Writing

I've decided to write a new set of songs. I've got about 15-dozen or so that are scheduled for projects and other people, or have already been recorded. Why write more? I guess it's a challenge. There are always new thoughts flowing through my head (new travels, new books, new friends) and since I have no formal musical training, I have a very contrived way to write to push myself in new directions:

1. Not using the same chord sequences.

2. Trying different grooves/rhythms/tempos with each demo.

3. Not being nostalgic (this used to be considered a disease).

4. Not being overly romantic about non-existent situations

Well, these are just ground rules that I tend to break sometimes :).

Without a theory background, what has inspired and nurtured me has been collecting records, cds, and downloads and having great friends over the years to be in an active dialogue with about music and songwriting. Thanks to Ron Kane, Eric Gregory, and Suely Mesquita, who have been most vocal in this conversation. Outside of my father, who was a classical musician and professor (and my brother, who's always on my ass!), these friends have had the greatest impact on my music/songwriting appreciation. 

Without knowing much music theory, I rely on the internet and apps to tell me what chords go with what key (I break this rule if I can imagine a strong vocal melody). I then copy the tabs to 15-30 chords & their inversions and run sequences until something sticks. I write lyrical ideas independent of the music, then wait until I can generate a vocal melody in my head and see what matches lyrical ideas, feel-wise. 

Sometimes what I consider strong vocal melodies pop into my head, and I try to reverse engineer the process, but mostly it's just fishing with sets of chord inversions. I love the feeling of learning new inversions, going from not being able to play them to really nailing them.  

When I've got 10-12 songs ready, I try them in various orders and tempos and occasionally switch keys to suit my voice. I then let the set bake for a few months, reappraise the songs. Do I have the urge to make them public? Do they compel me to embarrass myself in front of an audience with them?

Lately, I've realized that I'll be broke if I want to play regularly with a band that has to be paid regardless if anyone comes to the show. So, playing solo is a new challenge. I played a few songs at a time at a spoken word night for the last two years. It was challenging, but ultimately fun. Nerves always come into play. Drinking helps!

OK, i'll be posting the results of this new set of songs on this blog. Thanks to you,  my 4-5 invisible readers.

Writing vs. Waiting

I just wrote a completely different set of lyrics to a song that I wrote a dozen years ago. When sequencing the album it was a part of, I realized I had to many of one kind of song- mopey coulda, woulda, shoulda numbers and that this balance didn't reflect the sort of work I wanted to put out.

Although I couldn't articulate what was wrong with the mix of songs I had at the time, I knew I experienced an uncertain feeling whenever I listened to the sequence. I thought the problem was my vocal approach. After trying to sing one of the doomed songs a few dozen time, the slow realization that the problem was with the writing took seed. It's impossible to sing a poorly written song well. This also happens when the lyrics don't jive with the tone of the music.

Sometimes you write something where the emotional tone is off- Georges Moustaki once write that good songs must feel true emotionally. Something hasn't jived between the lyrics, vocal melody and chords. Perhaps you feel as a singer that you can't fully own the rage that you've written- it's not in your palette or perhaps it's not true to your life experiences. I'm finding myself more and more ditching whole sets of lyrics when this happens.

Anyways, it's the metacognition that pays off. I rewrote several  completely new lyrics for the exiting music (keeping my all-time favorite albums in mind as a reference) and felt that I got the right balance of the kind of songs (first person narratives, prayers, work-chants, cathartic rants, etc.) that I'd like to hear on an album I'd buy. I put it on the shelf for a little more time to make sure I still feel this way later.

Some people feel that songwriting is some mystical non-reflective process, but as Suely Mesquita pointed out on the book we collaborated on, there's really two parts to creativity- the unconscious/inspirational part, then the learned, experienced, editing part.

You Invented Sex

Link: 

goo.gl/DtZSEh

 You Invented Sex

(Gaulke/Gaulke-Corner-Prol)

you were so bored

you couldn't feel any more

everything 

fell into parts

you felt so cold

the work was hard

so you 

made something up

you invented sex

it seemed like a good idea

though I had thought of it first

you gave it wheels

  

think of the people

hurting in this life

that could be

healed with this thing

taking off their clothes

getting so close 

if they knew

what would disappear

you invented sex

what a scary thing

maybe it will never work

maybe it's too weird

touching each other

dissolving all fear

how could anyone

return to their work?

Cakewalking

put on your red dress

I'll wear my pressed shirt

meet me at the place

I'll bring records

we'll share the bread

with yesterday's soup

go on take the lipstick

and those flat shoes

we'll go cakewalking

like our betters do

they've got things

we got moves

cakewalking 

on the avenue

night throws off the day

the mood's rising like the moon

teasing appetites

being the street life

twisting the city 

as we unwind

putting everything beneath our feet

dancing on our liberties

hands in the pants of the city

a swift kick after a squeeze

In a Musical Way

I want a life as bright as these chords I play

I want to live my life in a musical way--

Birds singing, a milkman whistling, a fat happy maid

Pancake-flipping oh yeah

I go to work against reality

Battling the world with my bare feelings

My heart never leads me astray

Just as long as I continue singing

I'm playing the part of an underachiever

In an out of town run that goes on forever

You could be the disaffected lover

Whose heart swells on an orchestra cue

Dancing our way past the fear

That anything wonderful's not real

Harmonizing on a melody

That worms its way into your dreams

Spotlights, pink tights, alcoholics

Costume, scenery, nervous breakdowns 

We're switching scenes like hand puppets

Up until the curtain comes down

song link

Major Chords

"Life doesn't happen in major chords," said Martin Gore of Depeche Mode in an interview once.

It’s a challenge to use them…to appeal to the universal without sounding too preachy, didactic, or too simple. If you stay small, the work lacks resonances. I don’t think there’s a formula to this, more of a recipe that is constantly reworked.  

It’s knowing when to strike the universal chord that balances the whole piece. When you change directions of the tempest you’ve created.

Yeah, so you bridge your most intimate, subjective experiences with the force of the powerful mathematics. That’s the meat of it. 

Vines from Hien (doesn't rhyme)

Nina's page:

https://vine.co/inkyviolet

from our show at Spike Hill

https://vine.co/v/MuHeXeX9eX7