Helpless

This is my cover of the Crosby Stills Nash and Young song "Helpless." It's one of my mom's favorite songs. I recorded it in my pretty spacious bathroom in my old house a couple years ago. 

helpless - Brian Adam Ant

The Searchlights On Wall Street

This is a song that I wrote when I was in this phase where I'd wake up at 6 AM and not be able to sleep and get myself wrecked and walk around in Hampden seeing what the world does at 6 AM. There's a reference to Shabbatai Zvi in the bridge; he was a dude who, in 17th century Europe, went around to all the Jewish villages telling them that he was the Messiah they had been waiting for and he was going to take all the Jews to the Kingdom and of course he didn't. He was found by some government and told to turn Muslim or else they'd cut off his head. There's a book called Satan In Goray by IB Singer that's a really weird and awesome book about it. Anyway I thought it'd be funny to walk with him amongst zombies and tumbleweeds and helicopters with searchlights on Wall St. Here's a song about it.

The SearchLights On Wall Street - Brian Adam Ant

Ralph Waldo Emerson (Was Neither Emerson, Lake, Nor Palmer)

Ok so a few years ago I was doing my homework which was reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's essays and for some reason I connected all these different things which may or may not be related to Emerson and I wrote a song. But after a few different tries of getting it on record, and changing the chorus once then twice, I was never satisfied with it and I never got a good version. But then a few weeks ago Mandy said something like, yeah why haven't you recorded that song about Ralph Waldo Emerson? And then a few days ago I was talking to Jimmy on the phone and I totally forget what we were talking about, but he said something about that painting with the dogs playing poker, and I was like, I used that in one of my songs. And he said, which song? and I said "Ralph Waldo Emerson, in a painting playing poker/ With the dogs and they're smoking cigars." And Jimmy was like, oh yeah I like that you should have got that shit down. And the other day I was thinking about the song again and I made up a totally new awesome chorus and I realized the whole problem was that I didn't like the chorus in the first place, but I like the new chorus and so I'm totally revived with the RalWalEmersong and I think I'll start recording a new version tomorrow. As soon as I finish this other song I been working on, I have to get over this cold I've had for the past two days and sing the vocals. So I guess that this means I'm working on a new album finally (!) Budget, technical etc problems be damned. So here's the old version of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Was Neither Emerson, Lake, Nor Palmer), video courtesy of Jeff the Baltimore Taper (thanks Jeff!). Soon I'll have a new version with a better chorus.