Deep Cut #1

Haven't got a chance to record lately, but maybe I'll end up taking advantage of the incoming weather this week.

I've been listening to some of my old stuff. I wrote this one almost two years ago. I was definitely going for a Dire Straits meets Todd Rundgren sound. A little heavy on the lead guitar and terrible drumming, but it's not all that bad.

Christmas Post

Just finished recording this year's Christmas album. I think it was written and recorded in about 6 hours, but I'm pretty satisfied with the result. I made up 6 songs, and did 3 parodies. This one's a parody of the most viewed video on youtube. Also it is a true testament to how bored I get when shopping for clothes for people who aren't even me.

Song from the summer

Here's a song I did over the summer. I actually like the chords and the lyrics which is unusual. Pardon my terrible drumming.

Chords are:

C Am E+ Am C G7

C Am E+ Am C C#dim

E7 Am

F G

or something like that.

A break from law stuff

Here's a Halloween song. It's not so static-y so that's nice. Simple lyrics, easy melody, sing along with your kids. I've got a lot of good ideas for my Christmas Album and I bet you guys just can't wait. This is Mira making lion mouth.

Melodica

I got a melodica for my birthday, but haven't used it to record till now. For some reason the instrument really charms the cat and she meows and jumps at me when I play it. I pretend that I am charming her and that she is not just doing her very best to make me stop.

This was a fun song and I thought it came out okay. The chords are G Bmin Emin7 G/d C D7 or something like that for the verses and the little bridge part is C G G/f# Em C D D7 or something.

Here is a much worse song that involves distortion, simple chord progressions, bass jams, singing about what I'm thinking (mostly nothing) and being not nearly as good as all that sounds.

Actually the only reason why I include it is that I like whatever diminished chord I threw in--with the treble-y strings and harmonica it gives a cool carousel effect. Otherwise this might be the bottom of the barrel.

One more

here's a last song for January. I really meant to redo this one with better vocals, cause the rest is pretty nice. But here it is with totally ad libbed vocals about being in love and nice things. It's not so great, but has kind of a nice feel for a one-taker. I almost don't want to redo it even though I should, and I probably won't. The verse chords are great: C C9 C6 C7 F Fm Fm/d C. I spent a long time playing the first four chords trying to figure out what to do next, and I'm pretty happy with this resolution. I don't remember the chorus chords anymore...something with Am and Fm I think.

Here's to a more productive February!

So many love songs

Here's another romantic type song. It is a pretty bare waltz and a bad attempt at a story song. I guess I'm getting in the mood for valentines day. It's funny that I can be pretty caustic about human tendencies to verbalize the mundane over the profound--and then turn around and base my song-writing on the holiday times of year. I guess that's one of the many cons of my structure-less writing style...the main pro being that it's way more fun to make up words and melodies off-the-cuff. I imagine that it would feel better to work really hard on a piece and have it come out great than it would to do the same in one take. But I'm not sure. Is it better to win the lottery and buy a mansion or to earn the money for the same house through hard work?

I guess at some point I'll have to work hard at a song to see if there's a difference.