3. Who Can Say?

THE STORY :
Your relationship is an entire country that you've carved out of the world, a place with hard-fought borders, with its own language, customs, allies and enemies. And if you are a particular brand of self-centered, jealous, controlling lover (though you don't have to be), you may quickly find yourself alone, holed up in the basement of the palace with all the furniture up against the huge gilded doors (it's that kind of palace and that kind of hollow empire that you've built), listening to the crackling and sirens above while sipping at the last bottle of your dwindling power, waiting for them to take you bound down to the main square.

Here's the final track :

Actually, just occurred to me that this is sort of like a sister song to "No Regular Day, No" from Like...This. Sort of. That one had a sort of Ceausecu thing going on. Anyway, I still feel for the guy (in the song, not Nicholai). Doesn't have to have been a jerk to feel like the the whole world has collapsed and the Rule of Love has ended.

Anyway other than a couple of Jimmie's bouncier numbers, Who Can Say one was one of the rare originals that people figured out how to dance to when we were 4Eyes and gigging the Squire. Might've been this one that resulted in the guy getting a broken shot glass in the mouth?

AN ASIDE :

Not sure if I can say enough about the chill magic of Jon Evans and what he's built at Brick Hill. Everything we brought there was just a shadow of what came out. This song is a good example.

Here's the "bullet" mic Jon used for the first verse vocal :

That mic sound started to fill out the whole narrative daydream I'd always had while performing this song. This eventually led to the "Russian Army" scene in the bridge. Down comes Jon with three pairs of boots. Nice boots. And then it was Jimmie and Aaron and I up to the mezzanine to clomp around and sing in our best infantry baritones. This is what I love about the recording process: all the drama playing out in my head when I'm singing these characters has a chance of getting externalized so I can really see it.

Lyrics:

My body’s silent as a drum
Since you took your hands away
I’m going blind my mind is numb
Since you took your eyes away

Birds have flown to parts unknown
It’s a cold and icy, stormy May
I huddle here without your warmth
My lips are blue, my lips are blue

Who can say how this will end?
Who can say how this....is gonna end?

And all the streets are empty now
Since you took your smile away
The electricity is out
Since you took your laugh away

The shops are shuttered cross the town
Their shelves are empty
My government comes crashing down
Marshall Law begins today

Who can say how this will end?
Who can say how this ...is gonna end?

I hear the drums outside my door
I hear the drums, the drums of war
Why did you leave me here all alone?
Why did you leave me? My birds have flown away.

Who can say?

music and Lyrics by Humberto Cordero

Aaron Mayo : guitar, Russian Soldier #1, marching

Andrew Fietek : drums, percussion

Jimmie Snider : bass, wounded Russian Soldier #4, marching

Humberto Cordero : vocals, accordion, Russian Soldier in ditch, marching

Recorded and mixed by Jon Evans at Brick Hill, Orleans.Mastered by Coast, Berkeley, CA

Here's an old live recording from a 4Eyes gig long ago.

Here's our first take from the first session together at Brick Hill. You can see there is not yet an inkling that the Russians are coming.

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