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Paul Swartzel - Audio
(Most of my stuff can be found on my Youtube page. Also, my albums are streaming on all those places
I'll
 upload a lot more later!)

Hojamei - Etude 12
00:00 / 04:49

Music on mental illness and family, hope

The Magic Word
(Feat. Debrissa McKinney)
The Magic Word - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 02:41
This song is about Dennis Nedry, who stole dinosaur embryos from a corporation in 1993 and, contrary to popular reports, survived and collected 1.5 million dollars. Jurassic Park alternate history rap song in 13/16 over 4/4, 7/8. 
Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit
           (Remix for Orchestra) 
Smells Like Teen Spirit Remix
00:00 / 01:27

I took Kurt Cobain's original vocals and altered them to a different. Always liked his voice and wanted to hear would sound like in a different context. 

                    Plural Marriage

for 3 mezzo sopranos and baritone (2008)

Plural Marriage - for 3 sopranos and baritone
00:00 / 05:30

I wrote this for the 2008 Bang on a Can Summer Festival. I took a letter written by Joseph Smith, a polygamous religious leader, and rearranged it. Winner of a 2009 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award. 

Circle of Fifths - Etude
00:00 / 01:11

The Hammer without a Masturbator
(Etude for Prepared Piano)

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00:00 / 02:20
Snake Bite Memorial
Snake Bite MemorialPaul Swartzel
00:00 / 01:18
Where are My Glasses? [Etude 11]
00:00 / 01:48
On Cassowaries and Pinatas
00:00 / 02:36

Song for my one man band. Cassowaries are large flightless birds known for their dangerous kicking ability. My favorite animal growing up. 

God Nostrils
00:00 / 02:12

It's basically about group therapy and friends.

Psychiatrist bias.  

The Barbeque Man Dance
bbq man pic.png
The Barbeque Man Dance (Broken Orchestra Remix) - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 02:00

Pop song/boogie woogie in odd meter. Buh- buh-buh Barbeque

                    Beethoven,

        Sonata in C minor, op. 111               

                     (excerpt)

Beethoven op. 111 (excerpt) -
00:00 / 00:00

This is me playing in a recital in high school. This show I played this sonata, Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, some original stuff, and sang some Burt Bacharach. 

Barbeque Man Dance

(Broken Instrument Version)

The Barbeque Dance (Broken instrument version -
00:00 / 00:00

I made a version of the BBQ Man Dance with broken instruments

Ginger's Thank You

                    Danzig's Mother 

             (Swing/big band remix)

​

Mother - Swing remix - Danzig (Paul Swartzel remix)
00:00 / 00:00

I altered the original vocals of the heavy metal classic to swing rhythms and reharmonized/orchestrated it. 

              Barbeque Man Unleashed:

The Greatest Professional Wrestling Work of All Time  

                            (Excerpt from 1st movement)

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BBQ Man Unleashed (1st movement excerpt) - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 00:00

This is an excerpt from my doctoral dissertation piano concerto/ballet, detailing Barbeque Man Jr's first match with Baron Banks Gentry. This part depicts their shoves/tie-ups, leading to BBQ Man Jr slamming Gentry's head ten times into the turnbuckle.  

My Father Knew Colonel Sanders,

but I know You

My Father Knew Colonel Sanders - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 00:00

Pop instrumental in odd meter

Ginger's Thank You Music - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 00:00

Music made for a video thanking everyone who donated to UK charity for kids. 

Honky Tonk Toccata (2009)
Honky Tonk Toccata - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 00:00
Solo piano piece I wrote. I'm playing on this recording, but pianist Lisa Moore played it much better. I'll post her recording soon. 

   Ballet of the Hatching Rattlesnakes

    for prepared piano 3 percussionists (2007)

Ballet of the Hatching Rattlesnakes - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 00:00

                    Bird Fair

Bird Fair - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 00:00

I decided to go to a bird fair one Saturday morning in North Carolina and wrote a song about the adventure.

What Just Popped in There 2.jpg

              Barbeque Man Unleashed:

The Greatest Professional Wrestling Work of All Time  

           (Excerpt from 2nd movement - The Rematch)

BBQ Man Unleashed - 2nd movement excerpt - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 00:00
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Excerpt from the beginning of the rematch, leading to Baron Banks Gentry power slamming Barbeque Man Jr. to the canvas. 

I never saw the Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai, but I wrote a song on what it's probably about

Truest Haiku

Truest Haiku - Paul Swartzel
00:00 / 01:20
A piano with a whalebone rib cage for a lid.jpg

Was a little boy in Japan
(And this is true)
It was hard times, Pre-World War 2
Pre-Kamikazes comin down from the sky
when Tom Cruise ruled as The Last Samurai
.....and he was a tyrant

Threw the boy's mama in the Slam
Cause she blew
Outlawed Tunes on the Japanese Flute
meaning Dance Hall Days, Wang Chung cover band,
Boy got in his truck, went down to jail, and made demands:

"Hey Cruise, I'm here to do three things:
Get my mama
Kick some ass
and play some Japanese flute music....
Looks like I'm almost outta flute, MANE, gimme my mama."


Cruise told him to beat it and scram,
"Disperse!
Wait, ya want ya mama, ya better gimme a verse
bout something sacred to your kin."

Boy said a curse
The F word, the worst,
and on a whim
boy said with a grin

[oh, jus look at that grin]

"You want a haiku?
You can't handle a haiku

A Few Good Men 2"

The Director said "Cut!
We're gonna make a billion bucks!
Make a trailer that goes...
Weeeouuuooooewwwww"


And they did. 

Because

The Industrial Revolution
Has Been a Disaster
For The Human Race





 

Snake Bite Memorial

Snake Bite Memorial
00:00 / 01:10

Good day to you, and you, and you

and a Good Day Everybody, Hey!

That’s not how we do things in Indianapolis

 

Oh, No thanks to you and you and you

That's not how we do things!

​

That’s NOT how we do things in Indianapolis.

 

"The Snake Bite Memorial 

Takes up all the land with 

Names of those killed by snakes..

...lot bigger than our Vietnam...

​

and it’s shaped like a Snake,

One that swallowed an egg,

well, with no more room you gotta go up

with bigger font for the wealthy dead

 

Some parts an names removed,

now some soldier's souvenir

'Oh, we’ll get them back!'

That's what they say

at least election year... 

 

But not today

Not today.

 

Everybody sayin':

​​

“Get rid of the snakes

Get rid of the snakes

Get rid of the snakes!

Get rid of em , rid of em......"

​

But that's not how we things in 

IN-DI-ANA-AP-PO-LIS

​

THAT'S not how we do things

No, we don't.

That’s NOT how we do things in Indianapolis

 

We got room to build.

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