A Song Each Day

well, 30 days have come and gone. i really enjoyed this experience. sure, there were times when it was daunting and laborious,
but mainly i loved having it there everyday.
generally i feel pretty good about the results. most of my complaints concern production/recording quality…and i would much rather have complaints on that front than about the songs themselves.
as far as the songs go, there are definitely up and downs, hits and misses, but that is to be expected under these circumstances.
mostly, i must admit, i feel proud of what i’ve done here…i mean, it easily could have turned out to be 30 stinkbombs,
know what i mean?
many thanks to CJ and asongeachday for letting me participate in this thing. it’s been a blast.
now, who wants to start a band? i am completely serious.

i present to you the cast:

thank you

holy freakin frijoles!
30 songs.
i’m going to come back this weekend and put up a wrap-up type post with all of my thoughts on this crazy scene…
right now i’m in much too thick of a post a song each day haze.
…but for now, in honor of our departure from each other, i have written us a good old fashioned country breakup song.
thanks, dear listeners

instruments:
two guitars, one bass, two vocals

lyrics:
this is my last thought on the subject
you and i are getting close to the end
to the end of all the good times
to the end of all the struggles
to the end of all the wondering about what is left to come
to the end of all the laughter
to the end of all the ups and downs
to the end of all the feelings we felt until we all felt numb
to the end of the tug of war
to the end of what we’re pulling for
to the end of everything we threw in each other’s face
to the end of the time we spent
going until there’s nothing left
to the end of no accounting for anybody’s taste
to the end
this is my last thought on the subject
you and i are getting close to the end
until we start this thing up again

this one is a bit of an experiment. i wanted to do something that was at least partially improvised.
i decided to do it in a seven count. i set my click track, pressed record, got behind the drums, and went.
then i moved to the marimba and just started to play on top of the drums. that is where i set up the chord progression, which gave me a map for the rest of the instruments. then i added the other parts, each one recorded on the first try.
the results are definitely loose, but it was fun to play and i like the feeling of it.

instruments:
drums
marimba: musser
bass : beat ass harmony
guitar: yamaha hollow body electric
organ: hammond

i initially was going to have a lot more layers going on in this song, but i really like the sound of it stripped down like this…i guess because it allows the drum part to come through more…
…also, it’s 11:55

the idea for the lyrics sprang from watching people in a restaurant from outside.

instruments:
guitar: zanny’s generic classical
bass: beat ass harmony
drums
vocals x’s 3
hand claps

lyrics:
i watched you through the glass
but it should have been a screen
you all looked just like
actors in a movie scene
laughing it up
dressed to the nines
young and fit
raising your cup
saying your lines
with charm and wit
wide eyed and blue and silver toned
the crowd holds it’s breath
and shivers to the bone
for what you might say next
from outside
the motion’s slow
the meaning’s deep
but i don’t
really know
i’m not in this scene
there is no such thing
there’s no fire
or hero’s cape
there’s no last minute escape
when broken down
and barely there
what’s left stands
true and bare

one time i gave my girl a card that had a jungly cartoon scene on it, and inside i wrote a bunch of bad jokes and puns about love and jungles and monkeys, etc. but one of the lines i wrote we thought was actually kind of good, and it, or a version of it, has now turned into the lyrics of this song.
so the words were first, and they kind of led to a type of sound i wanted to go after. the music started with the drums and then i just kept adding parts…
…and adding parts

instruments:
guitar: yamaha hollow body electric
bass: beat ass harmony
drums
ukulele: hilo
concertina: stagi
organ: hammond
piano: susan’s hand-me-down, still woefully out of tune upright
jawharp
vocals x’s two

lyrics:
life is a jungle
and you are the vine
that i swing from
and try and make it to the other side

i feel honored to be part of a long standing tradition of musicians who use parentheses in a song title
for no apparent reason

instruments:
guitar: yamaha hollow body electric, acoustic
bass: beat ass harmony
drums
shaker
vocals

lyrics:
that gear’s teeth
fit in the teeth of that gear
and they make the whole thing spin
there’s a small
rudder that steers the big rudder
that steers the big ship
we stretch for a broken lever
but it’s out of reach
let’s all walk together
into the breach
that wheel sharpens the axe
i watch us pass
every time we make another
trip around the carousel
we grin and sheep
and write off another
that’s how it goes and oh well
we stretch for a broken lever
but it’s out of reach
let’s all walk together
into the breach
that wheel sharpens the axe

it’s a halloween freakout!

instruments:
guitar: yamaha hollowbody electric x’s two
bass: beat ass harmony
drums
organ: hammond
shakers and random noisemakers
jawharp
vocals x’s four

**warning**: this song contains some unsavory language. if you are the type of person who doesn’t care for such things, please do not press play…
but, if you are able to forgive such atrocities, and you have about fifty seconds to spare, why don’t you give love or food a try.
thank you very much.

instruments:
piano: susan’s hand-me-down, still woefully out-of-tune upright
guitar: yamaha hollow body electric
vocals x’s two

lyrics:
f*** you bank
f*** you fees
i was in a decent mood
but bless the baby
and bless the noodles
bless you love and food

the key to this song really was the use of the snare drum. i wanted the tune to have this sense of attack, where i would just pound on the chords without stopping, or fiddling about whatsoever, but initially it was going to be more rockin, and i had a distorted guitar part and the whole bit, but when i laid down the drum track with just the snare, the feeling of the song really sprang up.

so every instrument is pretty constant, except for the piano…which brings me to my next story:
i got a piano!
i would like to thank Susan, who gave it to me, and David and Julie for hooking the whole deal up.
now, i just got this thing, and it is woefully out of tune, and i thought i would not use it on here until i was able to get it tuned, which i have not yet done
but it was just too much darn fun to bang out these chords…and i think the slight off notes actually fit well.

instruments:
guitar: zanny’s generic classical
bass: beat ass harmony
organ: hammond
snare drum
piano: susan’s hand-me-down upright
vocals

lyrics:
everybody stop!

well, i guess this song is about when a person is going through one of those tough times, when it seems like the world keeps piling it on. it’s not a reference to my current state of mind or anything like that, but i think we’ve all been there. i remember once i had this awful day, just terrible, where nothing went right, and when it was finally over and i got home to relax at last, my cats had shit all over my apartment.
it was like the universe had sent me a tangible metaphor.
it’s those kind of days i had in mind here.
musically this thing sprang out of my own personal arbitrary insistence that today’s offering begin with a Bm chord.

instruments:
guitar: zanny’s generic classical, yamaha hollow body electric
vocals

lyrics:
when the tobacco is all gone
and you’re left to breathe
when you got no tricks left up
your tattered sleeve
when all of your best companions
have moved away
when you got nothing saved for
a rainy day
when you remember the good times
flowing music, easy rhymes
when you’ve got no vices left
dangerous enough to quit
when the world is full of shit
as they say
when it pains it roars
when your wallet’s empty
and your heart is broke
when your kid is crying
and you miss your folks
when you’re only remembered for the
things that you lack
when your baby’s gone
and never coming back
when you remember…
…when it pains it roars

(note:  everytime i have put up a post here i go to a search engine, type in the title of the song, and find an image i like and put it up. when i did that with this song title i realized that this whole “when it pains it roars” thing has been used many times before, including  by the band Jawbreaker. just wanted to say that i don’t recall ever hearing it before i thought of it…and also, i am completely unoriginal and lame.)