Well, thirty years sure goes fast. This being the 30th anniversary of a song that I wrote in 1984 and recorded with the rock group, ROLLO, I figured a tribute of sorts was in order. So here is a new, acoustic, live version of Last Night.

See my music webpage for links to lyrics, a Soundcloud upload of the original 1980s ROLLO version of the song, and, of course, lots of other original songs (plus a few covers).

“Crucified” was written by Dan Smullyan in 1980; our rock group, Rollo, used to perform it at various venues in New York City, and we recorded it in our basement studio in New Rochelle sometime in the early 1980s. I finally got around to creating this video for the song, which has never before been released in any form. I’m playing keyboards and doing the vocals; brother Kurt plays guitar. As I write in the YouTube description, the visual imagery in the video consists of an animated romp through “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” a triptych painted in oil on oak by Hieronymus Bosch around 1500.

Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (from 1967) is one of the great rock’n’roll classics of all time. Per Wikipedia: “As of 2009, it was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the United Kingdom, and the UK performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone placed ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ No. 57 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” I recorded this “live” cover using Logic Pro 9, and simultaneously shot the low-resolution video with my Flip camcorder (I layered multiple copies of the low-resolution video, some of them enlarged up to 500% of their original resolution, to make the HD video in Final Cut Express). [Updated 5/19/14: this is a newer mix of the original recording done in Brooklyn by brother Kurt.]

I wrote this song after thinking about the advances in technology that have occurred since I was a kid, and how — or whether — these changes made a big difference in the quality of my life. Certainly, some things have become easier (like typing using an editable word processor instead of a manual typewriter) and some things have become newly possible (like distributing this blog post to the entire English-speaking world), but I concluded that, in the final analysis, not much has qualitatively changed. Things have gotten faster, but they’re largely the same old things.

Moore’s Law holds that processing power doubles every two years, while Marx wrote that technology (“machinery”), while mastering the forces of nature, makes man the slave of those forces when in the hands of capital.

So in this song, higher resolution (Moore’s Law) is contrasted with the reality of technological advances under capitalism. The advances are real and significant, as is the damage they inflict on both human and natural “factors” of production.

I use the term “freedom” in this song to describe a fundamental condition of capitalism — that one is free to use one’s own property and to exclude others from it — a condition enforced by state power. Instead of getting seduced by the speed and resolution of technological toys, and by the freedom to buy them and to use them (this is the “siren’s song” I sing about in the chorus), I note that the rich are still getting richer and the poor are still staying poor — that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

You can see my YouTube video (embedded below), or listen to Higher Resolution at a somewhat higher resolution on SoundCloud.

Just a few more notes on the recording and video production:

I recorded the song using Logic Pro 9, playing the “electric piano” live on my midi keyboard. I added bass and drums, and just a bit of organ (also played live on the midi keyboard). Thanks to Kurt for help on the mix.

I shot the video myself, placing my low-resolution Flip camcorder on a tripod, or — for the close-ups — holding it in my outstretched hand. The Red5 Audio RV8 mic with the shockmount that I appear to be singing into is, alas, just an image layered above the video track, courtesy of Photoshop. The photo album I’m looking at at the start of the video is really my old album, with many of my b+w prints, shot with Kodak Verichrome Pan 127 film using a Kodak Hawkeye Flash Fun Camera that I purchased in the early 1960s for $4 with a coupon from the back of a box of Nestlé’s Quik chocolate powder.

Kodak Hawkeye Flash Fun Camera purchased in the early 1960s for $4 with a coupon from the back of a box of Nestlé’s Quik chocolate powder.

The image of “New York Children,” asleep in the areaway of a tenement building, is from Jacob Riis’s How the Other half Lives, taken in 1888. Several video clips are captured (fair use) from the internet: Gloria Borger and Wolf Blitzer of CNN are our “talking heads on high-def screens,” debating the tea party’s impact on US public opinion; Trump and Romney pledge their mutual support in a February, 2012 Las Vegas press conference; and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer “goes crazy” in one of many such viral moments.

The entire video was shot after the audio recording was already complete (lip-synched), with one exception: since I wanted to capture the improvised and spontaneous piano instrumental solo and couldn’t adequately duplicate it after the fact, I re-recorded the solo while filming it “live.”

Higher Resolution
words and music by Jonathan Ochshorn (copyright 2013 Ochshorn)

verse 1. i used to take these photographs – twelve small prints per roll
every one felt special to me just like they were made of gold
no one uses film these days – images are cheap
i threw out my old camera – just  one less piece of junk to keep

[chorus] higher resolution greater speed
wonder why you don’t get what you need
freedom’s just a siren’s song
the poor get played while the rich get strong
not so strange when you figure out its aim
the more things change the more they stay the same

verse 2. everyone can read the signs  – nothing is dependable
leaps in productivity just make us more expendable
while talking heads on hi-def screens check out all their tv dimples
primped with cargo blu-ray powder for their pores and pimples  [chorus]

[bridge] sycophants cry “human nature” when we fight against each other
as if, forced to act that way, we really could refuse
this is what your freedom’s good for: to compete against your brother
with every social interaction just a game of win or lose

[instrumental break] [bridge]

verse 3. billions struggle to survive while the rich revel in their vanity
businessmen compete within this organized insanity
there is no new paradigm – not even a change in mood
no revolution no revelation – everyone’s still getting screwed  [chorus]

[chorus 2] higher resolution greater speed
no one’s ever getting what they need
freedom’s just the rich man’s tool
profit is the golden rule
rearrange the purpose of this game
or the more things change the more they’ll stay the same

Production notes:
arranged and produced by J. Ochshorn
recorded at home with Logic Pro software January, 2014
vocals: J. Ochshorn
software instruments played live on midi keyboard (electric piano, organ, drums, bass): J. Ochshorn

[Update: Nov. 25, 2014. I’ve just created an official KARAOKE version of the song!]

I recorded a new cover — The Rascals’ Good Lovin’ from 1966 (written by Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick). All my musical recordings are linked from my music page; here is the YouTube video:

New song; new video:

I wrote this song in the spring and summer of 2013. Apologies to all who have been quoted saying something along the lines of “If I knew I’d live this long, I would have taken better care of myself” (Mickey Mantle, Eubie Blake, George Burns, Mark Twain, and others). I also made use of an explanation given by Edvard Munch concerning his most famous painting: “I was walking along the road with two friends — the sun was setting — suddenly the sky turned blood red — I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence — there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city — my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety — and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

See production notes, lyrics, and embedded video. Remixed Sept. 2, 2019.

All vocals sung and all instruments played by J. Ochshorn
Arranged and recorded at home by J. Ochshorn using Logic Pro
Video shot with my old low-resolution Flip camcorder and created with Final Cut Express
Lyrics and music © 2013 Jonathan Ochshorn:

VERSE 1: what have i swallowed
what have i confessed
an act that can’t be followed
a fact i can’t digest
i ate it all, drank it down, kept it up with the best

VERSE 1 (second part): the morning after
got some coffee and some cream
mixed it with some laughter
like a madman in a mindless dream
the sky turns red, nature wakes with a scream

CHORUS 1: if i knew i’d live this long
i wouldn’t have wasted all those years
i might have found some younger friends
with more interesting careers
now everyone around me’s dying
everyone i knew before
what’s the point of even trying anymore

VERSE 2: i’ve been alone now
i’ve settled in this groove
i can’t stay in my home now
but i can’t say where i’d move
there’s nothing left, nothing right, and nothing to prove

CHORUS 2: if i knew i’d live this long
i would have taken better care
i would have got more exercise
put some color in my hair
if my life’s not satisfying
if i’m lying at death’s door
what’s the point of even trying anymore

BRIDGE: if i were to think this through
there’s still no way to write an ending
and if i act as if i knew
exactly what i was intending to do

VERSE 3: i’d be misleading
if i claimed there’s a design
based upon my reading
i’m not doing all that fine
just getting up, getting by, waiting here for a sign

CHORUS 3: if i knew i’d live this long
there would be so much more to show
i would have done the things i dreamed
of doing long ago
my regrets are multiplying
i’m becoming such a bore
what’s the point of even trying anymore
what’s the point of even trying anymore

Here’s my latest song cover in a series that starts in 1963. This one, by the Beatles, was recorded in 1965:

You can also see the video on its YouTube page.

“I Keep Writing the Same Song” is my first “Logic Pro” recording — this is the Apple software of which GarageBand is the baby version. My YouTube video is here and is also embedded below.  Lyrics and production notes can be found at the linked site. Remixed in 2018.

I guess I’ve started a kind of long-term project — recording covers of songs that were influential in my musical development. The first was 1963’s Surfer Girl. This one is Mixed-up, Shook-up, Girl from 1964 (recorded by Patty & the Emblems, possibly the earliest hit co-written by Leon Huff, who later achieved legendary status as half of the song-writing-producing team of Gamble and Huff).

I made a “studio” version of my song (Own Biggest Fan), after having recorded live version last month. The lyrics, production notes and embedded video for the new version are here. The YouTube video, shot with my still-working low-resolution Flip camcorder, and edited with Final Cut Express, is embedded below.