Ritalin
posted by Corey
UPDATE (03/13/09): New version of the song below.
Research suggests that children who take Ritalin suffer from stunted growth. Since it became available, Ritalin has been linked to 29 incidents of animal cruelty perpetrated by a child taking the medication. Could it be that these children take out their stature-related insecurities on helpless animals such as small dogs and cats? Poor pooches! Poor kitties!
I suspect this kind of pathological thrill-seeking is common with Ritalin-takers. 
When I was on Ritalin, the joys and sorrows of my life were muted, if not completely eliminated. I felt indifferent to a friend’s success, to a family member’s distress. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed spending hours tracing over a type-written sentence to replicate a John Cage-inspired font. (I never harmed an animal.)
The instruments in this song are clarinet, maracas, piano, and ‘cello. Everyone else calps their hands occasionally. There is some Ritalin-inspired instrumental writing, particularly for Josh Rubin (clarinet) and Jacob Greenberg (piano).
I have a lyrics problem. I’d like to find a better line than “No extremes and nothing in between,” for two reasons:
- I’m usually fine with slant-rhymes (rhymes that are not technically correct), but in this case I am unhappy with “extreme” and “between.”
- The line is not quite saying what I want it to say. I want to say something like, “No extremes, and what else is there anyway?”
New version:
Ritalin (03/13/09)
Audio has been removed.
Download Score [NOTE: PDFs have been temporarily removed. Revised scores will soon be available through New Amsterdam Records.]
Old Version(s)
Ritalin (02/04/09)
Audio has been removed.
Download Score [NOTE: PDFs have been temporarily removed. Revised scores will soon be available through New Amsterdam Records.]
I was an angry child
A wild-eyed baby
I was strangely beguiled
By even angrier babies
But not even angrier babies
Could hold my attention
So I was given Ritalin
Little did they know
That babies grow
A little less with each dose
Ritalin has whittled me down and imposed
Fewer highs
Fewer lows
No extremes
Not even in my dreams
[In the old version: No extremes
And nothing in between]
[piano solo]
I was an angry child
A wild-eyed baby
So I was given Ritalin
Little did they know
That babies grow
A little less with each dose
Ritalin has whittled me down and imposed
Fewer highs
Fewer lows
No extremes
Not even in my dreams
[In the old version: No extremes
And nothing in between]
No extremes
Not even in my dreams
[In the old version: No extremes
And nothing in between]
i remember when i was in college, there was one girl on Ritalin, and it was a BIG DEAL. no one was on drugs like that. and now about 80% of my NYU students on are on Prozac, Ritalin, etc… that’s a lotta 18 year olds with no extremes.
Corey replies: …and complicated sexual side effects to boot! What the hell kind of theater will they make?
Hmmm… It seems “nothing in between” is really the opposite of what you want to get at, so yeah – I agree it’s got to go. Rather than change the rhyme-word you could just change the rest of the phrase – “I’m always in between” or “I’m stuck here in between” – etc etc. Seems like that might make the point. You’re still stuck with the slant-rhyme, but whatever.
As for new, un-slanted rhymes…
“I’m like a stagnant stream”
“I’ll never cry or scream”
“I’ve become the American Dream”
“My brain is sour cream”
“The ultimate male supreme white woman’s dream” (um… okay, that one might be an Ice-T lyric already…)
Corey replies: Yes, it has to go! I like, “In my brain are stagnant streams of cries, screams, American dreams, seventeen varieties of sour creams.”
the replies have me clicking away and finding people from the past! hey david, rob and jim! wait, rob and jim haven’t commented here (yet). well, hello david! anyway, your inclination to keep songs to 4 minutes should tell you one of two things: to absolutely keep all songs under 4 minutes, even obsessively as close to 4 minutes as possible or; to purposefully create a song that is much too long and that you will worry will bore people. i know stephen merrit did it at the end of “hyacinths and thistles,” but have you? it’s interesting to me how in college you would sometimes very decisively make people uncomfortable or awkward (in a good way, that i love deeply), but that you’re now worried about people getting bored! map fund be damned! bore them out of their skulls! it will be interesting!
Corey replies: Uncomfortable and awkward is good. Boring is not. However, if I want to, I think I can make a song seem interminably boring in under 4 minutes. Maybe that should be my goal.
I love that you go up on the “Lows”
Many of these tracks i may not being appropriately imagining the humanity coming through the midi but here are some thoughts. Some things I think might be really refreshing (in not just this track) would be some moments of cavernous space for the voice. More extremes of space and collective behaviors, big fat unisons and counter-melodies. And then ambiance where the instruments are blending at low volumes to create queezyiness and more texture. I feel like I’m looking for the daintiness (quirkitude) of the arrangements to be undermined sometimes in order to feel some real misery, confusion and impending psycho-somatic doom.
That said I really like this one probably the best.
No extremes.
Just what seems to me to be vacancy–y-yy-ey-yey-yyyyy
No extremes
just reams and reams of _________
No extremes
but neither any normalcy in between
Corey replies: Thanks, César. Yes, I’m tending to work almost exclusively with textures in which the instruments are fairly autonomous! But I hear your concerns and will keep that in mind when writing and revising… Perhaps I’ll listen to some Henry Purcell… Or Giacinto Scelsi… Or Harold Budd…
Man, I’m loving this tune. I love the AD(H)D instrumental parts, though I think it would be cool to spend a little more time allowing the cello and clarinet to play different alternating notes of their unison parts, only occasionally actually playing together. Or better yet, you could only do that on some of the repeats.
Actually, that makes me think about a broader issue: My inclination in a verse/chorus type of repeating form would be to tweak small aspects of either the harmony, the rhythm or the arrangement with each sectional return. However, the more exacting repeats you do in this tune and the first lend a cool, disaffected vibe that works really well, and I’d be worried that constantly mutating parts might disrupt that. I’m not sure what I think about it. Are you going for a starker, less busy vibe?
The cello writing makes sense to me except for the massive leap in m. 11 et al. I’m sure that the ICE cellist can pull it off, but that G is wicked high and he only has a beat to get there after the M2nd double stop. I’d be complaining about that if I were playing the part, but then again I’m really whiny. Also note that the low C-A major sixth in measure 17 will sound much more like a rumble than a harmony. That will be less of an issue when it’s connected to other, more stable low double-stops like in 27, and probably won’t be a problem anyway. Just keep an ear out for it in rehearsals and make sure it’s what you want. Might help the ADD vibe actually.
Corey replies: Great suggestions and comments. I’ll keep an ear out in rehearsals for the cello issues you raise. I hear you about the repetition and variation concerns. There are some small small small adjustments in most of the songs, so that repetitions are not exactly the same, but my overall strategy is to embrace repetition because the songs are relatively short. I also hope that the instrumental parts are intricate enough that even a verbatim repetition would not be an unwelcome event. Having said that, I think I’ll try the clarinet and cello trading back and forth during the piano solo…
i sent the link to my sister who has a kid they wanted to put on ritalin. she didn’t. finds out later he’s got asbergers. not sure if she will comment. but the whole “no extremes” thing is certainly a desire she may have had that she didn’t give into. i’m glad. he’s a pretty crazy kid. who knows who he would be if the ritalin had kicked in.
Corey replies: Ritalin, like most mind-altering medications, seems to have different effects on different people. For me, it made me feel less like myself, but for others, it might make them feel more like themselves. Still, I think AD(H)D is too frequently diagnosed, and that is, of course, a result of the drug companies disguising their marketing tactics as medical/scientific research.
Here’s a great personal essay written by a well-known classical music critic who happens to live with Asperger’s.
No extremes
And nothing left to dream.
Oh my God, that’s so cheesy. But it does rhyme and seems to be saying what you want it to.
Corey replies: Oh, yes, but I agree, it’s a little too cheesy. But maybe something like “No extremes in my life or even in my dreams.” Something like that…
can you skip the rhyme and do an alliteration instead? i’m of two minds, actually. i like how the instrumentation (with notations to support it) reflect the distraction for which ritalin is supposedly a remedy. but i also wonder if it might work to have a very focused portion–either a capella or in unison. but then, i wonder whether your lyric problem might actually be addressed by a break-down in text. maybe it’s okay that you want to say “no extremes, and what else is there anyway? blank stares and open glances…(laundry list, yadda yadda)” that would also be illustrative of the “distracty/competing” aspect you are trying to do, rather than counter to it….
aw jeez. i’m so confused now. i think i need to take my pills.
ps. the pdf for the score is missing the “pdf” extension, easy fix if one knows to look for it, but you might want to re-upload.
Corey replies: kt, your comments are making me realize two things in particular: First, I can probably make some of these songs longer than they are. Generally, I’m tempted to keep every song under 4 minutes, just in case people don’t like a particular song, then at least they know it will be over before too long! But some of the suggestions you’re making would require (I think) longer songs, which is a helpful thing for me to think about. I like your idea of abandoning the standard protocol of rhyming. On the other hand, I feel as though in many of these songs, I’m already jettisoning my desire to rhyme obsessively. Maybe once I’ve written more songs, there can be a good variety of songs that rhyme a lot and songs that don’t rhyme a lot. In that context, I might go ahead and try your idea of singing “What else is there anyway?” and then listing the answers.
I’m taken off the teams
Corey replies: Oh, Amy! When we used to play dodge-ball, why did you always pick me last to be on your team?