Hot Pink Halo - Mimeograph

from SpinTunes 21 Round 4 by Spintunes

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about

A printmaker's* whole life revolves around The Multiple. With that in mind, I decided to write this song based around two Duplicator Machines from the 20th century: the Ditto Machine and the Mimeograph. These two are often confused for one another. The mimeograph used a system of stencils that ink was pushed through from a drum inside the machine, and the ink was usually black or blue. The ditto machine is a Spirit Duplicator, and the one we old people know from school, used by teachers for making worksheets: purple ink with That Smell. Spirit Duplicators worked using two sheets instead of an ink drum. One was drawn on, and the other had a coating of pigmented wax, and when that sheet pressed against the first sheet, a solvent would dissolve some of the wax and transfer it to the paper. Spirit Duplicators used aniline based colour, which fades over time when it's exposed to UV light.

*Me

lyrics

Fill in the blanks so the sentences
Start to make sense
They tell a tale that’s
Already been told
Repeatedly

You are a ditto machine
A lilac ghost
Dissolving those dreams
Your scent hangs on the air
Bittersweet for years

Connect the dots maybe you’ll see
The bigger picture
Starting to emerge
The whole thing built upon
What happened earlier

I am a mimeograph
A darker shade
Moving through masks
Repeating my mistakes
Until the ink runs clear

Twin scenes drawn together
But they’re not the same

Try to find the words
Before it is too late
One day all that
Will be left are
Overlapping rounded shapes

We were a moment undone
Two phantom notes
Exposed to the sun
Our story softly fades
As each line disappears

credits

from SpinTunes 21 Round 4, released October 24, 2023

license

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Spintunes Union, South Carolina

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