The Weekly Song

Week 34 - Fun to Begin

I'm violating a pretty major rule with this week.  I wrote the hook to this song a long ways back - months ago, in fact, but never really finished it.

I've always been into this hook and the concept behind it, particularly the turn it takes that is kind of unexpected, so I don't feel so guilty finishing it.

I'm pretty deep into this thing, so I'm allowed to cheat every once in a while, right?

DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE

Week 20 - Afternoon

Listen to this week's song first and then read my take on it.  I really don't want what I have to say coloring your experience.

Yeah, not my best one.

If the SoundCloud player isn't loading
DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE
On a Mac: Ctrl+click and choose "Save Linked File As..."
On a PC: right click and choose "Save Target As..."

lyrics
afternoon nothing to do

Week 15 - Keep Your Name

I had to give my dog away a couple of days ago.  This song is about that.

I've been fighting a pretty bad-ass sore throat for the better part of the last week, so the vocals on this one aren't exactly award-winning.

I don't have much else to say about this song. Admittedly, it's not one of my best, but it does capture something. And that's the point, really, of this whole thing. Just capturing moments in my life...

Hope you get something out of it too.

If the SoundCloud player isn't loading
DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE
On a Mac: Ctrl+click and choose "Save Linked File As..."
On a PC: right click and choose "Save Target As..."

lyrics
she'll keep your name
and hopefully it'll sound the same
as when i said it too

i'll hide your things
and someday it won't hurt
as when all this was new

if i loved you as much as i wanted to
i'd still have to do
what i have to do
and she'll love you as much as i wanted to

i'll find a way
to make believe it's ok
in all these empty rooms

you'll run and play
and maybe think of me
for a moment or two

 

Week 14 - Flu Not a Heart Attack

Since I started this project (and proceeded to write nearly a dozen songs about one single boy*) Angela Bowers and I have been joking about needing a quarterly boy about whom to write these weekly songs. 

Be careful what you wish for.

This is another one of those songs that I put together out of a bunch of ramblings that made no sense at the time, but hang together in a way that is rather illuminating. (if knowing more about my psyche can be classified as illuminating in any way to anyone but me).

I think it's about falling for somoene, or more accurately, meeting someone you think you could fall for and then deciding it's probably best not to.

Thanks this week goes to Christopher Plummer and Ms. Bowers (the latter for lending her much needed and oft-appreciated guitar skills and the former for once again lending a solid pair of trusted ears).  Truth be told, there are few weeks that don't get a good Plummer once-over.  

If the SoundCloud player isn't loading
DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE
On a Mac: Ctrl+click and choose "Save Linked File As..."
On a PC: right click and choose "Save Target As..."

* He's actually more man than boy, just for the record.

lyrics
i make every mistake for a reason
you now every sad song has a season
turned it over again in my mind
and i'm not giving in this time

real love creeping in can be deadly
turning every sad song into a medley
of never quite getting to find
a diamond that really does shine
so I'm not giving in this time

you can take it back
caught your flu, not a heart attack
and i'm not looking back
your flu is not a heart attack

someday you'll take it away for no reason
saturday? or maybe today. it's the season
turned it over again in my mind
the hows that don't have a why
i'm not giving in this time

you could take it back...

 

Week 12 - Pack a Gun

I don't always know where songs come from - how they start in my experiences and get processed somehow for packaging inside of a tune and lyrics.  Sometimes, just being near someone I'm close with can produce a song based on their experiences.  I think this is one of those cases.

The production on this one is rather stark. I recently realized that I have access to a pretty sick Fender Rhodes piano in one of the rehearsal spaces I rent, so I've used it quite liberally on this track. But besides that and a single lead vocal track, that's all she wrote. The subject matter is kinda heavy, so I couldn't really justify turning this into a big production number.

I hope you can enjoy my restraint. It is a rare treat.

If the SoundCloud player isn't loading
DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE
On a Mac: Ctrl+click and choose "Save Linked File As..."
On a PC: right click and choose "Save Target As..."

lyrics
you never learned how to fight
you never learned how to lie
so he took what he liked
you didn't know how to hide

did you keep what you heard
did it hurt every time
you believed every word
and he crossed every line

pack a gun for the ride
watch him run with your eyes
pack a gun
get it done
you know how the west was won
pack a gun

you can go underground
i can wait for a sign
i will not make a sound
but I'll stay close behind

pack a gun for the ride
hope is what you design
pack a gun
get it done
you know how the west was won
pack a gun

Week 11 - Sooner or Later

I recorded this one last nite at my dentist's house. 

Seriously.

It's for Angela Bowers - my friend and cohort. It's about being a tough girl and letting someone get the best of you and then getting over that someone.

I know I'm not supposed to say this about my own songs, but this one really gets me for some reason. The only thing I'd change if I had more than one week is the guitar solo. Not one of my more shining moments.  Oh well.

Special thanks this week: the aforementioned Angela Bowers (as muse this time, not collaborator), Dr. Shanaahz Gill, his amazing girlfriend Meagan (sorry, Meagan, I can't spell your last name) and Tom Petty for writing the song "Yer So Bad."

If the SoundCloud player isn't loading
DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE
On a Mac: Ctrl+click and choose "Save Linked File As..."
On a PC: right click and choose "Save Target As..."

lyrics
you're such a fun girl
you're so bad
and everybody knows it
you know they never look away
you're so bad

you've got ur own world
but you've been had
and you don't wanna show it
but i can see it anyway
you've been had

seen what you been lookin' for
it's not what u think no not at all
not at all
i know he didn't want anymore
but you can't feel bad baby sooner or later
you'll thank him

you'll find a new way
to keep your hand
and no one will see it
yeah you'll never give it away
you're gonna keep ur hand

seen what you been lookin' for... 

Week 9 - Size of the Sea

Here is the fifth installment in the saga of my efforts to document every single emotion swimming around inside me regarding a certain subject who shall remain, now and forever, nameless.

Production notes: drums on this one! Looped drums from Logic, but drums none the less. They don't sound half bad.  Bass, oddly enough, is my acoustic guitar with tons of wacked out EQ on it.

I'd also like to give special thanks to a Mr. Christopher Plummer, for providing alarmingly insightful feedback on the mix (this week and the week prior). I spent my entire Sunday working on this - approximately 11 hours straight - and was subsequently quite delirious by the time I was ready to cut and print (or bounce and rip as it were). Can't tell you how invaluable a trusted pair of 3rd party ears is in that situation.

This one's kinda epic.  It's like my Freebird.  I hope that doesn't scare you.

 

If the SoundCloud player isn't loading
DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE
On a Mac: Ctrl+click and choose "Save Linked File As..."
On a PC: right click and choose "Save Target As..."

lyrics
take what you want
just don't try to take it from me
you got the heart
why would u come back for the sleeve?

all the pain should've told you
all the air couldn't hold you
in a room the size of the sea

you were found
till you heard it coming down
don't look now
but i think it's coming down
fill a room the size of the sea

you broke apart
and you're holding it all at the seems
wish you could start
wish you had enough left for me

all your chances are over
and all the ways that you know her
fill a room the size of the sea

you were found....

Week 8 - Uncertain Again

This week's song is based on nothing in particular.  I sat down at my computer this afternoon knowing that I had to write a song and knowing that I had very little to say.  So, I just started typing words and before I knew it - I had a set of lyrics.  About absolutely nothing.

I'm aware of the temptation to read further into the words that my fingers wanted to type today. There's probably something to be said for stream of consciousness revealing inner desires or anxieties, blah blah blah. I can think of one or two things that I could be talking about on a subconscious level, but to be honest with you,

I still think it's about nothing.

 

If the SoundCloud player isn't loading
DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE
On a Mac: Ctrl+click and choose "Save Linked File As..."
On a PC: right click and choose "Save Target As..."

lyrics
so what happens now
after the fall but before it comes down
did you say nothing
did you hold your breath
why am i waiting
uncertain again

don't look up or down
after the crime but before they come round
did you say nothing
did they bring'em all in
why am I waiting
uncertain again

and everyone knows
it belongs where it goes
but you'll never find the proper place
if you hide before it shows

i can turn around
after you start but before you touch ground
did you say something
do I have to begin
why am I waiting
uncertain again

everyone knows...

Week 6 - Mess We Made

This song was borne pretty effortlessly out of a simple lyric that caught my attention when it popped into my head earlier in the week. They lyric I'm referring to is 'you and me and the mess we made.'

I'm embroiled in a sort of 'situation' with a young man right now and this phrase seemed to capture some kind of essence of that situation. There was just something about it that struck me.

I built the whole song around it and it was relatively easy and painless.

Also, the guitar solo is perfect. I love guitar solos that start with the melody of the song. It's one of my guilty pleasures.

 

If the SoundCloud player isn't loading
DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK'S SONG HERE
On a Mac: Ctrl+click and choose "Save Linked File As..."
On a PC: right click and choose "Save Target As..."

lyrics
we should drive to a new town
radio up and the top down
boxes and bags packed full of shame
just you and me and the mess we made

you should take every single word
i said to you and you said to her
sprinkle it all on top of the fray
of you and me and the mess we made

the mess we made feels like a home
rooftop painted blue and gold
brown and red leaves on the lawn
(don't forget the)
sinking ground underneath it all

i really hope you don't stay here
i really hope it becomes clear
and every reason never ever fades
you and me and the mess we made

the mess we made...

Week 3 - Seventy-Eight 1992

My sister had the opposite of what you might call a 'good week' - like the polar opposite.  She asked me a while ago to write a song with layers on layers that builds crescendo-style till the end.  This one's for her.

Recording this song was quite a challenge.  I'm leaving to visit her for the weekend in North Carolina now and because of that, had a short time to write and record this week's song.  So, forgive the roughness.  If I had another couple of weeks, I'd be doing way more with this, and maybe I will someday. But I like the rawness and the immediacy captured here to be honest, also.

 

If the SoundCloud player isn't working for you, you can
DOWNLOAD WEEK 3 HERE.