Sometimes a Migraine Is Just a Migraine
UPDATE (03/19/09): New version of the song below.
A low level of serotonin in the brain seems to be connected to depression, and some scientists now believe it’s 
also connected to headaches. As someone who has a close personal relationship with both migraines and depression, I must look to the bright side: The good news is that a low level of serotonin makes me less likely to take short cuts through dark alleys at night.
I’m not sure if I’ll be writing a song about depression for this piece, but migraines seem perfectly well-suited for a hypochondria piece, so here goes. There’s an added bonus which is: Doctors still don’t really understand the causes of migraines.*
I’m starting to get the sense that some of these songs are sung by someone who’s dating a doctor. Perhaps he wasn’t “out” as a hypochondriac when they first started dating, and now that he’s out, the disenchantment begins.
The instruments in this song are flute, drum set, piano, and ‘cello. The voice is sent through a distortion box which makes it sound grungy and sort-of throbby. I’ve also added a delay (echo) pedal that gets slightly more prominent as the song goes on.
I look forward to hearing your responses to this song.
*As for my impotent teeth? “Your teeth should never be touching!!!“
New version:
Sometimes a Migraine Is Just a Migrain (03/19/09)
Audio has been removed.
Download Score (PDF)
Old version(s)
Sometimes a Migraine Is Just a Migraine (03/06/09)
Audio has been removed.
Download Score (PDF)
Turn off the lights
Turn down the sound
Disconnect the phone
I’m not all right
My head is pounding
Leave me alone
Feels like there’s a mass
That’s smashing up against my skull
All you think to ask
Is is it sharp or is it dull
Sometimes a migraine
Is just a migraine
Sometimes pain is just pain
Well I’ll stop complaining
When you start explaining
I really love this song as well. The syncopation is just the right mix of irritation and groove for me — fits the subject matter well.
Where are the obligatory trombone glissandi?!?!?
Corey replies: Thanks, Steven. Those are helpful comments. The trombone glissandi are buried beneath the surface. You have to listen really really really hard to hear them…
Greetings from Istanbul! A thought occurs to me about the distortion: I think you can increase the intensity of the distortion effect without losing intelligibility as long as you make sure there’s plenty of dry, undistorted corey in the mix as well. In other words, increase the dist drive but move the dry/wet ratio further toward dry. Might be a cool effect.
Corey replies: I think I’ve already got a little of that increase in the wet-dry ratio in the recording I made, but I could make it more obvious. Have fun in Instanbul.
Sometimes a migraine is just a migraine…although sometimes it’s a stroke. Just saying! Seriously, I feel personally connected to the subject of many of these songs in some weird way–Hey, I had colic and now like scotch! Hey, I had migraines!–which leads me to suspect your audience is going to intimately relate and possibly feel compelled to tell you how in graphic detail. Be prepared!
Also, the “dating a doctor” aspect could be ambiguous or double-layered. Sexy doctor fantasies are common (I think this explains the popularity of the television program Grey’s Anatomy, for instance), and that would just take hypochondria aspect to another level.
Corey replies: Molly, I had people coming up to me after Removable Parts telling me all kinds of secrets about their plastic surgery, body image problems, etc, so I’m prepared! But seriously, I think it’s great if people can personally relate to the songs. And, yes, the doctor fantasy is definitely a factor here! Did I mention that my brother has been dating a medical student for several years? Perhaps she can provide some illicit medical supplies for the performance of Thirteen Near-Death Experiences…
Hi Corey!
I’m also arriving late to the party, but I have been checking in and listening to works in progress.
I also like the distortion. Does the level of distortion need to remain the same throughout? I like the idea of singing softly with increased distortion. If you’re concerned about losing the words, but you are also considering extending the song by adding another verse, maybe you would want to repeat a verse with the same lyrics, but singing softer with heavy distortion. It may work fine to lose the words if we’ve just heard them.
Corey replies: Hi, Ryan. I like the idea of modulating the distortion, and if I repeat the words, that solves the intelligibility problem. That’s definitely something I’ll try in rehearsals, if I end up using distortion. I’m wondering if maybe I’ll just try to sing this song through a megaphone, instead of using all those compooter machines.
hey dear corey!
I’m arriving late to this party, but I’m really enjoying listening to your demos and reading all the discerning comments…
I’m particularly liking this newest song: I am very fond of the gaps… perhaps one idea is to have some sort of continuous goo happen in the space between the verse and the chorus, or between the two reps of the chorus… (using those terms loosely, but you know what I mean)… it might cause us to understand the holes differently if there were some nearly subliminal something under there…
I like the distortion better than the yelling idea (though I agree that having fx on vocals on only one song might be strange.) maybe singing even more softly through the distortion? making the distortion even nastier? perhaps I’m going too far in the text-painting direction for you, but I think you’re getting really close to the migraine’s frozen agony with the gaps and the distortion as it is, that I’d be curious what would happen if you went even further towards embodying it…
xoxox
evb
Corey replies: Oh, Eve, you know deep down inside I’m a romantic text-painting fool! Seriously, though, I’m with you in the sense that if the distortion stays, it should be amp-ed up, so to speak. I do worry, though, that the words will be lost if that happens. I’m glad you like this song particularly. It is one of the songs that I feel least secure about. I also like your noodling goo idea…
No, actually I like all the double stops and I generally wish people would write them more often. I think these parts might be dull without them. Is there anyway that the F or the Bb could be different notes, though?
Finally listened to it, and I like it. For some reason, this is my favorite ending yet. I like the way that the various pauses get more and more filled in as the piece goes on, but I think you should take that idea even further. By somewhere around 146, the pauses started to seem too much, and it might be cool to not have any measures without a moving part by this point. Just a thought.
I like the distortion, but I agree with Yvan that this can’t be the only song that does it (or some sort of processing).
Corey replies: I shall investigate m. 146 and see about taking the ideas even further as you suggest. Thanks, Pat.
I really like the driving energy of this, tho constantly thwarted by stops and starts. It does however feel incomplete(?) structurally or cut short or something. Like it’s missing another verse or something? Dunno. Also, are you perhaps going to do more electronic modifications of your voice in other songs? I’d be interested in that, but given that the other songs you’ve written at this point don’t have any processing on the voice, it bugs me a little bit in this one.
Corey replies: The electronic processing is a question for me as well. Perhaps I should just yell/sing rather than sing normally through a distortion pedal. This is one song that I feel like I could stretch out longer. So maybe another verse (or another instrumental section) is required.
I don’t have audio playback at my current location, but I did take a look at the cello part, which looks good. The only potential problem is in the measures where the G-F m7 alternates with the Bb-D M3. Depending on how fast this is, it’s the kind of part that can become annoying due to the P5 distance between the fingered notes F and Bb. It’s just awkward to lift the finger and place it in a parallel position on the other string quickly, and you end up either living with that or coming up with an awkward hand position to accommodate it. I don’t want to overstate it though, it’s totally playable and should sound fine enough, as long as you don’t mind it being a little rougher than similar but less awkward passages.
I’ll give this one a listen soon.
Corey replies: Thanks, Pat. I wonder if I’ve just gotten carried away with the prominence of double stops in the ‘cello parts!