For the remainder of 2012, The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library will be releasing one recording per week of the 25 songs created to honor the speakers at this year’s TEDxSomerville, accompanied by videos of their TEDx talks (see all previously released at: http://blog.michaeljepstein.com/search/label/tedxsongs2012).
While the event was back in March, it has taken us a while to roll out these recordings (…and we’re still working on them!). Here’s a recap of our experience and songs, Tanya’s experience recap, and the story of how the songs were presented at the TEDxSummit in Qatar by TEDxSomerville Executive Director C. Todd Lombardo.
In addition to Schuyler Towne giving one of my favorite talks of the whole TEDxSomerville event, we had the amazing pleasure of convincing him to collaborate with us and give an introductory rap to his song. How awesome is that? Extremely awesome! …which is also how awesome his talk is.
Schuyler is obsessed with locks. He got his start as a competitive picker, winning the American Open and competing internationally as well. At an early point in his lock collecting, he found an old “Yale & Towne” padlock. This potential familial linki drove him to spend spent the next several years of his life trying to understand everything he could about locks – and in this talk he explains why to him, locks are beautiful.
Lyrics/chords:
Schuyler Towne
G C D
Schulyer Towne finds beauty in mechanical things
pin tumblers and levers and magnetic springs
opening doors togetherness brings
G D G
Schuyler’s a champion of locks
time locks and pad locks and deadbolts alike
with torque wrenches, half diamonds, and ball picks he’ll strike
he even knows how you can secure your bike
Schuyler’s a champion of locks