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Cry in Vain

from Abbey Damned by vonHummer

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about

I can definitely track "Cry in Vain" to 1994. Packrat that I am, at least when I dust off some old song, I usually have the grace to write a new melody for it. Not so for "Cry in Vain." It's not substantially changed from the version I was trying to get past bands to play.

I can still hear the harmony voice of one girl in particular I sang this with back then. She's an old lady now. But oddly, I'm still a stud. But I digress.

It's hard for me to tell whether this song is any good or not. It's very...straightforward. Simple. Too simple? It may be boring. It's a task for me to play, I'll tell you that. I have to get into the feeling of it, as there's not much else to entertain me. No deadly chord changes. No tricky wordplay...

But then, this song wrote itself down with almost no involvement from me, and that's what all the very best songs do, so, maybe it's a great song?
I mean, I didn't know anybody named "Angel" then. It's completely fictional.

"Cry in Vain" is a slow song, but I've arranged it nicely with primal toms and kind of tex mex lilt with the high guitar in counterpoint.

lyrics

"Cry in Vain"
(vonHummer)
Angel, where will you be when you cry in vain? Angel, where will you be when you finally break down and cry in vain?
Maybe you’ll be in some shop spending my money, you might driving that car I bought when you start to feel something funny, something like you never felt before, like a piece of your soul’s face down out in the rain, then you’re gonna break down and cry in vain…*
Maybe you’ll be on my phone talking ‘bout nothing, you might be laughing 'bout the seeds you’ve sewn when you start to feel something touching, clutching your soul upon the sleeve, brushing everything with loss you counted for gain, then you’re gonna break down and cry in vain…
Angel, where will you be when you cry in vain? Angel, where will you be when you finally break down and cry in vain?
Do you realize that everyone you knew, everybody true, everyone who’d do anything for you cos they loved you for who you were, in your blindness, you threw us away? And now everything you want, everything you got, everything you thought ought to adorn you is trailing behind you now like a ball and chain, Could be ten short years or five long minutes til you break down and cry in vain...
Angel, where will you be when you cry in vain? Angel, where will you be when you cry in vain?Angel, where will you be when you cry in vain?
Angel, where will you be when you finally break down and cry in vain…?

credits

from Abbey Damned, released August 1, 2003
vonHummer: drums, bass, bass drone, high guitar drone, vocals.

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vonHummer Portland, Oregon

vonHummer is a Portland music/cable access legend whose career spanned from Fall of 2001 to Fall of 2011, during which he recorded a hundred or so songs for use in his absurdist show (and feature film) and played only a handful of concerts. Currently retired, his work shines on for the ages. Or will he someday return...? ... more

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