Sunday, May 18, 2008

Three-Quarters Crazy (A Song)

This one really is a song--It has a melody and chords and everything (and yes, it has some odd rhymes--they work when it is actually being sung). I have actually sung it out loud, but I don't recall ever doing so in the presence of witnesses. I suppose it is possible, though. It's kinda a minor-key bluesy thing....I sort of imagine introducing it at an open-mic night with "here's a song for anyone who has ever been driven half-crazy by a full moon".  (For the skeptics among us, the point is that it is neither the stars nor the moon that drive us crazy.  It's the people.  Usually, one particular person.)  I'd be happy to reproduce the melody and chords, but I don't have that ability with any software I currently have.

There’s a half moon in the sky
And I’m three-quarters crazy—
I’m three-quarters crazy for you.


I thought I’d take a walk,
and try to clear my senses
Think about building bridges,
think about tearing down defenses
Think about falling in love;
Don’t think about consequences
‘Cos I’m three-quarters crazy for you.

There’s a half moon in the sky
And I’m three-quarters crazy
Been thinkin’ of you
My mind is going hazy
And I’d blame it on the stars
But what can the stars do,
When there’s a half moon in the sky,
And I’m three-quarters crazy for you?


I struggle and I fight
I always end up cryin’
No matter what I do
I may as well stop tryin’
Cos I’m bound to lose
To that half moon in Orion
And I’m three-quarters crazy for you.

There’s a half moon in the sky
And I’m three-quarters crazy
Been thinkin’ of you
My mind is going hazy
And I’d blame it on the stars
But what can the stars do,
When there’s a half moon in the sky,
And I’m three-quarters crazy for you?


Guess I’m going ‘round the bend
I guess there’s no debating
With ev’ry move I make
I feel like I am skating
Out on thinner and thinner ice
On this course I’m contemplating
And I’m three-quarters crazy for you.

But is it the moon—
Her phases got me fazing?
I mean, maybe it’s you—
you know, you really are amazing
Maybe it’s you I see
when I think that I’m star-gazing
And I’m three-quarters crazy for you.

There’s a half moon in the sky
And I’m three-quarters crazy
Been thinkin’ of you
My mind is going hazy
And I’d blame it on the stars
But what can the stars do,
When there’s a half moon in the sky,
And I’m three-quarters crazy for you?


Outside my window right now, it is much too cloudy for stars or moon, so neither are the inspiration for this particular post.  It is, however, someone's birthday...

6 comments:

Unknown said...

There are chords/melody to this, you say? Any chance you would consider posting them? This sounds like something I might want to try singing.

Cuttlefish said...

There are chords and a melody, in that I have sung it while accompanying myself. There is no sheet music anywhere. I can try to do it--if there is an easy way, I would be happy to hear of it!

DC

Unknown said...

Well, if the chords change in any particular pattern, you can notate them pretty easily in a text format. A classic blues pattern would look like this (I'm putting it in the key of C, but it can be in any key or use roman numeral notation):

C - - -
F - C -
G F C -

I've also seen some songs notated (especially in folk music anthologies like Rise Up Singing) with the lyrics printed out and the chords written above the lyrics like so:

C F
Here is the first line of a song
Aminor G
And here is the second line
Bdim G C
I'm not really good at poetry

(Though in plaintext, this doesn't work out as the chords often don't line up right with the text (as you can see above), and this depends on the performers knowing the melody and rhythm of the song)

As for a melody, short of notating it or posting a recording, there's not really any way to do that.

Christopher said...

My knowledge of music is limited to knowing what I like. While I think this is wonderful as poetry I'd love to hear the accompanying music. I think that would make it even better.

Stephen said...

Uhm. New, 1st quarter, full, last quarter. What's a half moon?

Cuttlefish said...

First and last quarter moons are half moons, waxing and waning respectively. Of course it is not the proper term, but even the proper term bows to appearance, else the "full moon" would be termed a "half moon", which it is not, and which would confuse everybody who sees a full moon and wonders what other half you might be talking about. (seriously, outside of calendars, do people really refer to half-moons as quarter moons?)

Of course, Tom Waits even refers to a "banana moon" in one song; I would hope even the Bad Astronomer would still know what he refers to!