Name: While the Light Shines by Excessive Feedback
Duration: 4 min 32 s
Description: Official Demo recording of the first song written by and for Excessive Feedback about an actor's knowledge of the limited time of such a lifestyle.

Official Demo recording of the first song written by and for Excessive Feedback about an actor's knowledge of the limited time of such a lifestyle.

While the Light Shines

Chapter 8. Leaving Pencey, holden sits on the train to NYC with a mother of a former fellow student, who is a jerk despite his mother's praise. Holden, under the pseudonym Rudolph Schmidt, based on a janitor, tells her how great her son is. His compulsive lying catches up to his guilt as he eventually says he's getting a procedure for a tumor.

Lyrics:
  Sometimes I do this thing
  Where I say things that just aren't true
  On my ride into the city
  I do it again, I'll walk ya through:
  A lady come in (not-so-empty car)
  Sits by me (bags in the aisle)
  Sees my 'case ("You in Pencey Prep?")
  I know her son (let's shoot the crap for a while),
  Ernie's a good boy (adapts himself)
  Sensitive type (but he's everything else)
  Not a good mixer (that could be)
  Cause he's sensitive as a toilet seat,
  [Laughing]
  Asks for my name (without a thought)
  'Rudolph Schmidt'(he's a janitor)
  Convince her to join (for a smoke)
  Feelin' kinda bad (compulsive demeanor),
  How 'bout a cocktail? (Aren't you young?)
  I can play older (Thanks, I'm good)
  Ya know, young Ern (ran for prez')
  Modest as Hell (he can take on the world),
  (So how come you're heading home?)
  I say "I need an operation"
  (Oh dear, is it serious?
  Just a tiny tumor in my head,
  I've got this thing (when I can't help but lie)
  Once I get started, (I can go on for hours)
  Read to distract myself (as she opens a Vogue)
  Until we're departed (but the compulsion overpowers),
  (Get well soon, Rudolph!)
  (Good luck on your operation)
  (Come on over next Summer),
  I'll be with family in South America
  What the Hell is my problem?
  I guess it's my pants on fire (pants on fire)

Get Well Soon, Rudolph (Compulsive) - (SemiDemo)

Chapter 7, Holden, after trying and abandoning sleeping in Ackley's roommate's bed, packs his Gladstone suitcases and peace out of a Pencey Prep.

Lyrics:
  Hey, Ackley Kid
  Can I crash on your roommate's bed?
  I'll be gone in the morning (he'll never know)
  Forget it, I'll leave instead,
  I grab my Gladstone's (they're suitcases)
  Pack my things for the road (guess I'm goin' to the city)
  Tally up my dough (I'm pretty loaded)
  Suck it up, time to go (no looking back),
  I don't know why
  But I feel myself cry
  They're gonna feel this goodbye
  [SLEEP TIGHT, YA MORONS!]

Gladstones (Exodus) - (SemiDemo)

Chapter 6 of the novel, in which Stradlater, refusing to talk about his date with Jane, and his dismissal of the composition, gets in a fight with Holden, ending with the former knocking the latter to the ground. In a stupor of rage, pain and misery, he decides his stay at Pencey is coming to a sooner the than anticipated.

Lyrics:
  [I can hear him coming, on the linoleum floor]
  (Did you write the goddam paper?)
  It's on your goddam bed
  (Christ's sake- a baseball glove?)
  (You can't do anything right!),
  Tear it up, throw it away
  Light a smoke to piss him off
  What did you do? Where did you go?
  (Nowhere, just sat in Banky's car),
  Did you give her the time of day?!
  (That's a professional secret, buddy)
  Took a swing, but it didn't connect
  (What the Hell's the matter with you?),
  Get your knee off my chest, you crumby
  Bastard! (think you can get any girl)
  You don't even know her name, moron
  (I'm warning you...),
  [If I let you up]
  [Will you keep your mouth shut?],
  [You're a dirty stupid sonuvabitch of a moron!]
  [Why should I keep my yap shut?]
  [You morons never wanna discuss anything!]
  [That's the way you can tell a moron, they-]
  [Never wanna talk anything intellig-],
  (Why the Hell don't you shut up, when I tell you to?)
  (You asked for it, goddam it, wash your face, you hear me?)
  You moron, you sonuvabitch
  Just leaves me on the floor
  Take a look in the mirror
  Fascinated by the horror,
  [I'll sleep elsewhere tonight]

the Moron and the Sonuvabitch - (SemiDemo)

Part of the song for chapter 5 in Catcher, in which Holden recalls the loss of his brother at a very young age due to leukemia. The first half recalls the fondness for his brother's nature, the heavy back half his death and its toll on Holden.

Lyrics:
  A baseball mitt, with green ink on it
  (Was my brother's, name was Allie),
  Covered with poems, to curb the boredom
  (On the diamond, not absent minded),
  Two years younger, the red-head wonder
  (Teachers loved him, he was above it),
  They wrote to Mother (Nothing bad to say)
  Proud to be his brother (up until the day)
  He got sick (Leukemia)
  God played a trick (I stayed with ya)
  In July, (Forty Six)
  We said 'Goodbye' (To my brother, the kid)
  After Bon Voyage (slept in the garage)
  [You would have liked him],
  I was only thirteen
  His funeral, worst thing I'd ever seen
  He was so bright
  Why someone so pure and nice had to die?,
  Can't cope with the day
  Punched out the garage windows, in my rage
  Psychoanalyzed
  Parents can't talk to their kid, left asking
  Why?!,
  Broken hand, broken heart
  Thinking of him, feels so hard
  Nerve damage, nerves are shot
  Like my brother, pain, never forgot,
  [Screaming]

Composition - (SemiDemo)

Chapter 4. This song introduces Holden's roommate, Stradlater, a "sexy" but narcissistic guy. He talks with him, rough houses with him, and learns the ladies man is going out with a girl- a girl from Holden's past…

Lyrics:
  Stradlater (the Roommate)
  Goin' down to the can (Got a big date)
  Time for a shave (But he's no bum)
  He's a Yearbook (Kind of Handsome),
  Spends half his life ('front of a mirror)
  Acts like he's (so superior)
  Him and the girls (go so far)
  In the back of (Coach Banky's car),
  He's got a favor to ask (Got nothing better to do)
  He keeps on askin' (Be a buddy, be a buddy-roo)
  It's just a composition (just be descriptive as Hell)
  I give him my decision (I mean, I might as well),
  He thinks he's model of the year (Sexy bastard!)
  Makes himself smile, ear to ear (Conceited bastard)
  Thinks everybody loves him (narcissistic bastard)
  So I put him in a half nelson (ya goddam bastard)
  [Liberate yourself from my viselike grip!],
  [So who's your date with, anyway?]
  [Bud Thaw's, girl's roommate. She knows you...Jane Gallagher],
  Jane Gallagher (Jane Gallagher)
  She used to live next door
  We'd play checkers (Two Summers ago)
  Kept her kings in the back row,
  Is it really her? Should I say hi? (Thought she went to Shepley)
  Did she say- how'd she mention me? (Swore she went to Shepley)
  Had a Doberman Pinscher (You mind? You're blocking my light)
  Ballet practice in the heat (C'mon, you're on my towel,
  She had a crummy childhood (Mom re-married a drunken perv)
  Man, I really should go and say 'hi' (If I could only build up the nerve),
  Don't tell her I got the axe
  But give her my regards, will ya?
  (Do that composition, as asked)
  (Don't knock yourself out, I'll see ya, see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya)

Yearbook Kind of Handsome - (SemiDemo)

Chapter 3. Introducing Robert Ackley, the unfortunately- unattractive and obnoxious roommate to Holden and Stradlater. He complains about everybody, picks at his acne, and trims his nails on the carpet (until Holden repeatedly complains to do it at the table). Deep down Holden feels sorry for him.

Lyrics:
  Crackle of the shower curtains
  Ackley comes to hang, uninvited
  Never doin' anything
  Presence never gets me excited,
  Teeth and Pimples are a mess
  Personality matches face
  Walking, touching all my things
  I can't even read in my own space,
  (Sitting on the arm of my chair),
  Ackley Kid, why you gotta be such a 
  Slob? (Just trimming your nails on to the floor!)
  I try to be cool, but you're pushing my 
  Buttons (Wish Stradlater would come right through this door!),
  I know you hate that sonuvabitch
  (But he just loves you to bits),
  I'll tell you for the millionth
  TIME, trim your nails at the goddamn table!
  You hate the guy for saying you should brush your
  Teeth (You know he's right, I know you're able),
  You think he's just a spoiled rich kid
  Ackley Kid, you're a little off base, just face it, you're jealous
  (Speak of the devil, and the bastard shall appear!),
  Strad Lad bursts in, askin to borrow my 
  Coat, asks If I'm staying put (I am)
  Says 'hey' in a phony way to you 
  (Who just grunts and leaves) at least you finally 
  Scram!
  (Ackley Kid! You're such a prince, you know that?)

Ackley Kid - (SemiDemo)

Chapter 2. Holden goes to talk with his History teacher, Mr. Spencer, before his great academic departure. In his smelly old room, Spencer chastises the boy for having no direction or care for his future. Holden takes in the words, knowing he's only right.

Lyrics:
  Comin' in from the cold (no cocoa, thanks)
  The Spencer Home (the smell, the mess)
  So frail and old (But he's doin' alright)
  In his Navajo blanket,
  Take a seat on the bed (Let's get it done)
  Three days 'til (Mom and Dad will know)
  That's when he says (he says the)
  (Question on his mind:),
  What's the matter
  With you, Boy?
  (Got no direction),
  How do you feel
  About flunking' again?
  (Where do the ducks go?),
  For the third school (too many phonies, sir)
  Don't apply yourself? (Goin' through a phase)
  Just want to do you right (I'll be fine, I'll be fine)
  Gotta get it figured out (Don't worry about me!)
  (I know I don't)
  He tells me "Good Luck"
  (God, I hate that)

Opposite Ends of the Pole - (SemiDemo)

Opening chapter of the book, Holden Caufield stands upon a hill watching Pencey and a rival school playing football. He laments the school, and a recent memory of ruining a fencing meet in the city (left the foils on the goddam subway) and tries to get a feeling of Farewell.

Lyrics:
  Standing up on the hill, watching the 
  Guys play (Go Pencey Prep!)
  Thinking to myself
  Nothing much to say,
  Forfeit in the City (Cause I)
  (Left my foils on the goddam subway)
  The boys were livid, but I
  Had to laugh anyway,
  Leaving' here, can't keep it going
  Living the dream (only this is real)
  This place, it hates me, I've always known
  Still waiting for some "Good Bye Feel" (Good Bye Feel),
  "If I'm leaving a place, I
  Like to know I'm leaving!"
  There were good times, 
  Few and far between,
  (Old Spencer wants to talk,
  Before I walk) Through the
  Cold, give the old man
  one more chew of the fat

Goodbye Feel - (SemiDemo)

A type of energetic prologue to the album. Not exactly based on part of the book, it is a representation of Holden's mental state, the setting of the story, and a sense of foreboding for the dark turns laid ahead.
Style wise it is a fusion of jazz- inspired progressions and time signatures and heavy aggressive Post-Hardcore and Noise Rock.

(No Lyrics)

New York, 1952 - (SemiDemo)

Excessive Feedback is the duo Garage/Indie rock band of Ben Walker and Jeff Berta. They listen to a lot of different music and take influences from the 70s-10s. They write fun music and practice in Jeff's basement. If you'd like to hear their music, you're at the right place.

While the Light Shines

Excessive Feedback

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