What if we could live like kids
And just one night forget all this
Blinding dark on the motel scene
When I awoke to you touching me
I wouldn't ask what's passed to change
But can't accept what I can't explain
My oldest friend, and the last I would have guessed
My paradox, my palimpsest
What if we could live like kids
Just one night forget all this
The greatest loss was the love we shared
I take it everywhere
The inception of Can't Run Forever is kind of crazy. I had accidentally plugged in a 5v D-Link cable into the PSR-7 synth and it started making all these crazy noises. It sounded like it was about to explode. The craziest part of all though was that out of all 44 or whatever keys, only 4 of them worked: the 3 bass notes that make the riff, and one key which was a snare. For whatever fucking reason that one key was a snare. It was this crazy unstable sounding riff:
When I finally went to go start making the song a couple years later, I tried to record it the "right" way, taking the actual keyboard output into the interface, but it was all wrong. Something about the keyboard speakers themselves was what gave it that sound. So the track that is on the final recording is just a phone recording of that fucked up synth.
Here are a couple other crazy samples from the same keyboard setup that didn't make it into the song:
Oblivion by Grimes was definitely a big influence on this song. Especially given the subject matter. Honestly that whole album was a huge influence on this song. I think probably the most Grimesy part of the whole production is the little keyboard melody that comes between the verses. I wanted it to sound like every note was wrong.
Ful Stop by Radiohead was also a big influence, obviously. I think this is probably the most Radioheady song on the whole album. I wanted the bridge especially to be like Ful Stop, where everything just stops and you're kind of like spinning, and then it comes back and it's different now. The bridge was kind of a struggle for that reason. It had to be cleansing and transformative. I still can't believe the song is 7 minutes long.
Personnel:
Yamaha PSR-7
Yamaha PSS-570
tony and claire synth
Casiotone VL-Tone VL-1
Big Yellow Piano
Pinkerton Piano
Paganini WR70 Cello
Violin
Masterfonic Accordion
Voice memos
Cowbell
Guiro
Kenari Shells Shaker
Shakers
LP Mini Bongos
Tablas
Woodblock
Recorded at 24bit 96khz
Unmastered Version:
