Thursday, April 18, 2013

The Music of Manos, part 2


There is lots of music in "MANOS - the Hands of Fate" - basically twice as much background music as there is dialogue, in fact - but not too many songs. Beyond "Row Row Row Your Boat" (which is apparently the "official nursery rhyme of bad cinema"), there are three. And, with typical H.P. Warren genius-bad timing, two of them come right on top of each other. Here are the lyrics to the second one:

Baby Do a Thing With Me
from Manos - The Hands of Fate
(played at the top of the first "boy and girl making out in the car" scene)

You the one that smiled
yeah
come over here for a while
hey girl do you hear what I say
don't have time to be waiting all day

just believe that its not awful wrong
there's a reason I'm singing this song

got a big question to ask
hey thing
do you wanna do anything

baby do a thing with me
it'd be so good
come on and do a thing with me
it'd sure feel good

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Talking to Talk to the Hand, part 2

Via the magic of Skype I had a lovely chat with Keith of Talk to the Hand: The MANOS Talk Show. The result is a podcast! Here it is for you to enjoy:

Talk to the Hand episode 4 - Rachel Jackson from Keith McCaffety on Vimeo.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Behind the scenes at the KickStarter shoot...

...or maybe _under_ the scenes is more apropos:
Paul Velasquez with Torgo and Ray Williams with The Master

Monday, April 1, 2013

The Music of Manos


When I was writing the script for MANOS - The Hands of Felt, naturally, I had to watch Manos - The Hands of Fate a whole lot. Sometime during my fourth viewing, I decided that the songs needed to find their way into the production. They seemed too bad to lose. Ok, that sounds illogical, but it made sense at the time. I blame the movie.

So I went out online, hoping to find copies of them or midi files or at the very least lyrics. No luck. Which is how I wound up listening to them a dozen times apiece, trying to suss out the lyrics through the vocalist's, ahem, unique stylings.

It's not an experience I can recommend and it's why I'm now going to use the power of the interwebz to spare someone else having to do the same.

Here then, are the lyrics to

Love Inside This Magic Circle
from Manos - The Hands of Fate (plays during the opening credits)
by Robert Smith Jr and Russ Huddleston 
(Though to be fair, they're just credited with the music; given that it's not so bad, I wonder if the lyrics can be laid at the door of a certain Mr. H. P. Warren?)

love inside this magic circle
keep your head up high
use the strength I have within
it’s real and not a lie

blow away your memory gladly
be yourself that's all
see the way I really love you
try
we'll have a ball

the heart's a simple
cry*
but I knew before when it opened the door
love is the stay
it is the way
the way

*full disclosure: the lyrics in the 3rd, er, verse(?) are the ones I'm least sure about; the film sound skips a couple of times in there.