ABOUT

Song5 - Actuary

Tuning - EAEEBE

This is a song that was inspired by a conversation at work. We were talking about insurance actuarys and how they basically use statistics and computer programs to predict how long a person will live. Now, I don't have anything against actuaries... don't get me wrong. I just hate the way corporations will reduce human beings to facts and figures, assets and account balances, and so on. It just rubs me the wrong way. So, this actuary has to deal with the workings of fate that contermanded corporate dictum.

This is the first of 3 songs that are basically just guitar and bass and vocals... at the moment. I don't have the time to really do these out with all the ideas I have for them... so basic demos, here we come. The tracks are all single takes, so expect rough spots (it's a FAWM demo, after all! (= )

The music was something I had come up with earlier and the lyrics were separate and they sorta work together, but I'm not sure... the progression is so good, to my ears, i'd hate to use it on lyrics that aren't up to the task, so to speak. Let me know what you guys think

I call it key change, because of some chords I use that are technically out of the key... if it were written in notation, it would be peppered with accidentals... but since it's not. If people disagree with me on the keychange thing... well then I'll change it.

One other warning... it's near unto 6 minutes... I don't know what came over me.

LYRICS

Actuary

Cloudy smoke in my crystal ball
it whirls and turns in a solid squall
what that means I can't recall
but the meter says it's not good

10 percent you'll die from smoke
and 15 more that you'll choke
with your current state it might be a stroke
We'd knock it all off if we could

(chorus)
I have the ruler
that's the measure of a man
I will know it all
according to the plan
someday it will end
just as it began
and I'll be counting
all the while

You commute, you take a train
no history of chronic pain
you like your bread, but you eat it plain
these all point to the good

now here's the bad and I quote
this is what your doctor wrote
Unusual sound coming from the throat
and occasional pain when he stood

Chorus

That's 2 years off and 10 percent
I'm sorry, this rule isn't bent
th facts are here and don't relent
I really wish that I could

But it's not so bad now after all
that's 12 more years before the pall
maybe more if you play ball
and follow the plan as you should

Chorus

This wasn't the plan
no this wasn't the plan
I counted it all
and I counted again
Ah. I see. Bullets
And I'm only a man

I've seen the ruler
that's the measure of a man
and I did not see
the master plan
someday it will end
just as it began
and I was roaming
all the while

MP3

actuary.mp3