I thought maybe you’d be interested in hearing the evolution of a song, so today I’m posting the album version of Iris Florentine for your enjoyment.

Take a few minutes to compare the two tracks, I’m sure you’ll agree that the album version sounds a lot more polished.

That being said, though, sometimes I prefer the spontaneity of rough cuts, because you can really hear the song in it’s early stages, and it sometimes has a strange beauty to it that more fully “produced” recordings sometimes lack.

Thanks to everyone who came to the show last week – it was lots of fun for me to play a live set or two. I hope you’re all enjoying your copies of Orchids for Betty!

- Jack Merlot

All I can say is, it’s really good to know a drummer who really knows how and when to use brushes. (I’m not sayin’ you gotta like jazz, just that sometimes brushes paint a more vibrant picture than banging on something with a stick.)

Oh, and I also wanted to share the following picture with you – last night I got my Photoshop on and came up with this CD label for the ‘Orchids for Betty’ album. What do you think?

It's what's on the CD

I had a good time getting the words to spiral around the center of the disk like that, and it was also fun to create a little pastiche of some of the doodles and line drawings I’ve made over the years.

Also, my hand is kind of sore today after last night; I went ahead and hand-signed and numbered one hundred of the letterpress disk jackets – they turned out really cool, I can’t wait until you see them up close.

Thanks for stopping by,

- Jack

the original (unreleased) artwork for the Dragon Child single

Download Dragon Child over heah.

As in:

Ya’ll come back now, ya heah?

- Jack Merlot

Dragon Child

copyright 2004 Jack Merlot – some rights reserved

— — —

Written & performed by Jack Merlot

Producer/recording engineer: Toby Lucien

Mastered by Diamond Fiction

— — —

it’s been years since I felt like this
with a sweet little honey on my wrist
won’t you come stand with me in the night
before the clutch of our death-grip comes tight

Oh my dragon
oh my dragon you can come with me
I don’t know where I’m standing, on a cliff

with your heart in my hands,
I will decide
we are vultures in a state of denial
when you talked with everybody at the bar
the other night I laughed
cuz I know you’re coming home
and that’s what I planned

oh baby this time it’s gonna be rough
I don’t think I can fly any further, myself, oh no
it’s been years since I felt you in my heart
and this ocean’s only tearin’ me apart

it’s been years since I felt like this
with the sweetest little honey and she’s
pulling on my wrist
oh sweet dragon child dragon child my friend
I wanna be with you until the bitter end

I won’t die, I won’t die
but you gotta stay with me now now
I know I’ve been f*cking up a lot but
it’s the way I am

Driver Down (trip-hop) cover art - this track was never released, but we figured it was time.

So, go ahead and get yer Driver Down (trip-hop remix) right HEAH.

We didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into on this one, and it shows, for certain, but on the other hand, WHAT A KILLER SONG. (I say that knowing full well how biased I am towards this sort of thing.)

Who cares if the mix is shot, the vocals are a mess, and the studio masters were lost in the Great Hard Drive Massacre of 2004? We sure as hell don’t!

Anyway, give it a try. If trip-hop’s your thing and you just couldn’t get enough of Portishead’s Dummy when it came out, you might just like it.

If not, well, it’s free, so maybe just delete it or something. That’s what we do with stuff we don’t like around here.

- Jack Merlot & Johnny Osmosis

As Manny sits by the side of the road and waits
Sits by the side of the road, tempting fate
She slows down and looks through her rearview mirror
says, “he don’t look so bad” and he has no reason to fear her

he said, driver, take me back down, down
back to the city of lovers
I’ll be acquainted with angels
you’ll share me with no other

I had just gone down to listen to traffic and play
My mind wasn’t entirely gone, despite what they say
Glass in the bushes, streaks on the pavement etched
forever in my mind, I wonder what kept them together

driver, take me back down, down
back to the city of lovers
I’ll be acquainted with angels
you’ll share me with no other

driver, take me back down, down
back to the city of lovers
I’ll be acquainted with strangers
you’ll share me with no other

This take is pretty rough, as it’s all first takes and done on my laptop, instead of on my Mac desktop, but it’s pretty cool to hear an acoustic version compared to the album version, which has bass, drums, and production values.

Download Iris Florentine. It’s free!

Single Cover Artwork by Estelle Johnson

- Jack Merlot

If you want, you can make up your own lyrics to go along with the song. Then you can pretend you’re in a rock ‘n roll band, just like Ping. Except the difference between you and Ping, is that he’s actually in a rock ‘n roll band, and you’re not.

But don’t feel bad. Life on the road isn’t always easy.

Taking a break from the harsh reality that is being in a band.

Ping and Mr. Pibb have an on-again, off-again relationship that typically ends with me having to separate the two of them for a while.

Here, Ping strikes a relaxed pose, having just finished a brutally challenging marathon recording session revolving around too much caffeine.

However, when the title of “World’s Most Famous Finger Cymbal Soloist” is up for grabs, who can say that his attentions are being inappropriately focused on the most trivial of pursuits?

Not I, that much is certain.

- Jack Merlot