Fill Me Up

from Strange Presence by Xrisville

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about

Fill Me Up (3:22)

Originally, I wanted to write a pop song infused with psychedelic arrangements à la “Magical Mystery Tour,” but couldn’t produce the right sound effects. So I smoothed the song out with a pulsing bass line, pulled the drums back and tried to lend the piece the kind of groove that Peter Gabriel might invent.

The song (based on observations of real people in Toronto) is about seemingly spiritual people concerned only with appearances, and how those concerns can exacerbate the troubles of people in true need of help.

Instrumentation: piano strings, pluck bass, violin, distorted guitar, Gregorian voices, deep-distortion guitar, Stratocaster, drums, percussion.

lyrics

Fill Me Up (Lyrics)

Billy Desrochers burned the Galleria Mall
then fled to the Runnymede Arms
Later in the day, he wound up getting blown away
at Bay and Gerrard
You could see the opposition
lurking in the mission
He was homeless awhile
on the Halloween mile
where the people went to pray
Please fill me up
Come and sit a spell
Come fill me up
All is truly well

Farther in the west, Julianna takes a rest
from working the street
She is hungry and cold
and empty of the youth she sold for something to eat
There's a penny for the pity
from the tourists in the city
and none of her friends
played a note at the end
but they often stopped to pray
Please fill me up
Never mind the smell
Come fill me up
All is truly well
Please fill me up
Come and see the show
Come fill me up
You will never know

And for a modest fee
they will fetter the hand in need of a hope
And for another fee
they will wallpaper people in the color of your choice
silence any protest and quiet any voice

Johnny doesn't sleep
He can barely make ends meet on Kennedy Road
He used to be a tall-walkin', proud-lookin' cut of a man
on Indian Grove
He counts his nickels
with eviction at the door
while he adds up his age
harried in a cage
where the people used to pray
Please fill me up
Hope you have the cash
Come fill me up
Hope you like the lash
Please fill me up
Come and stay a spell
Come fill me up
All is truly well

credits

from Strange Presence, released November 28, 2012

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Xrisville Guelph, Ontario

The musical archive of writer-composer-visual artist Xristopher Bland.

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