“Originally composed for tenor sax November 1999 for Arno Bornkamp with financial suport from the FPK. After a performance by Arno at the World Sax Congress in Montreal, July 2000, Grab it! became popular and is now a repertoire piece for the tenor sax.
Growing up in the sixties with blues, jazz and rock, American music had a strong impact on my work. I believe that language is one of the origins of music, which is obvious in Afro-American music. In GRAB IT! I tried to explore the ‘no-man’s-land’ between language and music.
When people get emotional, the musical quality of their speech is often increasing. So I prefer to use sound bytes from people in extremely emotional situations. Crying is almost a kind of singing, for instance.
Grab It! is based on voice samples from life-sentenced prisoners. The rough vitality of their verbal abuse matches the harsh sound of the tenor sax. GRAB IT! is a kind of duet, a 'dual’ if you like, for tenor sax and speech grooves. The horn competes in unison with a perpetual range of syllables, words and sentences, which demands intense endurance from the performer. The meaning of the lyrics becomes gradually clear during the piece, as well as the hopeless situation for the prisoners. In jail suicide is not uncommon: 'He tied one end around the pipe, and he hung himself. So he went out the back door rapped up in a green sheet with a tag on his toe....You lose everything!' But in a way, death row is also a metaphor for life: The piece is not just sad, but can also be understood as a ‘memento vivere’. Life is worth living: Grab it!”
JACOB TV
lyrics
GRAB IT!SPEAK IT UP .... I SAID SPEAK IT UP MICKEY MOUSE, SPEAK UP!GRAB IT MOTHER I SAID I STILL HEAR 'M RINGGRAB IT MOTHERFUCKER, GRAB IT!FIFTY GIMMEAND I WANT YOU TO HAVE THAT SAY NOW WHEN YOU WALK OUT THAT DOOR GOING DOWN HERE ‘CAUSE I'LL BE SQUADIN’ ON YOUIT'S A NO- LE IT’S A NO -LE MOTHERFUCKER PUNCHOH MAN,HA HA HA HA SEE THISNOBODY WHAT'S YOUR NUMBERFOR EVER54 936 LIFE AND FROM MOTHERFUCKING NOW ON ANY TIME WHEN YOU GOI-HOW-KEEP-YOU LOSETAKE OFFI STILL HEAR 'M RINGHOW MOTHERFUCKING TOUGH COULD I HAVE BEEN YOU TAKE THATYOU GET A KICK OUT OF THAT?DO YOU GET A KICK OUT OF THAT?!WONT YOU TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK DRUGS HU HU HU HU GET YOUR SHOESI BITE YOUR FUCKING NOSE OFF TELL ME DON'T WASTE MY TIME TELL ME WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER GRAB ITMOTHERFUCKER GRAB IT! GET THE FUCK OUTGET UP AND GET OFF THE STAGE WHILE 54 936 LIFE AND FROM MOTHERFUCKING NOW ON HIS MOTHERFUCKING MANHOOD MIGHT JUST BEEN TESTED
REPRISE:GRAB IT!MOTHER I SAID (ETC.)WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER?!JUST REMEMBER THIS:I PERSONALLY DON’T GIVE A FAT RAT ASSWHAT YOU DOWHEN YOU LEAVE HERE TODAY;YOU LOSE EVERYTHINGHE WENT OUT THE BACKDOOR RAPPED UP IN A GREEN SHEET WITH A TAG ON HIS TOETIED ONE END AROUND THE PIPEAND HE HUNG HIMSELFAND WHEN THEY STUCK HIS DUMM ASS IN THE GROUNDTO GIVE HIM THAT LITTLE WOODEN GRAVYARD MARKERSO HE WAS PROBABLY THE ONE THAT KEEPS THE PARTY GOIN'JUST STANDING ON THE CORNER,PUT LIPSTICK ON YOUR LIPS SMOKE A LITTLE REEFER, DRINK A LITTLE WINEI GOTA VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM, I'VE SEEN IT A THOUSAND TIMES YOU GONA WALK AROUND THIS JOINT - OR ANY JOINT YOU MIGHT BE IN YOU LOSE EVERYTHING .AND FOR YOU TOUGH MOTHERFUCKERS LIKE YOU TIE ONE END AROUND THE PIPEI WILL TELL I. .EVERY MAN YOU SEE BEHIND ME IS DOING OVER 25 YEARS OR LIFE EVERY MAN YOU SEE BEHIND ME, HE'S GOT ALL THE RESPECT IN THE WORLD WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER?IT STOPS RIGHT HERE MY LIFE STOPSTHIS IS ITNEVER NEVER NEVER, ALRIGHT,YOU SHOULD STAY COOL, YOU TOO!TIE ONE END AROUND THE PIPE AND FOR YOU TOUGH MOTHERFUCKERS LIKE YOU:YOU LOSE EVERYTHING! GRAB IT MOTHERFUCKER GRAB IT!54 9 3 6 LIFE WHAT'S YOUR NUMBERI SAID : SIT UP!!
Fragile cello and piano recall the bleak childhood of brothers Sebastian and Daniel Selke spent in a large prefab estate in East Berlin. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 10, 2017
A remix album crafted during Covid lockdown, this LP twists classical compositions into dazzling electronic ambient forms. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 31, 2022