The Songwriter Speaks: Silent Knight on "me and my best friend almost got eaten by a pelican"

Silent Knight is a New Brunswick, NJ-based solo hip hop artist and the frontman of soul-rock group The Band Called Fuse. Known for his catchphrase from the 2011 album “Busy Is My Best Friend,” Silent Knight has emerged from quarantine hibernation with a bounty of new music and performances for both acts. In May he released a cassette tape featuring his new solo singles “Black Sun in New Orleans” and “me and my best friend almost got eaten by a pelican.” He spoke to Look At My Records! reporter Bennett Kelly about the latter.

The last couple years, especially during lockdown or pandemic, 2020, 2021, even this year’s been a little crazy, but especially when I was in the house a lot and in my home studio, I was really hunkering down and getting a bunch of music done. I was in a space where I was really in a zone. 

And so I already had a bunch of things to say when I got this beat from a producer friend of mine, Matt Cagle, who goes by Dirty Art Club. I’ve been a friend and fan of his for a while. He releases mostly instrumental music. This one’s not even gonna be on the album, but I have a whole album that’s basically produced by Dirty Art Club. 

To me, this beat sounded psychedelic almost. So for this one, I was listening to it, I just zoned in, and “Pelican,” or you know, the full longer title, is what came out. 

It wasn’t necessarily freestyle, because sometimes I’ll record or write a song and I'll freestyle the melodies or rhyme schemes, how I’m delivering. I’ll freestyle some stuff where it's gibberish or I’m scatting almost, and then I'll fill it back in with words. Or sometimes I’ll have the lyrics first and then I’m like, ‘Ok I gotta work with somebody to build a beat around it or I gotta find the perfect beat.’ 

For “Pelican,” I like the word magical, whimsical even. I had the beat, and I was just writing it and not really editing, not really going back and worrying about the last line I wrote. It was just freely flowing. And when it was written, I was like, ‘Ok, here we go!’ It was pretty quick. It seemed to just come out of nowhere magically and then it was there, and it was like ‘Ok, let’s record it.’ 

And even when I recorded I thought I’ll probably put a hook in here, and I ended up releasing it without one. There’s a background vocal, there’s stuff going on in between the verses, but I didn't do a traditional chorus or hook in there.

The “Pelican” story, it's an interesting one to me because it's actually a very personal song. It's a personal story in the vessel of this funky, you know, semi-upbeat, but just funky, whimsical tale, whimsical song. 

It’s about me and my best friend almost getting eaten by a giant talking pelican. True story. And I like to think it's a cool story. It was scary to me, traumatizing. But also it's not just that. It's not just a funky beat and, “Ha ha ha big pelican.” And that's fine too if people listen and it's just ‘Ha Ha pelican.’ But for me, I know there’s this underlying theme there too. 

The energy of it, there’s some guilt there. One of the lines is “I should have been there on the beach like a better man,” and stuff like “Back in the day, me and you was like Red and Meth, how we end up being like Tesla and Edison?” And another line, “I thought I was a better friend but I'm not, at least that's what my track record says.” So there's definitely this regret and guilt in there for me, in the tale and in the song. 

With Dirty Art Club, I don’t do the beats. I know some MCs, some hip hop artists work on their own beats, work on their own music. Sometimes I’ll have some involvement, or a lot of involvement, or no involvement. I feel lucky enough that Matt has trust in me, and we have that type of relationship where it's like ‘Yo, whatever you want to use.’ So, I love him for that. 

With certain producers, and with certain beats even, the producer might want to be more hands-on about it or have more input and stuff like that. And it depends, too. If it's a project that the producer is working on, and I’m a featured artist on there, I feel like ‘Ok I’m a guest, and I'm trying to figure out how to best complement their project and their vision.’ And then when it's something for me, we’re still collaborating, but it's more like now I've got the beat and I'm gonna go off somewhere with my vision. And certain people, certain producers are trusting of that. 

I’ll also add other elements, too. With “Pelican,” the bassline was already there, but I might have somebody play a bass line or I might have somebody put horns on or background vocals or other keys, just more elements to it. 

The Band Called Fuse

My bass player, bandmate and business partner, Thomas Hansen aka Toast from The Band Called Fuse, is the one who mixed it. We were down in New Orleans together last month when we released it. That’s probably more of a coincidence than anything, or a destiny if you believe in that kind of thing, with the other song being “Black Sun in New Orleans,” and the New Orleans basketball team being called the Pelicans and all that. But the two songs do have some mutual things about them. 

Toast is just a superfan of New Orleans in general. He tries to go there every year, especially during Jazz Fest. So, that was special for us too, being the first time we performed there, and right when Jazz Fest was starting. I got to attend a day of Jazz Fest too and he went to almost the whole thing. 

Jazz Fest itself is at the racetrack, the venue outside with the different stages and stuff like that. So we performed on day one of Jazz Fest but it was at a venue. 

And we did “Pelican” there, and I also did it at an in-store event at The Shop in Ridgewood, a friend of mine’s new brick and mortar store. I made sure to do those songs there cause the tape had just come out and we were selling the tape, limited copies and stuff. And I even did one show so far where we did it live with instrumentation. So, instead of just the beat, we actually had Toast playing the bassline, my friend Jerome Jennings on the drums, and a few other people, Jarred Barnes on the keys. And we did a live-band version of the song.

It's interesting because there are certain songs that are so much more amped and energy-filled, and get everybody moving or get my own adrenaline on stage pumped up. And on the other hand you have the emotional kind of songs for performances. So this is kind of different for me. I’m curious and interested to maybe not leave it as a song to just listen to. I’m curious how to approach it, experiment with the live experience. 

Something about the song to me is like, put on the headphones and just sit there and vibe out to the song. So it's been interesting translating that to a live performance, because its got that psychedelic feel.

I have an early song that I feel is similar called “Rhimes in Check.” That’s a play off a Tribe Called Quest song called “Check the Rhime.” And a lot of people say the “Pelican” joint reminds them of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul type of vibe. The funkiness, the beat, the delivery maybe, the words and stuff like that. But I also feel, which is something I like about music that I listen to and also whether I slip into my music, consciously or not, is that there’s always multiple layers there, it being a personal story. 

I feel good about “Pelican.” I like that there's layers. I like that it doesn't always have to be straightforward or super esoteric. I like that it has a theme. And like I said it just kind of poured out of me, and it's funky, people are digging it. I'm definitely happy with it. 

–

Silent Knight - “me and my best friend almost got eaten by a pelican” (2:39)

Produced by Dirty Art Club

Mixed by Thomas Hansen

Lyrics

I had a letter that I meant to send but never did

I mean I never wrote it either I just kept it in

I still don’t want tattoos but if I ever did

You the one that I’ll be going to to get them shits

Now let’s pretend I did send it for my benefit

And then we went on an adventure and we met a prince

And he said there was a king who was hella rich

He had a scheme on and maybe he would let us in

The only thing, he kept calling him his feathered friend

Now I’m thinking is he human or a pelican?

Started drooling looking at us like we bread to him

He said my dear my dear my dear now you my venison

Now I’m thinking that I must have hit my head again

Rollerblading on the backbone, devils den

But I’m really wishing I had been a better friend

But I’m not, least that’s what my track record says

Back in the day, me and you was like Red and Meth

How we end up being like Tesla and Edison?

I should have been there on the beach like a better man

Now we about to be eaten by a pelican

Yeah, I thought that pelicans were freaking pescatarians

But apparently that’s just a misconception and

They occasionally prey on some amphibians

And some mammals and some insects and feathered friends

Anyway how Ima get up out this hell I’m in

Hit that goofy ass bird with a pellet in

His fat mouth, and he ran away unsettling

Shit is crazy when you out your element

Keep up with Silent Knight by following them on Instagram and checking out their Bandcamp.