(Gimme Some of That) Ol' Atonal Music

Love it. Gimme Some of That Ol' Atonal Music


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(Gimme Some of That) Ol' Atonal Music
by Merle Hazard

(Spoken Intro)
I dedicate this song to my father

(Verse 1)
My dad was a composer
Modern was his style
His music always made you think
It never made you smile
He wrote for chamber orchestra
Now and then for voice
Tonality, in Daddy's world
Was just another choice

Now Papa's compositions
Came in rigid 12-tone rows
There was no tonal center
To the music he composed
He was a lover of complexity
Some have said pretense
His music wasn't joyful
It was just abstract and dense

(Chorus 1)
Gimme some of that ol' atonal music
It lingers in my ears
Schoenberg and Alban Berg
Were the genre's pioneers
Keep your Bach and Chopin
They're melodic and passé
Gimme some of that ol' atonal music
Like Daddy used to play

Give 'em some, Alison

(Instrumental break)

(Verse 2)
Since dear ol' Daddy left us
Life has been so hard
There aren't enough musicians
Who embrace the avant-garde
No one plays atonally
At home or on the stage
I miss Igor Stravinsky
My dad, and old John Cage

(Silence break)

(Chorus 2)
Gimme some of that ol' atonal music
Like my daddy used to write
It was hard to sing if you rehearsed
Impossible by sight
Emotion is for simple folk
Art should be arcane
Some compositions feed the heart
My daddy's fed the brain

Gimme some of that ol' atonal music
How I love those random hops
I tried to write that way myself
But I'm not as skilled as Pops
Keep your Brahms and Chopin
They're melodic and passé
Gimme some of that ol' atonal music
Like Daddy used to play
(Like Daddy used to play
Like Daddy used to play)

(Spoken Outro)
I miss you, Daddy