Thursday, July 7, 2011

I'm not quitting my day job, but that doesn't mean I can't gripe about it.

Friends, my friends! I have come up with something EXTREMELY CLEVER.

Heretofore, I have been penning songs in my notebook on the front and back of a single sheet of paper. Over the past few weeks, as I've been having to learn my songs much more quickly than previously (wheee deadlines) this has proven to be inconvenient and unwieldy, as it necessitates pausing in the middle of a song to turn the page. I can't do that while I'm recording!

Boo, hiss.
So then I struck upon the very clever idea of writing the lyrics on two facing sheets of paper! That way the book can lie open in front of me and I don't have to turn any messy pages! Gee whiz, what a fantastic invention! 

"I'm not wearing any pants!"
Ahem, anyway. That song you see there in the second picture is the one I am singing for you this week! This is a song that I know for a fact, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is unfinished. The melody is fine, the words are fine, but they're not exactly as I want them. Especially the last verse--I think I get the message across, but it doesn't quite convey what I want it to. (Also I want to make it more about the foxes.) So I will continue working on it and hopefully post a revised version later this summer. (Possibly at the end of July--more on that later.)

The aforementioned clever trick with my notebook is why I'm looking down for the entire song. I should figure out a way to prop it up.



This week more than any other I felt that my job was hampering my ability to churn out a song. "Darnit, if I didn't have to do to work today, I'd have time to come up with a new melody and bash out chords for it!" That's right: my day job is getting in the way of my creative output. I guess this is further evidence that I am a Real Musician At Last.

I can't even work on songs in my head while I'm at work because the music my boss insists on playing is so godawful. =(

And now, about the end of July: the third and fourth weeks of July I am working 40 and 38 hours, respectively, and I seriously doubt that I'll be able to come up with entire new songs those weeks. So my plan is to write a song I've already written one week, and then a cover of someone else's song another week. (Probably something by Amanda Palmer or Josh Ritter. I'll try not to play "Wagon Wheel," but hey, it might happen!) Perhaps I'll even manage to bash out a revised version of this week's song.

Then I'll extend this whole project another two weeks so that I can end up with the requisite twelve new songs by the end of it. Sound good? (It had better; this ain't a democracy, here!)

I currently have no idea what next week's song will be like. Hooray!

What are you, new? Go to the first post to find out what this blog is all about!

2 comments:

  1. You can stop apologizing for songs that don't quite meet your standards now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UGH FINE.

    (I'm not *apologizing,* I'm EXPLAINING my PROCESS. =P)

    ReplyDelete