Waiting for the Circus to Roll Through

[n3wt]

Hey this is another song I wrote. I grew up in a small town, and didn't really fit in, and I sort of imagined what it would be like if everyone who didn't fit in wherever they were just went out to the side of the highway and waited for the circus to come by and pick them up.

Here's a link to a youtube video of the song : http://youtu.be/MrTDQWNgsHk

we are the weird crew
we've gathered here for you
we're in our finest rags
brightly coloured sequin bags
turning tricks on the avenue
waiting for the circus to roll through

the line starts there
maria fix your hair
they're painting faces on the lawn
while the ticket taker's gone
you could watch this town die in front of you
waiting for the circus to roll through

i saw them all in line
pretty faces frozen in time
and in amongst the freaks
between the vaudevillian antiques
i thought i caught a glimpse of you
waiting for the circus to roll through

i remember the night you took the stage
the way the colour it fled from your face
so you powdered your skin white
and ran off into the night
and found a place where nobody knew you
and waited for the circus to roll through

the ladies all had knots in their hair
and the men's suits were all in disrepair
but you should've seen those tramps light up
every time their turn came up
and they'd a chance to show us all what they could do
waiting for the circus to roll through

we are the weird crew
i've been waiting here like all of you
and when our time arrives
to tumble and dive
i'll be running off with all of you
waiting for the circus to roll through
waiting for the circus to roll through

 

[Raz]

Dude! That was amazing! I actually had a much much different idea of what the song would sound like from just reading the lyrics (was imagining something a lot darker), but it was perfect. Awesome songcrafting!

 

[n3wt]

Thanks so much.

It's strange, when I play this song live I get a great response (I don't play live often... just saying.) but on YouTube it doesn't really seem to have as much impact, I'd imagine it's an attention span thing. A 6 minute song is nothing if you're sitting right in front of the person playing it, but on the internet that's a lifetime.

I'm glad to hear you liked it.

 

[ForEverAfter]

I really liked it too. Fantastic lyrics, well performed.

In terms of the internet versus real life there are other factors aside from attention span. Like the sound quality of the video is not top notch I assume cause you've compressed into a stream-able format in order to upload it. Not sure what kind of microphone you are using but if it's decent you can most likely play around with the codec settings to up the quality of the audio, not the video, while only marginally increasing the file-size. If you don't want to increase the file-size at all, personally, I would decrease the video quality and increase the audio. The sound is more important. In terms of visuals, it'd be worth putting a bit more effort into composition. Although I appreciate the "real" quality of the video, the camera angle isn't pleasing to the eye. And it's easily fixed. I'm not saying add fireworks or special effects or anything. But if people are going to sit down and watch a 6 minute song, it's better if it's cropped properly. All you need to do, in this case, is pan down a bit so we can see more of the guitar. Sorry if you didn't want all that feedback. I just figured it might shed some light on why this song isn't getting the attention it deserves.

 

[herbavore]

another great song, n3wt! I took the image of all the people waiting for the circus to roll through and expanded it in my head to them just starting their own circus and becoming the new flavor of the little town just by joining forces.

 

[n3wt]

Thanks everyone!

And I can see what you mean about composition and sound quality, I'm doing this with a cheap crappy webcam and a halfway decent microphone. I should be putting more effort into what I'm putting up however.

 

[ForEverAfter]

The webcam doesn't matter. If the microphone is decent, fuck with the codec settings. When you up something onto the net, most programs opt for the worst (most compressed) format possible in order to save file space. As I said, you can vastly increase the quality of the sound with the click of a button. No extra hardware is necessary.

 

[n3wt]

Yeah I understand what you're saying, it just made me think that maybe there is more that I could be doing all around. Sound quality is obviously the most important aspect, but composition amd video quality make a difference as well.