This song was inspired when he witnessed a man confront his girlfriend who cheated on him. The confrontation almost got violent, thankfully people have interfered. Tayaw can only imagine what could have happened had the couple been alone. After the thought bothered him for a whole after noon, Tayaw wrote this song as what he imagined it could have been.
"The crow can be a mocking bird
His feathers black as coal
He perched outside my prison bar
His stares 'sif I had no soul
Like a judge he looks down at me so
'Down to hell, is where you go
For you murdered Belle O'Brien'."
As Tayaw sang the first verse, he noticed a lot of the crowd almost tuck their chin to their chest from the song's imagery. Their eyes however, are still on him, anticipating the story he would tell.
"I went courtin' Belle O'Brien
got a job and stopped my gamblin
Every pay I get, half of it I'm savin'
For her I'd bought a house, a ring
But one day I came home,
the house is empty
My angel is missing,
my heart sank, it was hefty"
Tayaw painted a picture of how the man in the story fell in love with Belle O'brien and would sacrifice a lot for her. The crowd relaxed a bit at first due to the man's sacrifice, but the end of the verse made them anxious again by the foreboding.
"So I looked 'round the town
my feet bled, I walked til sundown
Tired, I made for the lake
Where she and I first met
Found my love soaked with another man
My eyes ain't lyin'."
This third verse finally enlightened the crowd at Belle's sin of adultery. They felt for the man. They saw him work hard to provide, only to be repaid by infidelity. Tayaw's closing line, however, made the crowd feel the song become even more tragic.
"My head went dark, my eyes saw red.
I pulled my colt and pulled the trigger.
To Belle O'Brien and her man,
I put six rounds; I know my life is gone"
Tayaw's strong strums at the climax gradually went down to a dark, restrained plucking of the base strings of the guitar. He kept on plucking the song's motif melody until it faded and lingered around the crowd's mind.
The song even left a great impact on the crowd. They did not clap immediately but sat on their seats dazedly. Tayaw saw that it's already 11, and it's time for him to leave the stage.
"Thank you. That was my set." Tayaw said softly. He bowed to the audience and he stepped off the stage. Tayaw actually wanted to leave coolly, not waiting for the audience's applause. He wanted to exit that way to make a memorable impression to the audience. Leaving a great impression would also make the audience remember Tayaw, and maybe even get curious of him.
Thankfully, Earl's guitar that he's using is an antique so it cannot plug into anything. Because he only had to point a spare microphone to the guitar, he did not have to unplug anything. If he used a guitar that was pluggable, the sound of the unplugging would have pulled out the crowd from their immersion.
Also, there will be a break after Tayaw's performance for 30 minutes, so there is no one waiting to take over immediately after Tayaw was done with his set.
Tayaw is already halfway back to the waiting room when he heard the crowd cheer. Tayaw just chuckled at this, hoping his plan of being memorable worked. As Tayaw stepped on the waiting room, he saw Rez, Bobby and the rest of the Strawberry Front look at him strangely. The members of the band, who performed before Tayaw, are still in the waiting room and are also staring at Tayaw. Tayaw, despite his discomfort from their stare, just nodded at them in greeting as he sat down on one of the chairs and started to put back the guitar on its case.
After a few seconds of silence, Bobby broke the silence. "Goddamn. You just sang a murder ballad! You're f*ckin crazy, kid." Bobby said. Tayaw was reminded of the term. He has heard of murder ballads before, but it's been a long time since he came across the label so he did not realize that he wrote a murder ballad. By dictionary definition of the words, then Tayaw indeed wrote a murder ballad. Tayaw though was puzzled at Bobby's reaction.
"I guess I did. Is it taboo?" Tayaw asked. "Is it illegal?" Tayaw asked more softly and carefully. "What? No. It's just. Nevermind. Great job by the way." Bobby said not bothering to explain himself. "Oh. Thanks. As long as I didn't do anything wrong, I'm fine then." Tayaw said. "I think what he meant was no one actually release murder ballads these days. Some have tried but they just turned out to be cheap knock-offs of the classics." Henry said suddenly popping out from behind the waiting room's large couch. Tayaw figured that Henry must have been taking a nap.
Tayaw's stomach sank at Henry's words. "Was my last song that bad?" Tayaw asked. "What? Nobody said that. I thought it was great, even. It's just that no one was expecting you to sing dark songs in your set, much more a damn murder ballad." Henry said which gave Tayaw great relief.
After chatting for a while, it was already 11:15, only 15 minutes away from Strawberry Front's set. "Alright then. Oh, look at the time. Sorry, Rez, Bobby, it looks like I'll have to check out your set next time." Tayaw said. "Oh? You're going already? Do you have another gig?" Rez asked, feigning offense. "No. It's just I promised my folks that I'll talk to them tonight. It's Sunday morning back home." Tayaw said, lying. He already talked to his parents earlier this morning. He just does not like the strange gazes from some of the people in the waiting room. Their gazes are not hostile per se; he just doesn't being scrutinized this closely.
"Oh. I almost forgot that you're not actually from America. I'll see you tomorrow then. Henry said you're scheduled on the Fridays and Saturdays." Rez said, secretly relieved that Tayaw is leaving. Not only Rez, but the rest of his band are relieved. They are actually intimidated after listening to Tayaw's performance. They are not confident that they can follow after Tayaw basically killed the stage.
"John, Aaron, George, Lenny, Jimmy, Eric. It was nice meeting you." Tayaw also said goodbye to the rest Strawberry Front and the band that performed before Tayaw. After Tayaw stepped out of the waiting room, it was as if the room suddenly got lighter. "Jesus Christ, where did you pull that kid out from, Henry?" Bobby finally expressed what the room is thinking. "PUHAHA! He came to me. I knew he was good, I never thought he was THAT good." Henry said, feeling proud of his decision.
"Man. Are you sure he's not some international star that's decided to play around here?" Aaron, Strawberry Front's banjo player asked. "No. I made sure when I had my granddaughter look them on the interweb. He has an album he released last month, but it's not country. Oh. He has videos on the internet with his band too." Henry explained.
"He has a band? What's it called?" John, Strawberry Front's drummer asked. "I don't remember. Wait." Henry said as he pulled out his wallet and pulled out a card. "Here. The fella who was with Isaac handed me this. My granddaughter looked Isaac up using it too." Henry said as he handed them the card.
"Oh. That's funny. Did he change his name? I don't even know how to say his name." Bobby said as he read Tayaw's card. "Yeahp. I told him to. This ain't California where people say exotic names all the time." Henry said. "Let me." John, who has a smart phone that can use the wifi, took the card.
A minute later, he found Tayaw's YouTube channel and the members of Strawberry Front gathered around John's phone. "Holy. Look at them! They're so young!" Bobby exclaimed when he saw the members of Percussive Corrections. "OHhohoho! Look at him go!" Rez exclaimed too, when he saw Hoon's guitar solo. "Mmm. I didn't know this song can sound like this." Aaron commented on the famous dance pop song that Tayaw arranged into a ballad. "I can't believe this drummer sounds like this." John commented at Ike's subtle and subdued drumming compared to his young age.
"Still. They look like Isaac's backing band. They ain't no real band." Bobby commented. "True. It also looks like Isaac is just playing casually. He's holding back for his band's." Aaron agreed. Right after Aaron said that, however, "Scattering awwAAAAAyyy… Ohh OOHH HoohHOhOh.." Tayaw's belting mixed with a vocal run rang out from the speakers of John's phone. "Whwoah! Okay. I didn't know Isaac can sing that high." Bobby said, shocked at Tayaw's vocal power and agility.
Henry, who did not watch Tayaw's YouTube videos in a great extent, was also dumbfounded. "Jesus Christ." He sighed as Tayaw's voice gave him goose bumps. "It's like he's a different singer." Rez said as he shook his head.
"Ya sure he ain't famous? A label would have signed him by now. Are the folks at Teungeb deaf?" Aaron said. John, who was silent for a while, noticed something. "Gentlemen, look at the date. Isaac, or his band, put this out on the internet only last month. October 16, 2011. Look here. The earliest on is only dated back in September 21, with only Isaac playing. That's just two months ago." John said to the group.
"So they're basically rookies?" Rez realized. "No. Except for Isaac, they're not even rookies. I don't think they've written their own songs yet." Bobby disagreed. "Not even rookies, but they're better than most people here." Henry crassly said. The Strawberry Front gave a sharp look at Henry. It was true, but he didn't have to say it. Nashville has its own pride after all. Even though Henry is from Texas, he's lived long enough in Nashville to know not to say that.
"Hey. We have more time. Want to check Isaac's original songs?" John suggested to the band. "No. Later. We only have five minutes before we start." Rez shut the suggestion down.
"Alright." John said.
Henry, seeing Rez's expression, was amused. He knows that Rez had too many shocks from Tayaw tonight. "Oh. I've heard his originals, alright. I remember one of them. It was actual – " before Henry could continue with whatever he wants to say, Bobby cut him off. "Alright Henry! Jesus Christ! We'll at them later."