Accidentally, Cain and Able again

While attending a classical concert on a late Sunday afternoon in spring I observed an older man with a much younger woman who were just sitting across from me. She was adorned with an assortment of jewelry. The elderly gentleman was overjoyed. His wife? An escort girl? Definitely not his daughter. I just thought to myself, “An afternoon of male envy.” Wait a minute! Was I commenting on my feelings? As it became my habit, these kinds of sentences must be written down immediately. Some weeks later an idea for a song developed from that moment: Envy is an emotion that seeks an EXIT, doesn't it? You want to get rid of it. In the best possible way, ideally: that you end up with the qualities or possessions that initially made you envious. However, there is also the dark EXIT. It is an even darker emotion than envy itself: vengeance.

Why is that? If you constantly fall short of your desires and aspirations you may develop a deep metaphysical grudge. Perhaps we all at some point do think that we were handed the wrong deck of cards in the game of life. Well, you cannot argue with God. But! You can sketch out a wicked plan of vengeance in your family right here and right now. You can start setting things straight.

Now imagine that person that you envy is your older brother. Perhaps he had the first shot at taking over the family business. From the Old Testament to Game of Thrones, older brother vs. younger brother is one of the MASTER PLOTS of mankind: Take the Cain and Abel story from the Old Testament (Genesis chapter four) . Compared to the original there are many variations to the Cain and Able story: in my song it is the younger brother plotting against the elder and not vice versa. In my song, it is "old industry" against "investment banker beau" and not farmer versus shepherd.

My first working title for the song was "For an Afternoon of Male Envy." Stay tuned; there is a special female afternoon version in the making.

The music style and rhythm is most likely "Trip-Hop". However, if you are familiar with the folky brass music of the Balcans you may also call it "Balcan-Ethno-Beat".