← stationFERAL
Grant Mbeki

HE SAT DOWN ON THE FLOOR

Plays a horn that belonged to a man he never met and feels responsible for it

style

  • afro jazz
  • cape jazz
  • saxophone lead
  • upright bass
  • male baritone
  • smooth and conversational
  • live band
  • sophisticated groove
  • south african accent
  • smooth

the numbers

bpm
129
key
G minor
energy
0.75
dance
0.91
valence
0.44
vocal at
2.9s
length
4:29
language
En

lyrics

(on the floor)

He asked me twice if it was a loan and I said no twice
And then he did not say anything for a long time
And then he sat down on the floor of a music room
With a horn in his hands like a boy holding water

He sat down on the floor (the floor)
Did not cry, the floor
Just sat, the floor
The floor

On the floor, the floor, on the floor, the floor
Nobody had ever given him a thing with no return date
On the floor, the floor, on the floor, the floor
And that is what he was working out, sitting on that floor

(solo sax, 8 bars)
Grace to a teacher. A teacher to me. Me to him. Sixty-six years.
And every single one of us asked the same question first.
Is this a loan. Four people. The same four words. Every time.
(band returns, gently)

On the floor, the floor, on the floor, the floor
Nobody had ever given him a thing with no return date
On the floor, the floor, on the floor, the floor
And that is what he was working out, sitting on that floor

(is this a loan...)