One Little Grape (A Grape's View Of Heaven)
Art & Lyrics
As previously mentioned, I have always been fascinated by the process of recorded sound. My first simple tape recorder was a little mono reel-to-reel recorder. I used to make recordings of sound textures such as cellophane crumpling, scissors cutting, aluminum foil crunching, marbles falling into water, etc. Soon, I would sit on the edge of my bed and record rudimentary musical ideas into a 2-track cassette deck. Eventually, technology made it affordable for a young hobbyist to own a 4-track or multi-track cassette deck. This meant that you could independently record one instrument on each of the 4 tracks, which would then play back simultaneously. In essence, you could be John, Paul, George, and Ringo. You would play one part on track 1 and then go back and play another part on track 2 along with the first part…and so on. You could also “pan” the recorded part left or right or anywhere in between in the stereo image for added separation on playback. Panning a track left or right would create a wider stereo field (what you hear in your head between your left and right ears). You could also “bounce” tracks so that once the first three tracks were recorded on, you could mix and bounce those three tracks down to the 4th track, therefore “opening up” the first three tracks again for recording additional parts. Bouncing down tracks is not without risk, though. I’ve lost many a good recorded “take” by bouncing down tracks too hastily, recording over the original performance, in effect erasing it, and then deciding I wished I still had that original individual track. You see, once the tracks are bounced together, you can no longer go back and separate them. Digital multi-track software has made this a much safer process, as you can now save hundreds of much higher quality audio tracks and “takes” in a song.
I bought a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder in 1981, and this is when my creative musical ideas started to take off. One of the first simple songs I did was titled “One Little Grape”. I was imagining the life of a grape and that the highest a grape could aspire to in life was to become a sophisticated wine. This was, in fact, “grape heaven”. There are limitations to the sound quality, as this was recorded on a 4-track multi-track cassette deck, but it’s kind of cool and funny, so I decided to include it in my archives. I imagined myself as a member of a happy and loose mariachi band. Cheers!
Lyrics:
One Little Grape (A Grape’s View Of Heaven) JRRothrock 2/14 1985
I’m one little grape, just lying in the sun…
…getting a tan until my day is done.
Papa so ripe, he is my model.
Got picked from the vine, and now safe in the bottle!
When I grow up, I dream to be wine...
…until that day try to hang on the vine.
Mama to me, she spoke these words…
“Don’t fall of the vine or get eat by the bird!”
She say, “stay away, blow in the breeze.
Drink up the rain and run from the freeze”.
My Grandpa, while the sun was blazin’…
…he fell asleep and turned into a raisin.
I’m one little grape, just lying in the sun…
…getting a tan until my day is done.
Hoping someday soon if I am able…
…I’ll be in a glass on your dinner table!