A Song Each Day

i didn’t have a chance to get to today’s song until about 10:30pm…at all…nothing written or planned or anything.
needless to say its pretty bare bones.
there is, however, a nice little mallet interlude towards the end.
this song is about something that happened this morning.
it happened at 161 bpm.

instruments:
guitar: yamaha acoustic
marimba: musser
xylophone
vocals

lyrics:
i’ve just gotten back from the moon
i’ve fended off lions with chairs
i’ve circled the globe in balloons
i’ve walked on my hands down the stairs
beside pyramids i have knelt
i’ve swam the whole of the sea
but never have i felt
like when you said hello to me

the music and melody of this song were starting to develop, but i was struggling to decide where i wanted to go with the lyrics. then i randomly came up with the idea to quote people’s last words and see if i could make them fit into the melody i had in mind. there are a couple of moments of unusual cadence, but mostly i like what i was able to find and work with.
i have credited everyone who’s words i used, but, i don’t really have permission to use any of them.
don’t tell. ok?

the short intro to this song is the first time i have featured the marimba. but i assure you, dear a song each day listeners, it will not be the last.

instruments:
guitar: yamaha acoustic
bass: beat ass harmony
marimba: 1950’s musser
drums
xylophone
vocals x’s 2

lyrics:
Codeine . . . bourbon.
~~ Tallulah Bankhead
I can’t sleep.
~~ James M. Barrie
Josephine…
~~ Napoleon Bonaparte
Don’t you dare ask God to help me.
~~ Joan Crawford
I must go in, the fog is rising.
~~ Emily Dickinson
I’d hate to die twice. It’s so boring.
~~ Richard Feynman
God will pardon me, that’s his line of work.
~~ Heinrich Heine
I don’t want to go home in the dark.
~~ O. Henry (William Sidney Porter)
All my possessions for a moment of time.
~~ Elizabeth I
It is very beautiful over there.
~~ Thomas Alva Edison
Too late for fruit, too soon for flowers.
~~ Walter De La Mare
God bless… God damn.
~~ James Thurbe
I am ready.
~~ Woodrow Wilson
Nothing matters. Nothing matters.
~~ Louis B. Maye
It’s all been very interesting.
~~ Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Do you hear the rain? Do you hear the rain?
~~ Jessica Dubroff
Get my swan costume ready.
~~ Anna Pavlova
I am not the least afraid to die.
~~ Charles Darwin
Now I shall go to sleep. Goodnight.
~~ Lord George Byron

Here is Song #16 – You can stream it by clicking the little PLAY button, or download it by right-clicking the title:

The first thing I came up with for this song was the vocal melody – I was kinda humming it a bit while I made some dinner, and put some simple acoustic guitar parts underneath it later on. I recorded the guitar part first, and then the primary vocal melody.

I felt that the chorus parts should be rich and full of vocals, so I overdubbed three more vocal harmony parts underneath the lead. After that was done, I filled in a little instrumental gap with some xylophone and called it done!

The lyrics were inspired by how sometimes I get all poo-poo about my music ‘career’ and actually add up how much cash I could raise if I sold off all my expensive gear…and how much free time I’d have to hang with my girl and my dog and all that if I wasn’t always writing and promoting my music. Inevitably, I regret having these thoughts soon thereafter – and I chastise myself for being a whiner. 🙂

Instruments used:
Acoustic guitar (1940s Stella)
Xylophone
Vocals

Lyrics:
I think it is fair
To say today was just another day
The sun rose and it looked right down on me
Then just as quick it set – oh futility
I will stop whining so much
And make up what I can with what I have
Ho-Hum!

Here is Song #13 – You can stream it by clicking the little PLAY button, or download it by right-clicking the title:

I can honestly say that this song just kind popped out of nowhere. I sat down with my baritone ukulele to noodle around for ideas, and the two main chords from this tune just fell together; I think it was a D and some G derivative. The vocal melody practically wrote itself shortly thereafter.

So, I just recorded the ukulele part (along with a simple 2-chord change at the end), and then some percussion (drums and shakers). At that point, I wrote out some lyrics about how it sucks to be onstage in a poorly-chosen venue; you are up there singing your songs and nobody gives a shit because you’re not playing covers. When I sang the lyrics, I also added some deliberately random whistling at the end to imply a lack of caring.

After the vocals, I noodled together a xylophone interlude for the middle – I ended up with two tracks blending together, playing thirds. As I was sitting on the floor recording the xylophone parts, one of our cats was all up in my business – she thought that the little xylophone mallets were her playthings. It is a miracle that she allowed me to even got those two short parts done. So, I stuck a microphone in her face and she sang along at the end of the song (and you can even hear her clawing at the mic’s shock mount too around the 2:50 mark).

Also, as was the case in a few of the earlier songs, you can hear my clothes dryer running in the next room…and the ukulele mic picked up my mouthbreathing as well. In ‘real’ recordings, I’d edit this crap out – but not here!

Instruments used:
Xylophone
Baritone ukulele
Floor tom & Snare (small Yamaha thing)
Shakers
Cat
Vocals

Lyrics:
Give up
Stop trying
Shut up
Stop talking
No one wants to hear your song
Because it is crap
Watch the room clear out
Go home
Stop singing
Get lost
Stop playing