Preface
[Benjamin] Franklin registered a sardonic judgment on this demand. In an anonymous letter to a London journal he wrote that the affair put him in mind of a Frenchman who used to accost English visitors on the Pont-Neuf in Paris, with effusive compliments in his mouth and a red-hot poker in his hand.
'Pray Monsieur Anglais,' says he, 'Do me the favour to let me have the honour of thrusting this hot iron into your backside:'
'Zoons, what does the fellow mean! Begone with your iron, or I'll break your head!'
'Nay, Monsieur,' replied he, 'if you do not choose it, I do not insist upon it. But at least you will in justice have the goodness to pay me something for the heating of the iron.'"
H. W. Brands, from The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
Texts
Recorded
May 16, 2026
Sonata in G Major, Kk. 325 - Domenico Scarlatti - Pieter-Jan Belder
is the confusion
of our composing
a phenomenon
of the
abundance of language at our disposal
we can no longer count
on Fuxian certitude
Novelletten, Op. 21 #8, in F-sharp minor - Robert Schumann - Florian Uhlig
fugatto feel rectitude
anchors the ritornello
to set off
the
dreaminess
of the intermezzi
we'll get to know this character
as they suffuse the stage
Ungarische Nationalmelodien, S. 243b: No. 1, Tempo giusto - Franz Liszt - Carlo Grante
vigorously delicate and decorative
Sonata No. 8, Op. 66 - Alexander Scriabin - Michael Ponti
this dance is a passionate struggle
No (No, Papa, No) - Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra [from Hot Fives and Sevens]
this dance
is at a show off the clothes tempo
shivers down the sides
an oozing shimmy
That'll Be The Day - The Beatles [from The Beatles Anthology]
imitating the American accent of the source recordings
Just One Of Those Things - Ella Fitzgerald [from Love Songs: The Best of the Verve Song Book]
a songwriter's singer
fun to listen to
All Along The Watchtower - The Jimi Hendrix Experience [from Electric Ladyland]
give your characters labels
that can be rhymed
a list of actions
occurring among objects
Santa Ana - Bruce Springsteen [from Tracks]
the next Dylan is something to be
Stunned - T. Bone Burnett [from Proof Through The Night]
a uniform mode of vocal production throughout
serviceable technique but
bland
Gibberish (Wilson) - King's Singers [from My Spirit Sang All Day]
intonation as primary goal
Snake - PJ Harvey [from Rid of Me]
someone is being told
off
or
what's what
Mer Girl - Madonna [from Ray of Light]
less a song
than a whole scene
played out dreamily
Gentle Fonk - Christian Asplund [from Brainstun]
if this music is cinematic
(that it heightens
the enjoyment
of visuals)
whether those visuals
are on screen
or
made up in the mind
upon audition
Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say) - Lady Gaga [from The Fame]
among Paul's 50 Ways
I presume
Surrealisticat - S. Eric Scribner [from Odds and Ends]
moving in a firm direction
and picking up speed
Wunderkammer - Steve Layton [from Trouble In Mind]
this music
is an object being scanned
rotated on likely axes
Life After Crawlrus - Anna La Berge, Tom Baker [from Sand]
a regular shift in the light
foghorns and transponder pings
Sunshine Special - Frenchy's String Band [from Really The Blues]
this sunshine seems a bit down in the mouth
decidedly glum
Say Man - Bo Diddley [collected from Neal Kosály-Meyer's Bo's Milieu]
pre hip hop trash talk clowns
If I Lose - The Band [from Music from Big Pink]
straight up country oom pah
Talk About the Passion - REM [from Murmur]
strings forward
Ei Mori Roujke - Bulgarian State Radio & TV Female Vocal Choir [from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares 2]
is it possible to hear this
and not be drawn to its style?
its
manner?
as though it had an information attached to it?
terminal predication
Caravan - Black Cat Orchestra [from Dante's Inferno Live Score]
in a lewd darkness
Boy Glory - Goodness [from Goodness 1995-1998]
catchy glory story
Goblin Town - Scurvy Bastards [from Battle Born]
Tim Burton ready
Actress Pt. 1 - Courtney Marie Andrews [from Urban Myths]
those difficult conversations mulled over
Don't Hold Back - Smokestack and The Foothill Fury [from High Roads and Hard Shoulders]
plainspeaking poetry
on plainspeaking music
Both Sides The Tweed - Seastar [from Sinners and Angels]
legend
from the banks
of a far away river
Sinfonia 9 - Keith Eisenbrey [recorded live at The Chapel Performance Space, Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, February 27, 2025]
this music slithers in
takes in
every
thing
King of Kings - Johnny Blakey, Bessie Johnson [from Turn Me Loose White Man]
tradition
behind
what became
commercial
emphasized
speech
working into ecstatic song
or
song
to bring us
back
into ordinary ecstasy
Divertimento 2 - Gail Kubik - The Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose
a musical one act
multi-situational dramatic presentation
full of
compositional techniques
suitable for those of tender years
high
brow tele tubby town tunes
this is the sad part
it has oboe
and cello
oh happy bassoons
oh happy brass
oh happy winds
How Many Times? - Rusty Dedrick Orchestra [from Irving Berlin All By Myself: Notable Compositions 1926-1933]
the
I wanna know
kink
plea from the fearful
in an anxious time
Hickeys Around My Neck - Audio 2 [from What More Can I Say]
how to deal with an embarrassment
(use fists) (gratuitous)
then the abbreviated rundown
runs down
into its constituents
Wind/Again - Janet Jackson [from Janet]
ready made
from the sound effects shop
a sentimental reprise
of a love song
they trouble themselves
over a multiply shifting final sparkly chord
and then cut it off with a cleaver
Prairie Lullaby - Tingstad & Rumbel [from American Acoustic]
cor anglais for the heart land
Signs (feat. Missy Elliott) - Beyoncé [from Dangerously In Love]
we'll get the whole starry list
collect 'em all
Granny - The Tiptons Saxophone Quartet [from Laws of Motion]
opens with a long segment of nothing?
yes
then a few seconds of
folk dialog
Soul Soul - Bad Cop Bad Cop [from Wings of Techno]
machinery at work
the true mesmeric
Ninth Descending - Tom Swafford [from Violin Improvisations]
improvisatory development of a fixed figure
Track 10 - Star Anna [streamed from Love Shades, February 14, 2023]
Ms. Anna's power
is her openness
to the song
to occupy
her presence
Caution Blues - Earl Hines [from Really The Blues]
I'll tell you
why you oughtn't do
as I shoulda
oughta
not ta
ha done
but
I'll tell it so sweet
you'll
wish
you oughta
ha done it
anyway
Analogique A - Iannis Xenakis - Ensemble Resonanz, Johannes Kalitzke
combining electronic with acoustic
was all the rage
finding ways
for two means of sound production
to co-exist
from when
their respective times of production
were
incompatible
part of the difficulty
is in hiding the seams
socioeconomically
one gets the benefit
of two ensembles
but
only one
needs to be paid
Some Other Time - Bill Evans [from Some Other Time / The Lost Session from the Black Forest]
the pitch expression of the beat
spreads
and spills
piles of
sand
in a bicameral glass
Not Yet Three - Jonathan Richman [from Jonathan Sings!]
I love twilight
more than you do
hello?
Cactus - Pixies [from Surfer Rosa]
epistle from exile
Tearz - Wu-Tang Clan [from Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)]
playing at film director
HIV subtext
Soundscape-Chelsea [from Jack Straw Cultural Center Blind Youth Audio Project 2003]
instruments with crickets and other things
Lumber Town - The True Bugs [from 25 Songs]
hinge of decision
raised
as an offering
to the horizon
and consequences
Pink Three - Andrew Young [from Inkplaces]
advanced soundscape
composed toward being music
Fulton County Jane Doe - Brandi Carlile [from By the Way I Forgive You]
fractured denizens
of a fractured land
Winchelsea - Keith Eisenbrey - Keith Eisenbrey [December 10, 2023]
I enjoy pushing the tunes
somewhat off their assigned meter and key
Spike Driver Blues - Mississippi John Hurt [from Anthology of American Folk Music]
giving up the hammer for good
Love Walked In - Sarah Vaughan [from Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin]
the introduction sets the scene
the verses are the event
The Chess Players - Wayne Shorter [from The Classic Blue Note Recordings]
so very suave
Bond James Bond class
step into the coda fade
and you
will be returned
My Kar Kat - Dan Sedia [recorded live at Bard College, March 18, 1983]
takes his strumming seriously
wallowing in production
Something In The Way - Nirvana [from Unplugged in New York]
unplugged means
no electric guitar
Colors: Grass Green - Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury [from Brad Hawkins, Jesse Canterbury]
plays bare foot
Don't Hesitate to Change Your Mind - Empty Cage Quartet [from Stratostrophic]
an unmistakable feel of a pulse
somewhere
long before it
selfexplicates
a groove
that gains adherents
steps apart
onto the platform
climb the hill
season finale
lots of lengthy solos
end with fun for all
Young Love - Peter Fedofsky [from False Ties and Nice Hoods]
Bo Diddley heart throb
the verses are distinctly produced
Coyote - Taylor Ho Bynum, Mark Dresser [from THB Bootlegs Volume 4]
trumpet and bass
at a brisk pace
unvarying attention
I Will Be OK - Dead Bars [from Dirt Cult Records: You Don't Have To Be Cool]
investing a moment with power
Magnificat, Op. 137 - Alan Hovhanness - The Choirs and Orchestra of St. John's Cathedral, Denver; Donald Pearson
all one's belongings
in a few cases
the composer
before he became a brand
short
carefully designed segments
they don't try to fit together
with anything
so composedly technical
as a transition
each line
is set
as if in a new room
this scribble on the strings articulation
is growing on me
as though shadows pass
lots of exposed singing
not for the faint
of heart choir
land of eternal Gloria singing
North of the Sunset (take 1) - Thelonious Monk [from The Complete Columbia Studio Solo Recordings]
hammers it with confidence
That's S.A.L.E.S. - Keith Johnston, Daniel Warner, J. K. Randall [from Inter/Play]
put pepper on books
to discourage the dog
no amateurish technique
we're recording
raise the cultural level a little bit
pumpkins and peas
growth in wet weather
knee
nickel
artillery
is very important in war
through the door
of
Steinian prose
we enter
a ceremonial place
a sonatina
followed by another
The Jackson Song - Patti Smith [from Dream of Life]
a lullaby
lulling to life
Cold Mountain Songs: Piano Interlude - Robert Morris - Margaret Kampmeier [from Open Space 30]
long notes and short
we hear the internal motions
that our ears discover
without
necessary regard
to compositional provenance
Looking for Water - David Bowie [from Reality]
music poem
in the form of a dance
Good Morning Janet/Much Better - Janet Jackson [from Discipline]
this music wants to fill your head
with itself
replacement of self
with it
Boundary - Your Mother Should Know [recorded live at The Comet, Seattle, March 5, 2013]
program notes at a dive bar
Neal sang it at this gig
A Line - Arbor Towers [from Old]
aspiring to
a music that fascinates
to be
the musician we
hear
Ms. Found In a Bottle - Keith Eisenbrey [from Keith Eisenbrey 8: 2001-2002]
the blank silences
between the first items
are weighty with intent
a weightiness
shared by the word sounds
and the nonword sounds
the blanknesses
survive past the silences
the giant bullfrog sounds
came through the whole process
unscathed
enough
analog crud in your face
Trittico Barbara - Wolfgang Darzins - Ken Benshoof
figuration freak
wiggle dance
mass shift chorale
caricaturist
finger puppeteer
no dancing on the kissing floor
new motor scooter
with power drive
The Longest Time - Billy Joel [from The Essential Billy Joel]
this song
as a throwback
is right up Billy's alley
so early
60s it hurts
Caught, We Need a Witness - Public Enemy [from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back]
testimony declaration
Une gay bergère - The Baltimore Consort [from La Rocque'N'Roll]
lute and viol?
perhaps a different plucker box
The Compound as a Ranch - Doug Haire [from The Crawford Opera]
layers of time's residue
life on the train to slaughter
The Lonesomes - Dolly Parton [from Backwoods Barbie]
her voice
is quite comfy
in this whisper light ensemble
doesn't try to aim at the back benches
Brother Bryan - Waxahatchee [from Cerulean Salt]
likes to rhyme multisyllabic words
How Many - Brenda Ray [from Original Songs/1950s Music]
homespun epistle rhyme
August - Megan Ihnen [from Sleep Songs, Volume 2]
throwing some devastating pitches there
Vanessa, Act I - Samuel Barber - Metropolitan Opera Orchestra & Chorus, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Eleanor Steber, Nicolai Gedda, Rosalind Elias, Giorgio Tozzi, Regina Resnik
this music is a noirish monster
in shades of fantasy horror
suspense
on the edge of its camera angles
Oedipus...
an operatic aria
intrudes upon the drama
otherwise in
progress
music follows the lighting cues
all in Vanessa's close awareness
the long awaited
dies offstage you never smile
Come Back Baby - Aretha Franklin [from Lady Soul]
gospel tradition
of solo to choir concertante
similar
to a
blues conversation
between singer and instrument
Atlas Eclipticalis with Winter Music 831211 8:30 PM (continued) - John Cage - The New Performance Group, John Cage
in this recording
the ambient presence
of the recorded room
stands for Cagean silence
hearing pitches in space
those with ears to listen
will know
how their pitches will stand with them
consciously
or
admittedly
or deniably
or not
a space to be in with sounds
can be wonderful
even if that part of
the experience
is unexportable
and perhaps
it is that
communal vibe
that helps ease
the sense
of slowly passing
time
Express Yourself - N.W.A. [from Straight Outta Compton]
spins on a rhyme
In Session at The Tintinabulary
May 17, 2026
Meditation - Keith Eisenbrey
the 150th of my arrangements of these shape note tunes
May 18, 2026
Banned Rehearsal 1151 - Karen Eisenbrey, Keith Eisenbrey, Steve Kennedy
Postscripts
Drops
Keith Eisenbrey 32: Sabbatical Improvisations (part 3) 2014
In 2013 I had reached an inflection point in my big project, Études d'exécution imminent, and took a sabbatical (indifferently observed) from composing written-down music. I filled the time with various forms of improvisation, both "in-the-moment" composing, and sometimes puttering about with multi-tracking and other digitally applied effects. Here is the third bunch of them..
recordings of my compositions (and more!) can be found at keitheisenbrey.bandcamp.com - free to download or stream
