DAY 7: Pay Me

HEY IT’S BEEN A WEEK! TODAY’S SONG IS CALLED PAY ME…

"I'll be high minded and pure as soon as I'm sure that I'm not about to end up dead."

Listen to "Pay Me"

lookin at the clouds kinda spitting and storming

as I fall through the sky at the top o the morning

got move through the world let me give you a warning

gotta fix it, change it

tear the sucker down rearrange it

strange, it never seemed impossible before you know?

so just keep it up buck

you might just get a fat lip

smack you back to the lack you felt back when you were smackin jack

and every body always askin if it pays or not

as if the only thing of value were a bank account

and yet

i value heaters steak and paid rent

so i’m on another plane trying to make a dent

i need to speed up to catch up i’m leavin myself behind

even i can’t keep up with my mind

so pay me (pay me)

pay me (pay me)

what i’m worth

and i’ll think about art when i’m sheltered and fed

just

pay me (pay me)

pay me (pay me)

i’ll be high minded and pure as soon as i’m sure

that i’m not about to end up dead

got you noddin like you got some parkinson’s

pretty beats and the rhymes that i’m barkin son

bitin lines from the rain in the back of my brain

and i’m fluffy like a big ol’ tire chain

said i’m beatin my head against a big fat piece of lead

when i see a little crack

i step back and look at that

try to attack again do it til it caves in

watchin me run away

feelin kinda stuck

hangin dead from the bottom of a turnip truck

bump your head on the speed bumps

kinda like a drum

trailin blood in the mud from Katy to Houston

better give me

what i need

or i won’t be ok

so pay me (pay me)

pay me (pay me)

what i’m worth

and i’ll think about art when i’m sheltered and fed

just

pay me (pay me)

pay me (pay me)

i’ll be high minded and pure as soon as i’m sure

that i’m not about to end up dead

now I ain’t no pop star

ridin in a fancy red car

everybody know who i are

baby gonna take me too far

but i been chokin to death since 75

when i first came alive

what you think it’s a joke?

i’ve got to keep this habit fed

on art i tread

i need the bread

so pay me (pay me)

pay me (pay me)

what i’m worth

and i’ll think about art when i’m sheltered and fed

just

pay me (pay me)

pay me (pay me)

i’ll be high minded and pure as soon as i’m sure

that i’m not about to end up dead

Backstory

Pay Me! Pay Me was a tune that I cobbled together from a lot of little lyric snippets, but the main point was that I was feeling quite frustrated with making zero money – but I was also aware that a high minded snobbery about the purity of art wasn’t going to really work. In fact, snobbery doesn’t work too well for simply connecting either. I think I was listening to a track by Atmosphere at the time. Not that I have anything against Atmosphere. It just suddenly occured to me that I might want to think differently, and then I wrote down the chorus of this song – the rhythmic complexity there is definitely influenced by Atmosphere.

I wrote the first verse on a plane. I was going to California both to check in on my new lungs and hit the studio. I remember recording scratch vocals in the hotel room on my tablet and I thought “how slick is that?”. Then I recorded the real vocals in the studio at Stanford. The whole time I was alone. That can be weird. I recorded the piano years earlier – it’s an old beat up piano that my step mother had. I mic’d it up and played some riffs – so it’s this really weird funky un good sound which I loved! HA!

So – that’s the story there. Pay me! I mean, you can if you want, you’re welcome to, but either way, let’s connect!

Here’s yer credits:

-- Aaron J. Trumm “Pay Me”

-- Produced by Aaron J. Trumm

-- Everything: Aaron J. Trumm

-- Lead Vocals: Aaron J. Trumm

-- Mix: Aaron J. Trumm at NQuit Music

-- Mastering: Aaron J. Trumm at NQuit Music

I did that lyric video above – I’m not even sure why! I just wanted to, I suppose. It took about 2 full days of tediously making one frame after the other of the words. You can see where I was getting tired – it’s the places where suddenly a whole phrase appears at once 🙂 That’s the first music related video I ever made though, so I’m decently proud lol.

Ok – story over! I will see you tomorrow!

— Aaron

PS: If you want to talk – email me at aaron@aarontrumm.com or come talk to me on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AaronJTrumm