{"id":1047,"date":"2019-10-11T02:58:56","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T01:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perpetualemotionmachine.com\/?p=1047"},"modified":"2024-11-14T20:49:44","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T20:49:44","slug":"chain-chain-chain-song","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/perpetualemotionmachine.com\/index.php\/chain-chain-chain-song\/","title":{"rendered":"Chain, Chain, Chain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Key 72<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Perpetual Emotion Machine<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

from The Unforetold<\/a> \/ Released as a Single<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2009<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Like Lullabye<\/a><\/strong>, from Omega<\/a><\/strong>, I wrote this for my daughter. In fact, the words suggest I wrote it to <\/em>her, almost like a conversation I was having with her in my mind. At the time I wrote this, I was separated from her by thousands of miles and only got to see her a couple of times a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea started as a poem — I don’t consider myself a poet, but I have written several. I was walking around my neighbourhood and passed by a house with a fence made of thick metal decorative chain. When my daughter lived with me, she was younger and would always point it out and say ‘Chain! Chain!’ It always reminded me of the Aretha Franklin song ‘Chain of Fools’. That memory stayed with me, insignificant as it may seem, but was particularly powerful when she wasn’t around. Many thoughts would come to me when I passed by that chain and processed my feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the poem came first, I wrote it in about 2 hours. Everything in the poem reflects my memories of a particular day when she was younger and we were out walking in the neighbourhood and out at the park, playing. The words are very literal — I was hoping to capture the happiest moments of that day freeze those moments in time. At the end, the lyric sets describe a picture each of us had of the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the music, I was going for lazy-summer-day beats. I admit I was inspired by Kraftwerk <\/strong>in constructing the bassline, as it does rather sound like Autobahn<\/strong>. But what I find most intriguing about the way the music came out is that I was really attempting to make happy-sounding, peaceful and content even joyful music — all the chords are major, there are no minor chords. I added birdsong and environmental elements and poppy sequences. The music somehow still sounds very sorrowful, and not just to me but to others who listened and didn’t even know the context. The ad-libbed vocalizing at the end even sounds like a lament. I can’t explain it, but it’s probably better that I don’t try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
Fob 25<\/div>\n
Lock 7201<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Chain Chain Chain<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Perpetual Emotion Machine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The original album version. <\/p>\n\n\n