← more from
Jeffrey Alan Bright Music Archive
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Orson Welles

by Myself a Living Torch

supported by
sfelf
sfelf thumbnail
/
1.
Orson Welles 04:38
lyrics
buy track
Citizen Self, in a voice made wood Called in for help on the 24-hour crisis hotline Says time is but sand, wherever I stand Terra firma dreams of ocean Take my hand, lead me on Twist my arm till I understand Say it's all in fun, oh, lead me on In the slave and master 2-step Citizen Self, in a voice made of glass Called in for sex on the all-night erotic connection But it's never enough, it's never complete Oh, I need some greater stimulation Take my hand, lead me on Twist my arm till I understand Say it's all in fun, oh, lead me on In the slave and master 2-step Oh, Orson Welles I don't want to know Oh, Orson Welles… Take my hand, lead me on Twist my arm till I understand Say it's all in fun, oh, lead me on In the slave and master 2-step Oh, lead me on and on and on On and on and on On and on and on
2.
Life Is Too Short and Death Is Forever 04:32
lyrics
buy track
You went out last night and had nine drinks And I stayed at home to dream You went out last night And I stayed at home to dream On the telephone you said Without a trace of regret you said Life is too short and death is forever You went out last night, I had nightmares I saw the flash, I saw the bomb You went out last night And I dreamt we all died On the telephone you said Life is too short to waste on dreams Without a trace of regret you said Life is too short and death is forever This morning when you called from the jailhouse I said I didn't really mind You were mistaken for a petty thief As you left your mark on Haight Street And I stayed at home to dream You said life is too short and death is forever You said life is too short and death is forever So, I'll do what I want and I'll say what I want No, they can't take that from me Because it's my own body and it's my own mind And they can't take that from me They can't take that from me No, they can't take that from me

about

In early 1992, in a significant make-or-break gamble, singer/lyricist Jeffrey Bright tapped all available resources to finance a 24-track studio project aimed at besting previous Myself a Living Torch recording projects and introducing the band's developing sound to the world. In spring of 1992, the band committed a set of highly produced and arranged songs to 2-inch tape.

Self-released on CD and cassette, the 6-song Citizen Self EP was produced by Norman Kerner at Brilliant Studios in San Francisco. Brilliant was chosen for its uniquely "live" acoustics and compliment of vintage and modern recording gear. And Kerner had recently achieved local fame producing well-received records for Sister Double Happiness and American Music Club, then two fast-rising stars on the West Coast scene.

The compositions on Citizen Self fuse several genres into a sound not easily categorized and provide an effective platform for Bright's darkly comic and often surreal lyrics. On this extracted 2-song set, musings on the body politic and existential abandon are set against diverse instrumental settings: "Orson Welles" weaves haunting pedal steel from guest player Steve Cornell and guitarist Eric Schulz's gritty playing to underpin an intriguing, tragedy-tinged cultural reference. "Life Is Too Short but Death Is Forever" inhabits the same island of melancholy and melodrama, but arrives on a completely different sinking ship, one bobbing in more languid waters. Bright contemplates the inevitable, his own paralyzing inertia, and ends by dipping a toe in the era's pressing social issues, all while a string quartet floods the view with a lush score written by Schulz and arranged and conducted by Linda Holland from San Francisco's Conservatory of Music.

Keep an ear to the wind for more la la la's in the face of doom from this eclectic and pivotal EP.

credits

released August 6, 2018

voice, guitar – jeffrey bright
guitars, voice – eric schulz
bass guitar – chris troy green
drums – christopher fisher

pedal steel – steve cornell
additional voice – deborah borchers

strings:
violin – anna presler
violin – sae shiragami
viola – charlton lee
cello – ellen d. sanders
bass viol – james wilhelmsen
written and arranged by eric schulz
adapted, scored and conducted by linda holland

produced by norman kerner
engineered by norman kerner & bryan zee
associate engineer – adam muñoz
mixed by norman kerner
recorded at brilliant studios
san francisco, california
march-april 1992

cover design – jeffrey bright

c&p/ 1992 Myself a Living Torch
p/ 2018 JABMA
Fugitive Music Publishing / BMI

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Myself a Living Torch image

Myself a Living Torch San Francisco, California

By turns surreal, beautiful, arch, and melancholic, MaLT’s sonic adventures explore the meaning of love and role of sex in a failing, depersonalized culture. Literate enough for lasting relevance, tuneful enough for disposable pop; dark, sometimes heavy, but always with sly humor and a dash of hope. Active in SF CA between 1991 and 1993 ... Credit Louis-Ferdinand Céline for the incendiary name. ... more

contact / help

Contact Myself a Living Torch

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Myself a Living Torch recommends:

If you like Myself a Living Torch, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now