lyric writing/ manual typewriters

have been going through [listening to, adding to or subtracting from] tons of tracks on my pc... and writing/ recording some new stuff, lately- and while the spirit is upon me, when i take a break from the music writing, i've been writing some lyrics using my old manual typewriters [better to hammer out the rhythm with, rather like piano keys, than a PC]

i have one on each porch of my house, and on various desks throughout; have collected them for years... the one in the foto below has been used for lyric/poetry/dairies & journals since the early 1970s [pre-computer]! most of my hollywood and new orleans diaries, all letters, poems and lyrics, etc. were written on it up until 1998 [when i got my 1st laptop]- i really prefer typewriters to computers... i like the uber alles feel [like an acoustic piano as opposed to a frigging keyboard] -the paper trail- [no crashes- you don't lose work]- the sound and feel and the beauty of the machinery... same thing with cameras: i prefer old manual ones to new digital ones.

above: a shot done today- on my front porch- with my old 'schreibmachine'- an old Underwood given me by my sister, which i used all during the 70s onward.

below: one from a Hollywood yard sale- on the back porch looking out onto my 'outside' porch and my forest in the distance: a great/serene place to have coffee, smoke, THINK and TYPE...

i also have several in switzerland: a beautiful Hermes baby- and a Royal. i also bought a small lighter one when i first went to Switzerland, when staying in Lausanne, and would type letters and fax them from the post! that was before computers were so commonplace. it was and is still a romantic notion

now if only it were possible to easily find ribbons for them... but then, there IS the computer/internet, n'est pas?

[c]2007 doug duffey[C] 2007 DOUG DUFFEY