"Xizi's Bits" lyrics
Hello, it's me, Imogen
What you're about to hear are the sounds recorded on the ninth of December, 2011, in the city of Hangzhou, China
And then, how I turned them into the song that is now "Xizi She Knows"
"How did this all come about?" I hear you say
I was there for six wonderful weeks
Invited as an artist in residence by the British Council, the PRS Foundation, and the Disha Quaibo newspaper
To do a project of my choice there
The newspaper is the main paper for Hangzhou and the province
And they graciously hosted me during my stay there
My trump card, the hidden hero of the project, Zhu Qiongheng, also known as Joe
Who accompanied me pretty much every step of the way, works there as a journalist
He tirelessly translated and helped me out in so many ways
I'm hugely grateful to him for his time, friendship and expert skills
One of them being, quite conveniently, as you'll hear later, the electric guitar
Someone else I'd like to mention now is Zhao Yiwei, or Veronica
Veronica came into the project as a volunteer translator
Little did she know what she was getting herself in for
We also spent a lot of time together exploring the city
And I discovered, amongst other things, that she plays pretty good pipa
I'll just tell you that she's only seventeen
You'll hear her quite a lot in the song
Also, she's helping me piece together the Mandarin vocal version of Shizu, with Pang Wei, a poet from Hangzhou
Before I left England, I didn't know exactly what I was going to do when I got there
I just knew that I wanted, at the very least, to record and write another Heap song for my fourth solo album there
I didn't want to spend all day in my makeshift studio at the Meander Tree Hotel, even though it's very nice
So I came up with a project idea to ensure I got out and about
And as it turned out, I hardly saw my hotel room
So the whole idea was to go there, immerse myself as much as possible
Meet as many people and listen to as many sounds as possible
And try to draw a song from all of this
The idea was to curate one day
Actually, I chose my birthday because my mum always told me good things happen on your birthday
So I decided to put it to the test
And on the ninth of December, everything was mounting to this date
To have twenty-four moments over the twenty-four-hour period
A connection between the everyday lives of people
And what they get up to, whether it's, you know, eating breakfast, or working at the print factory, or doing their morning exercises
The idea was to put these moments together with something artistic
So maybe that was somebody dancing
Or perhaps a choir on a bus as the commuters go to work, or something like that
The first three weeks in Hangzhou, leading up to the big day
I got to know a bit of the city, its culture, history, and some of the people living and working in it
It was such a daunting task, though, to decide on just these twenty-four moments, as there's so many things you could do in the city
I decided, in a way, to let Hangzhou speak to me
And so began connecting with the public through multiple articles that Zhou and I wrote
Calling for people to get involved via the newspaper
We had a great response, and I began to pair people and places together
A choir on a bus, a dancer in the printing press of the newspaper flowing through the machines
To throwing autumn leaves off one of the bridges over the huge river in Hangzhou at the daily tide
In the end, we had almost three hundred volunteers from all walks of life
It was the most incredible day, and full of surprises
My favourite of which would have to be the lady doing her daily shouting exercises on Baoshui Hill at sunrise
Here are a couple of her original yells
You'll hear them at various points in the song
They'll sound like this in the song
And this
I hope she doesn't mind being on the cover of the record and featuring in the song so prominently
If she does, there's an email address that she can contact us with
Oddly enough, in Hangzhou, there is a water truck that goes around playing Happy Birthday
And it's to tell the pedestrians on the street that they're going to get wet
So they have this song to play
As it was my birthday, I figured, "Wouldn't it be a nice idea to have it on the song?"
Very quietly, just as a reminder
So what you'll hear now is all of the sounds that were recorded on that day
Pretty much like ninety percent of the music of the song is from this twenty-four-hour period
And we had lots of different people recording and capturing sounds, because there was quite a lot to get
So we had all the cameramen and one woman filming, and they also had microphones
And then Kelly had a Marantz with her, and she was recording on hers
And I occasionally, in between directing, was also trying to snatch a little recording here and there
I had to give myself a little bit of extra instruments here and there
To play with musically afterwards 'cause I didn't quite have everything
So what you're going to hear now is the sounds in order as they come in, roughly, in the song
Um, and you're going to hear the original, and then you're going to hear how I used it in the song
So thanks for listening
I hope you enjoy it
3 a.m., an alarm in the City Express printing press
I used the alarm and tuned it into a melody
And then made a chord accent out of the long reverb tails
And they then become
6 a.m., a bird sings outside the window of the hotel room
10 a.m., at the Daomao Shang Primary School, harmonica players play these
And these become
And they then become
I ring the night bell at sunset
And it's a good thing I didn't have to carry it, because it weighs ten tons
And that became
1 a.m., skateboarders practising on the empty streets
Oh, we're gonna do the whole thing again?
3 p.m., Fuchin Bridge
Midnight, car driving over an underpass
Became
3 p.m., opera singer on the Sioux Causeway
[?]
3 a.m., The City Express printing press
Became
4 a.m., at the Huanbei Morning Market, we hear the shutters opening
So now let's hear all of that together
Now for the rest of the intro
Introducing Veronica, the angel of the project
Here she is, at the side of the lake
As the fisherman fishes out a treasure map
It's freezing cold in the middle of the night
But she plays us a song she chose, called "The Mountain and Flowing Water"
And here's Veronica's pipa, tuned to fit the key, and chopped up
1 a.m., skateboarders practising on the empty streets
And here's the tiny little bit that I used
11 a.m., a choir on the bus, singing the tea picking song
[?]
So on the bus, I also asked the choir if they would like to do a call and response with me
So I would sing a melody, off the top of my head
In the same key and tempo, and then they would follow me
So I chose one of them, and then put a load of reverb on it and reversed it
And that's this sound
And now constructing the beat
10 a.m., Helen counts in the daily morning exercises for her class
At the Dao Mao Xiang Primary School
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
二, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
Twelve noon at the Meander Tree Hotel
A cast member of the Zhejiang Peking Opera
Plays his big red drum in the tea fields
And that became
10 p.m., snare drum from the band playing in the office of the Duxia Kuaibo newspaper
A tweeting bird outside the studio window at the Meander Tree Hotel
And that became
And that became
8 am, the bell on my bicycle as I ride through Hangzhou
Became
2 a.m., taxi car door
I used a variety of sounds from the City Express printing press to create most of the beat
For example, this sound
Became
And this sound
Then became this
And this
And this
So now let's hear all of the printing press together
And underneath, the harmonicas are also used in this way
Now let's hear all of that together in the intro
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
二, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
三, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
2 a.m., idling taxis become the sound of the pad in the verse
This sound
Became
Then became this
And tuned to fit the key and chopped up
9 a.m., an artisan at work, hammering in the finishing touches to another traditional zhongbang bed
Now let's hear that all together in the verse
First chorus, adding in new sounds and changing rhythms
5 a.m., street cleaners sweeping up leaves
Became this
Some more work on the Chinese red drum
Daily morning exercises near the [?] Temple
The leader counts for the group
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
Here's the taxi in the chorus
And this in the verse
Car driving over an underpass
Becomes a kick
Now, let's hear all of that together in the chorus without the pipa
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
八, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
Some more printing press loops
Then become
10 p.m., at the City Express newspaper offices
Joe plays electric guitar with his friend Lee Ben Xiang on bass
The only two things that are decided for the song before the day were the key and the tempo
This way, I could ask the musicians to be in time and in key with the song in advance
But I haven't yet written the riff, so this isn't quite as I played it
But they jammed the key in the tempo instead
Veronica's pipa also becomes the bass
More bicycle bell tuned down
Joe's friend Roy comes crashing in with the drums at the City Express office
3 p.m., cheering as we throw thousands of leaves over the Fuchin Bridge
To welcome in the daily river tide
So first, you'll hear me, then you'll hear Joe
Giving everyone the signal to throw their leaves off the bridge
So now, let's hear all of that together
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
Wow, you listened all the way to the end, congratulations, ha
I hope you enjoyed it, I had a really amazing time
But what was interesting to me was when I played the demo of this song to the ladies who were working in the bar
In the big ship, the taxi and hotel, haha, strangely
They actually loved the song, which was great
But I was always felt a little bit odd 'cause they didn't know my music before
And I didn't really feel like it sounded like anything I usually done
But in a way that's perfect because it is the city of Hangzhou that I felt kind of brought this song to me
It's like a different energy
It's been a real life changing experience
And, um, I'm really happy with the way it came out
What you're about to hear are the sounds recorded on the ninth of December, 2011, in the city of Hangzhou, China
And then, how I turned them into the song that is now "Xizi She Knows"
"How did this all come about?" I hear you say
I was there for six wonderful weeks
Invited as an artist in residence by the British Council, the PRS Foundation, and the Disha Quaibo newspaper
To do a project of my choice there
The newspaper is the main paper for Hangzhou and the province
And they graciously hosted me during my stay there
My trump card, the hidden hero of the project, Zhu Qiongheng, also known as Joe
Who accompanied me pretty much every step of the way, works there as a journalist
He tirelessly translated and helped me out in so many ways
I'm hugely grateful to him for his time, friendship and expert skills
One of them being, quite conveniently, as you'll hear later, the electric guitar
Someone else I'd like to mention now is Zhao Yiwei, or Veronica
Veronica came into the project as a volunteer translator
Little did she know what she was getting herself in for
We also spent a lot of time together exploring the city
And I discovered, amongst other things, that she plays pretty good pipa
I'll just tell you that she's only seventeen
You'll hear her quite a lot in the song
Also, she's helping me piece together the Mandarin vocal version of Shizu, with Pang Wei, a poet from Hangzhou
Before I left England, I didn't know exactly what I was going to do when I got there
I just knew that I wanted, at the very least, to record and write another Heap song for my fourth solo album there
I didn't want to spend all day in my makeshift studio at the Meander Tree Hotel, even though it's very nice
So I came up with a project idea to ensure I got out and about
And as it turned out, I hardly saw my hotel room
So the whole idea was to go there, immerse myself as much as possible
Meet as many people and listen to as many sounds as possible
And try to draw a song from all of this
The idea was to curate one day
Actually, I chose my birthday because my mum always told me good things happen on your birthday
So I decided to put it to the test
And on the ninth of December, everything was mounting to this date
To have twenty-four moments over the twenty-four-hour period
A connection between the everyday lives of people
And what they get up to, whether it's, you know, eating breakfast, or working at the print factory, or doing their morning exercises
The idea was to put these moments together with something artistic
So maybe that was somebody dancing
Or perhaps a choir on a bus as the commuters go to work, or something like that
The first three weeks in Hangzhou, leading up to the big day
I got to know a bit of the city, its culture, history, and some of the people living and working in it
It was such a daunting task, though, to decide on just these twenty-four moments, as there's so many things you could do in the city
I decided, in a way, to let Hangzhou speak to me
And so began connecting with the public through multiple articles that Zhou and I wrote
Calling for people to get involved via the newspaper
We had a great response, and I began to pair people and places together
A choir on a bus, a dancer in the printing press of the newspaper flowing through the machines
To throwing autumn leaves off one of the bridges over the huge river in Hangzhou at the daily tide
In the end, we had almost three hundred volunteers from all walks of life
It was the most incredible day, and full of surprises
My favourite of which would have to be the lady doing her daily shouting exercises on Baoshui Hill at sunrise
Here are a couple of her original yells
You'll hear them at various points in the song
They'll sound like this in the song
And this
I hope she doesn't mind being on the cover of the record and featuring in the song so prominently
If she does, there's an email address that she can contact us with
Oddly enough, in Hangzhou, there is a water truck that goes around playing Happy Birthday
And it's to tell the pedestrians on the street that they're going to get wet
So they have this song to play
As it was my birthday, I figured, "Wouldn't it be a nice idea to have it on the song?"
Very quietly, just as a reminder
So what you'll hear now is all of the sounds that were recorded on that day
Pretty much like ninety percent of the music of the song is from this twenty-four-hour period
And we had lots of different people recording and capturing sounds, because there was quite a lot to get
So we had all the cameramen and one woman filming, and they also had microphones
And then Kelly had a Marantz with her, and she was recording on hers
And I occasionally, in between directing, was also trying to snatch a little recording here and there
I had to give myself a little bit of extra instruments here and there
To play with musically afterwards 'cause I didn't quite have everything
So what you're going to hear now is the sounds in order as they come in, roughly, in the song
Um, and you're going to hear the original, and then you're going to hear how I used it in the song
So thanks for listening
I hope you enjoy it
3 a.m., an alarm in the City Express printing press
I used the alarm and tuned it into a melody
And then made a chord accent out of the long reverb tails
And they then become
6 a.m., a bird sings outside the window of the hotel room
10 a.m., at the Daomao Shang Primary School, harmonica players play these
And these become
And they then become
I ring the night bell at sunset
And it's a good thing I didn't have to carry it, because it weighs ten tons
And that became
1 a.m., skateboarders practising on the empty streets
Oh, we're gonna do the whole thing again?
3 p.m., Fuchin Bridge
Midnight, car driving over an underpass
Became
3 p.m., opera singer on the Sioux Causeway
[?]
3 a.m., The City Express printing press
Became
4 a.m., at the Huanbei Morning Market, we hear the shutters opening
So now let's hear all of that together
Now for the rest of the intro
Introducing Veronica, the angel of the project
Here she is, at the side of the lake
As the fisherman fishes out a treasure map
It's freezing cold in the middle of the night
But she plays us a song she chose, called "The Mountain and Flowing Water"
And here's Veronica's pipa, tuned to fit the key, and chopped up
1 a.m., skateboarders practising on the empty streets
And here's the tiny little bit that I used
11 a.m., a choir on the bus, singing the tea picking song
[?]
So on the bus, I also asked the choir if they would like to do a call and response with me
So I would sing a melody, off the top of my head
In the same key and tempo, and then they would follow me
So I chose one of them, and then put a load of reverb on it and reversed it
And that's this sound
And now constructing the beat
10 a.m., Helen counts in the daily morning exercises for her class
At the Dao Mao Xiang Primary School
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
二, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
Twelve noon at the Meander Tree Hotel
A cast member of the Zhejiang Peking Opera
Plays his big red drum in the tea fields
And that became
10 p.m., snare drum from the band playing in the office of the Duxia Kuaibo newspaper
A tweeting bird outside the studio window at the Meander Tree Hotel
And that became
And that became
8 am, the bell on my bicycle as I ride through Hangzhou
Became
2 a.m., taxi car door
I used a variety of sounds from the City Express printing press to create most of the beat
For example, this sound
Became
And this sound
Then became this
And this
And this
So now let's hear all of the printing press together
And underneath, the harmonicas are also used in this way
Now let's hear all of that together in the intro
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
二, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
三, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
2 a.m., idling taxis become the sound of the pad in the verse
This sound
Became
Then became this
And tuned to fit the key and chopped up
9 a.m., an artisan at work, hammering in the finishing touches to another traditional zhongbang bed
Now let's hear that all together in the verse
First chorus, adding in new sounds and changing rhythms
5 a.m., street cleaners sweeping up leaves
Became this
Some more work on the Chinese red drum
Daily morning exercises near the [?] Temple
The leader counts for the group
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
Here's the taxi in the chorus
And this in the verse
Car driving over an underpass
Becomes a kick
Now, let's hear all of that together in the chorus without the pipa
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
八, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
Some more printing press loops
Then become
10 p.m., at the City Express newspaper offices
Joe plays electric guitar with his friend Lee Ben Xiang on bass
The only two things that are decided for the song before the day were the key and the tempo
This way, I could ask the musicians to be in time and in key with the song in advance
But I haven't yet written the riff, so this isn't quite as I played it
But they jammed the key in the tempo instead
Veronica's pipa also becomes the bass
More bicycle bell tuned down
Joe's friend Roy comes crashing in with the drums at the City Express office
3 p.m., cheering as we throw thousands of leaves over the Fuchin Bridge
To welcome in the daily river tide
So first, you'll hear me, then you'll hear Joe
Giving everyone the signal to throw their leaves off the bridge
So now, let's hear all of that together
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
四, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八
Wow, you listened all the way to the end, congratulations, ha
I hope you enjoyed it, I had a really amazing time
But what was interesting to me was when I played the demo of this song to the ladies who were working in the bar
In the big ship, the taxi and hotel, haha, strangely
They actually loved the song, which was great
But I was always felt a little bit odd 'cause they didn't know my music before
And I didn't really feel like it sounded like anything I usually done
But in a way that's perfect because it is the city of Hangzhou that I felt kind of brought this song to me
It's like a different energy
It's been a real life changing experience
And, um, I'm really happy with the way it came out
