Johannes Schult

This is a song about graveyard tourism. It was inspired by a friend of mine, who thankfully isn’t as obsessed as the person in the song; but she does have the habit of visiting the graves of famous people. Tom Waits was a huge inspiration regarding the music and the vocals of this track. Who would have thought that? I made up the chords and melodies as I went along. I started out with the main rhythm and some minor chords on the acoustic guitar. The modulation after the first chorus is a homage to “Theme from Rawhide” by the legendary Blues Brothers. The initial song structure sounded way too nice, so I added lots of chromatic runs, all played on my keyboard. I do love the Wannabe-Mellotron-flute moment during the last chorus. The recording took place on the 5th and 6th October 2003. The second day was dominated by the vocals, which took forever. It also happened to be the day a new neighbour was moving in. It must have been rather confusing to hear my voice through the door. Anyway, the lesson learned during the making of “Graveyard Girl” was: there is no such thing as overdoing weird, noisy overdubs.

Download the song: mp3 ogg (more music)

I saw her on the graveyard
Dressed in black
There between the tombstones
She was talking to the dead
Kurt Cobain, George Harrison
Mozart and Jim Morrison
Famous people make her day
As long as they have passed away
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl, yes she is
Yes she is

I saw her at the grave of Freddie Mercury
I saw her at the grave of J.R.R. Tolkien
J.F.K., George Harrison
Beethoven, Jim Morrison
Famous people make her day
As long as they have passed away
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl, yes she is
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl, yes she is

And then one day she realized that she’s been to every graveyard on earth. Still, she couldn’t get enough. So she bought a gun and went…
Johnny Cash, George Harrison
John Lennon and Jim Morrison
Famous people make her day
As soon as they have passed away
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl, yes she is
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl
She’s a graveyard girl, yes she is

(words and music by Johannes Schult)