrimony
Number four
Dear Marie, A very good idea you have there.
I too am on the lookout for a suitable mate. My description
(No description follows – so he evidently got his ride.)
Number five
Possible rides:
January sixteenth – fifty-eight. January seventeenth – seventy-six
January eighteenth – nineteen. January nineteeth – six.
January twentieth – eleven. To hell with it – I’m going to walk.
Number six
Jesus was God in the flesh
Number seven
Looking for millionaire wife –
Good looking – Very handsome – Intelligent –
Good bull thrower – Etcetera.
All you have to do is find me, You lucky women. Name’s George.
Number eight
Damn in anyhow, Here I am stuck in the cold – I’ve come twenty seven hundred miles from Chi, Illinois. Slept along the highway.
Slept in open box car without top –
Went hungry for two days, (Raining, too) But they say there’s a hell –
What the hell do they think this is?
I’m on my way – one half of desert to the East,
Then back to El-Lay to try once more. Car just passed by –
Make that two more – three more.
Do not think they’ll let me finish my story.
Hoping to get the hell out Here’s my name –
Johnnie Reinwald, nine-fifteen South Westlake Avenue, Los Angeles
Here’s wishing all who read this
if they can get a lift and the best of luck to you –
Why in hell did you come anyway?
some kind of folk music. various microtonal guitars, weissenborn [a hollowneck lap steel, often with preparations]…also occasional singing, and other instrumental odds and ends.
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