"The Bad Things" is the 3rd song on "Change"
"The Bad Things" is the 3rd track from Beyette 's 1st non-instrumental record, "Change ". Following an excerpt of a laundry machine during it's cycle that was kept from one of the scratch vocals , the song features piano, electric guitar, synthesizer and electric bass. "This song, while instrumentally prepared much like the rest on this record, was somewhat recorded differently with the vocals because I wasn't sure what to do with the vocal track.
HARD JAZZ[]
The structure of the song is completely in how it sounds, there's no chorus, no verse, just a linear song beginning to end. The ways the vocals were recorded were pretty much on-the-fly. I liked it, and kept it and it's what you hear. If I were to go back into my records I doubt that there was any alternate takes recorded. This is how a lot of the stuff was recorded. A lot of the instruments on "Change " were recorded mostly on their first takes. As much as I hear these songs and cringe a little these days, I do know that there was a reason for this particular method in that I'm from a computer music background.
Before getting into live recording as a preference, the goal that I would read about often when programming drums was to program realistic drum parts with drum machines. Little subtleties like thinking how a drummer has two hands, and that on a four to the floor 1-bar pattern with 16 16ths of closed hi-hats and a snare on 2 and 4, a drummer would probably not hit the closed hi-hat on 2 and 4. New computer-based producers can get a lot of hints on thinking like musicians from skimming instrument how-to books. There were different aspects of drum programming that were learned on "Editation " when I worked with Eddie that have carried with me over the years, while recording he would talk a lot about drumming styles and his limitations and differences of programmed drums and acoustic drums, but the focus of what I'm getting at is a lot of this "first-take = final take" stuff was an attempt to make the record sound more live and less programmed because in a DAW environment, when programming drums you can use the electronic sound as is or "humanise " and "randomise " stuff for the purpose of making drum patterns sound more performed even though it was programmed. I have still not taken this route in a general sense, all of my drum programming is recorded via midi, programmed using a mix of free time and snap time, or using emulators of drum machines that limit velocity and flam settings to buttons and set values. All of the drums on "Change " are electronically programmed using VST software and manual piano-roll programming, and with minor exceptions are meant to sound realistic and in-your-face."
ACCIDENTALLY BUDDHIST LYRICS[]
The lyrics of the song were written before Dustin had taken a long-term interest in Buddhism. They never identified as Buddhist but shaved their head due to the Los Angeles heat and also shaved their eyebrows so it's understandable that people have made the assumption. Dustin did like Buddhism so much that they considered making it a big part of their life like maybe becoming a monk or something, but couldn't ultimately find a denomination that seemed 100% Dustin. A lot of sects like Abrahamic sects were anti-lgbtq so it felt like betraying friends to continue promoting the ideologies. The sect Dustin most associated with was Mahayana and Rissho Kosei Kai, and strangely enough this song talks about karma at the beginning, but by the end of the song kinda leans Buddhist because of the concept of expectation. "Expectations are almost always the result of what in Buddhism is called “wanting mind.” This wanting mind is driven by desire, aversion, and anxiety; it creates an illusion of solidity and control in a world that is constantly changing and unfolds independently of how we believe it should."[1] Dustin is exploring in the song the feelings of so much chaos and evil and future shock and wanting control and wanting accountability, wanting to not feel so vulnerable.
There's a funny little thing about the lyrics in that when Dustin says over and over, "I LET MY GUARD DOWN!" it sounds like "LET MY GOD DOWN", but it's just Dustin's accent. Live shows might have fun with this with Dustin really enunciating their Rs excessively.
LYRICS[]
the bad things keep messing with my mind it makes it so hard to stay kind i'm giving up on karma, i'm giving up on karma because if everything happens for a reason if everything happens for a reason and with all these bad things i must be doing something wrong and it doesn't help that i strive to take responsibility when others do not it's at a pace that i cannot trace, no i can't keep up it keeps falling down i can't give up, i gotta keep my chin up i gotta find a new way that wont give me away so fast don't pay me with smiles, after all these miles i've driven so far, i need a new car all the lying makes me feel like crying but i can't become a martyr, i gotta be smarter, i gotta find what i'm doing wrong you say it's nothing that there's nothing to worry about as things fall down around me when i wont worry, i fall behind i let my guard down i let my guard down i let my guard down i expect nothing from you i expect nothing from you i expect nothing from you i expect nothing from you ( you no longer have any expectation) i expect nothing from you ( you no longer have any expectation) i expect nothing from you ( you no longer have any expectation) i expect nothing from you ( you no longer have any expectation) |
Beyette - The Bad Things
stream "The Bad Things" from beginning to end