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A THUMB A YEAR

Plays his father's guitar and says the songs were already inside it

vex on it

after hours

Honest use case: people who appreciate thoughtful, melancholic storytelling with a unique central image.

Exhibit: “Which is a thing nobody should be able to calculate”

style

highlife
palm wine guitar
horn section
gentle percussion
male tenor
warm and wise
vintage west african production
uplifting
west african accent
warm

the numbers

bpm: 108
key: F major
energy: 0.71
dance: 0.93
valence: 0.51
vocal at: 5.5s
length: 2:16
words: 209
clichés: 0
language: En

most sung: “year” ×18 · “thumb” ×15 · “has” ×3

lyrics

(a thumb a year)

The crack came in June and it was the width of a hair
And in April it was longer by about the width of a thumb
And the man in Kumasi says he can maybe hold it a while
And maybe is a word that has kept me up since April

A thumb a year (a thumb)
That is the rate, a thumb
Measured, a thumb
A thumb

A thumb a year, a year, a thumb a year, a year
I can tell you exactly how long my father has left
A thumb a year, a year, a thumb a year, a year
Which is a thing nobody should be able to calculate

My son is nine and he holds it wrong and the strings buzz.
Everyone says put it away, keep it safe, it is the last one.
A guitar in a case is just a shape. He told me that. So it buzzes.
(BAND RETURNS)

A thumb a year, a year, a thumb a year, a year
I can tell you exactly how long my father has left
A thumb a year, a year, a thumb a year, a year
Which is a thing nobody should be able to calculate

(so it buzzes...)

A THUMB A YEAR — Kofi Mensah · FERAL