North Coast Synthesis Ltd.

Unfortunate Maid / Anonymous Romance

"I see by your outfit that you are a 'meido'..."

The Unfortunate Rake (also "Unfortunate Maid," "Unfortunate Lad," "Soldier's Lament," etc.) is an old English folk song, originally about a young man dying of syphilis, and probably the ancestor of both "Streets of Laredo" and "St. James's Infirmary." Who is dying, and what they are dying of, varies a lot; the common thread between all versions is somebody dying young and an elaborate funeral.

The Anonymous Romance (also "Spanish Romance," "Romanza," "Romance d'Amour," "Forbidden Games," etc.) is a guitar piece in the Spanish parlour music style of the late 19th Century. Its authorship is unknown or disputed; Narciso Yepes (1927-1997) claimed during his lifetime to have written it, but since a wax-cylinder recording from no later than 1901 exists, that seems unlikely. Being copyright-free and technically challenging for guitarists, the Romance is a staple of "teach yourself guitar" handbooks. Excel Saga fans will recognize it.

Sequenced in Rosegarden for the Gakken NSX-39 "Pocket Miku" Vocaloid/General MIDI synthesizer; SYSEX messages to set the lyrics from a Perl script. This is a straight recording of the synthesizer's headphone jack while it was playing under USB-MIDI control. Pretty good sound for a 5000円 toy, I think.

AO BITO ZA DORAM SURORI AN\ PUREEI ZA FAIFU RORI
SIJGU ZA DESU MACHE JU KERI MI BAI
TEIKU MI TU ZA FARI ZERU RE ZA SHURAU DO MI
AI MA YAJGU MEIDO AN\ NAO AI MASU DAI