“I Am Og” (Virtual 7″ from 1991, When CTJ Was 13)

Early on in my “music career,” I was impressed with the recording techniques employed by the producers of the Chipmunks’ music.

Which is to say, I recorded this song with my sister at a very slow tempo, played it back at high speed on the “high-speed dub” setting on my home stereo, and then recorded this high-speed playback with a tape recorder while accompanying the playback with live instruments. The result is one of my earliest experiments in multi-tracking, and it is the only one that survived the years.

The extraordinarily loud noise floor is the product of a) the sound of the tape hiss from the high-speed dub, which is pitched higher than normal tape hiss because it is being played back at a faster speed, and b) the sound of the tape hiss from the tape recorder that is recording both the high-speed dub and the live instruments. This tape hiss occupies a lower frequency niche. Because the tape hiss occurs at two different frequencies, it feels decidedly louder and more overwhelming. Fun audio factoid.

I played the Balalaika. I sang. I played our awful family keyboard, which did not produce a single, remotely organic sound.

I do not recall what my sister Alyssa did, but it sounds like she played a tambourine. To my knowledge, however, we did not own a tambourine.

It was 1991. I was almost 13. Which probably accounts for the lyrics.

They read as follows:

I’m truckin’ down the street,

and I’m lookin’ for roadkill for meat.

Now I’ve smashed a dog.

His nametag read “I am Og.”

I took him down to the corner,

sold his carcass for half a dollar,

bought a Twinkie, choked it down.

Then I coughed it up at the next town.

This is my song, and I ain’t wrong.

 

“Chad Thomas Johnston is an author, sonuva’ preacha’ man, PhD-dropout, singer/songwriter, music producer/sonic reducer, daydreaming doodler, gorilla/guerilla publicist, cinemaddict, & pop-culture obsessive. He is represented by Seattle, WA-based literary agent Jenée Arthur, who is currently shopping his debut manuscript to major publishing houses.

Follow Him on Twitter: @Saint_Upid

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