Stephin Merritt - '81: How to Play the Synthesizer lyrics

Take a single oscillator Producing a drone Send it to the wave shaper Altering the tone This can be a triangle Sawtooth or a square Modulate the pulse width Nobody will care This is how to play the synthesizer This is how to play the synthesizer Now go to the filter bank Low, high, band or notch Fiddle with the cutoff point Pour yourself a Scotch Modern filters oscillate All by themselves It sounds like you're torturing Little metal elves This is how to play the synthesizer This is how to play the synthesizer Nextly, shape the envelope AKA ADSR Attack, delay, sustain, release Which means how loud you are One millisecond to the next Whether you pluck or lurch Or ooze like an organist In a Venusian church This is how to play the synthesizer This is how to play the synthesizer Now you play the synthesizer Don't be lazy now Make it hiss like rattlesnakes Or moo like a cow Crash like a hundred marbles Smashing on the floor You can make a thousand sounds Never heard before This is how to play the synthesizer This is how to play the synthesizer