welcometonightvale

Vulture-Wally (the only song i've ever written)

Added 2024-09-24 15:55:48 +0000 UTC

This was from Jillian Sweeney's 2013 performance art/dance piece Vulture-Wally at St. Marks Church in NYC. I co-wrote and directed this piece, and Jillian asked if I could write a hymn that breaks down.

I've never written or even studied music. So I told Joseph that the only way I could think to write a song was to listen to a bunch of hymns and operas and try to find and interesting musical phrase to build a song upon.

And Joseph was like "yeah, that's how you write music."

And so I wrote this. It's a pretty simple song that was helped along some goofy overhead projector visuals and a couple of performers who can sing (that's Jillian on the right). But I hope you enjoy it, and maybe even sing along a bit.

Also, like all downtown performance art, there was a technical snafu in which we forgot to plug in the projector before the show.

FInally, Vulture-Wally was based on an old Austrian collection of stories about a young girl (Wally) who leaves her family to live in the woods, where she befriends a vulture and falls in love with a bear hunter. Relatable.

-Jeffrey Cranor
Sept 24, 2024