I remember the days, you were sick you were sweating.
I was emptying your buckets, and changing your bedding
I would draw you a bath and a syringe of morphine.
I would kiss you on the forehead and tell you this is all a bad dream

And I taught myself to sing to you, only happy tunes,
but the medical machines, beep in minor harmonies

now I stay up so late, my mind plays songs my body hates
I'm just trying, to get back to that place,
where everything is in the right place.

chorus

I tried a hundred times, to raise your 3rd & resolve your 9th
but you seemed to suspend each line, diminished in a frenzie
of your pulse oximetry.

chorus

I tried to reach out to ya, and tur each one of your slips
into an appoggiatura,
but you screamed in Phantasmagoria, I had to hid my eyes
to abide the horror.

Happy Tune(quintet)

I've been here for a minute or
maybe a life time more
dressing every moment in 
the clothing that you once wore

spending all my time worrying
about all the seconds that came before

my eyes can hardly 
see the seconds still before me.

But, honey its alright 

Your eyes will adjust
to this dark too
like the same dark
I once walked you through 

Honey, its all right

You are 
a movie made for TV
your acting
Like the child of a a beast

but i was looking for relief

i was cold
stoned 
home all alone
alone in the peanut gallery 

bent/spent/ can't pay the rent
alone in the peanut gallery 

Alone, together; together all alone
Alone in the peanut gallery

we're awaiting our release

I've been gone for three weeks now
or maybe just a day or two
I can't even imagine
how sad or lonesome it feels for you 
I only hope that your not worrying
about getting back to doing things like others do 

I only hope
That you get back to doing what you do

But, honey its alright 

Your eyes will adjust
to this dark too
like the same dark
I once walked you through 

Honey, its all right

You are 
a movie made for the screen
your acting so finely 
like the natural queen of cool street 

you were looking for relief.

you were cold
stoned 
home all alone
alone in the peanut gallery 

bent/spent/ can't pay the rent
alone in the peanut gallery 

Alone, together; together all alone
Alone in the peanut gallery

we're awaiting our release

But, Honey (Solo Acoustic)

...And It's a waltz for Debbie 
and a tear drop for Eddy 
and a myth about a vineyard,
on a bottle of chianti.
And I'm sorry to tell you, Billy,
But we did start the fire!
And we danced while it was burning 
all the night. 

Who found Leonard in his tower
and joined his Midnight Choir;
Sat blamelessly knowing that they tried.

Oh how we tried...oh, how we tried;
Commiserate blindly;
open our eyes 
and see

oh, how we tried

And it's a shuffle for the blues, Man! 
Cab hand speed down the highway
where lost shadows 
leave music
e'er where that they once grazed 
and it's a stumble in a story 
and a headache in the morning 
where we rub our eyes knowing that we tried 

Oh how we tried...

Aspirational Half-Waltz for the Samba at the End of Time

Sketch of a duet written for deadpan dance flick. I du-et myself in this sample take.

Arcade.mp3

A honey sweet duet,from a bitter sweet dead pan dance flick.

The Naming of A Thing(ft. Danielle Pollari)

World Is A Fireplace

hideous beast .wav

The Naming of A thing ft. Daniel Pollari(live version).wav

Dance for the Earth

Royalton.Robinson

Atmospheric & dramatic: The music of Jake Vaillant is heavy laden with unforgiving poetry and unabashed gallows humour, which Vaillant weaves into songs that are honest portraits of local lore and universal tribulations. The folkloric content and subject matter oftentimes runs deep and dark, but it is never without a glimmer of hope. It is a hope that is weathered but undeniable─ enduring with a tenacious vigor.
Vaillant has been an active member of Thunder Bay’s musical Community for well over a decade and his is tenure as a writer and composer has seen him perform with some of the finest talent the city has to offer. His backing “band”─ sometimes referred to as, The Dirty Old Town─ is really more of a loosely assembled collective of collaborators that have joined Jake over the years in mounting, festivals, concerts and mixed media art events. Historically, Jake’s happenings have featured a bill of prominent local acts, whom after performing with their own groups will have members featured in his culminating stage show. The ever shifting cast of The Dirty Old Town means that no two performances are ever quite alike─ though the same can still be said to be true about the equally powerful solo performances. Local polymath, Kevin Sidlar is a long-time collaborator of Vaillant’s and probably the closest thing to a regular fixture in the elusory group.
Indicative of, and perhaps a commentary on, the times; or perhaps just in the grace of age & maturity, Jake’s music has evolved into something more reflective and personal than his early entries. His present sound, hears him distancing himself from the quixotic-rowdy-theatrics & declamatory indulgences of his greener youth, in favour of something a little more sentimental and sublime─ fastened still, with sharp teeth and biting wit.

Jake & The Town