Emory Thorne — Ribbons

The lizard, bearded in the hairless way, had his plump belly rested on the sheeny black stone beneath him. It was very hot to the touch, under the beating sun. He is enjoying this situation very much. A couple of lengths in front of him, there is a picnic happening under looming canopy, oversized — as is typical of Miralaian flora. A boy, a girl, and a Pojiro. The Pojiro looks at the boy, the boy looks at the girl, and the girl looks past the boy. One could imagine a slow horde of pink satin ribbons pushing forth out of the dirt and snaking up around the smooth stems of flowers and the rugged barked trunks of trees, wrapping up and up and up with beautiful constriction.

Ribbons came together faster than perhaps any song I have made in the past. The whole process was maybe three or four days from zero to distributed. Funny enough, the origin of Ribbons lies in the Miralai Mail care package I created for “I Care for You.” I described the Cloudmeleon in that artwork as having “ribbons of smoke” (or something along those lines) coming from its nostrils, and I later noted that the word “ribbons” was cool and, I felt, underused in songwriting. Then, some time later, on my way to the grocery store, a series of lyrical ideas popped into my head that I typed into my Notes app. Those, unrefined and as bad, frankly, as they were, are included below for your enjoyment. “you keep cutting all these ribbons around me my hands are always empty with the feeling of you you keep cutting all these ribbons around me cutting all these ribbons while I’m only wanting you cutting all these ribbons while I’m only wanting you snow powders the sky blushing red with sunrise go on and call me crazy I haven’t made your morning coffee my hands are cracked skin clicking and clacking and reaching for you a perfect crash of perfect wave why do lashes make the eye” But certain lines and ideas stayed, or transformed. The rest was just sitting down with a guitar, hammering some chords out, and filling in blanks. I never meant to pitch down the song or fairly heavily auto-tune the vocals (it is, in fact, the actual Auto-Tune plugin doing the work there), but a couple of random in-process accidents led to me hearing that version midway, and it gave me a really powerful feeling that I did not want to lose. So I kept everything as close as I could to how it was at that moment while still finishing the song (production elements to fill everything out, mix, master, etc.).

Snow powders the sky Blushing red with the sunrise Cold out of my mind In my head flew the grapevine Plates clatter and cry Potted lilacs turn to chastise You, I never could buy Or figure the answer I ran out of time You keep cutting all these ribbons My hands are empty looking for you You keep chasing all these ribbons When all I ever wanted was you Being with me Am I holding you back? I never wanted that Go and Cut all your ribbons Cut all your ribbons Find the one that ties you to me Hands riddled and dry Skeletal against your waistline The scarecrow and cherubic wife I am a lizard in the sunshine Oh, what a glorious time Making pretend inside the sand mines Go, love of my life Render me free Render me free You keep cutting all these ribbons My hands are empty looking for you You keep chasing all these ribbons When all I ever wanted was you Being with me Am I holding you back? I never wanted that Go and Cut all your ribbons Cut all your ribbons Find the one that ties you to me Find the one that ties you to me

This one is strange in that it was actually recorded significantly higher than it is in the record. The record is pitch-shifted down 147 cents (1 semitone and 47 cents, almost exactly 1.5 notes). It was recorded in what I think is the key of D major, even though that chord is not used very often in the song. I could be wrong, but it feels like “home” / “resolution” is the D major chord. When played on guitar in the key it was recorded in, it goes as follows: Verses: Bm, F#m, G, A Choruses: Em, A, F#m, Bm (repeats twice for the first two phrases, then changes at “being with me”) Em, A, D, Bm Em, A, Em, A (cut all your ribbons) Em, Gm, D (find the one) Note: in the second chorus, there is an additional “find the one that ties you to me” refrain, which means the end of the progression adds an additional phrase before resolving: Em, A, D, Bm Em, Gm, D Chord shapes (standard): Em: 022000 A: x02220 D: xx0232 G: 320003 Bm: x24432 F#m: 244222 Gm: 355333