Day: July 27, 2009

46 songs are finished.

95 – give or take – remain.  Of those, about ten have been started, but they presented difficulties so I let them slide.  No more for today, I’ve been revising and reprinting songs since 6:30 this morning and my brain is fried.

Anyway, I’m one third done the writing the songs down part.  Next is getting all of them recorded, however badly, in MP3 format.  Then, getting such of them are worthwhile, into youtube format.  Like I say, maybe it looks to you that I’m frolicking and playing on my time off, but this stuff is a) hard and b) boring.  Like, at least as boring as going to work.

Writing songs is easy.  Playing them is easy.  Writing them down is hard, not least because once they are written down they are ‘fixed’ and songs are organic and change all the time.  Here’s the list, with notes.

An evening of serious drinking (Written for Jerome’s bday_
Bela Lugosi is the king around here (Mentions Alan, whose mother lived next door to Bela Lugosi)
Bruise (I think this is one of the best breakup songs of all time)
buy me  a beer (an instant classic, also on youtube)
Catnip on my shoes (I wrote this the same day as Some Words Before We’re Through)
Chance met (wrote this walking around the oval at Cariboo with Peggy and Paul)
Didn’t he die? (written in honour of Dennis Rivett – a very lively jig)
Don’t put too much sugar in the bottles (Remembering the time pOp put too much sugar in the Root Beer)
Erica’s Song (a love song I wrote for somebody else.  Tellingly, the two lovers are no longer on speaking terms, but the song remains…)
evening news (I was told by Paul Schmidt this is a classic folk song)
Freedom (John’s second or third fave song of mine)
F]ck You Jack (I wrote this on the connector coming back into New West from the ferry)
Give me five – give me ten (wrote this during my year in the Cornerstone building)
Happily Married Song (Wrote this for Tom and Peggy but sung for many other couples since)
homeon the derange (The theme song for a western show)
housewife’s lament (My tune, post civil war lyrics)
I must admit it troubles me (I didn’t know I was writing this for Glenda, but I was.  I found out afterwards that she died while I was writing it)
Imagination (I left the lyrics off…. it’s just a tune now)
John’s Song (written May 9 2009)
Just call me Clem (written for an underappreciated character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Lady of Komarr (I am VERY fond of this filk tune – and it covers the story well, too)
Lifeline (wrote this for Paul during happier times)
Like a Drum (written in Toronto when we were living on the Lakeshore)
Miss Manners has her say (I love this song…. it’s so… rude.)
Mother’s Day (unabashedly feminist and anarchist)
Mr. Nippleoff (a little rhyme for when Keith was a nurseling)
My version of the golden rule (extremely brief, and rude)
one of these days (extremely brief, and has never gone out of style)
She (My one attempt at classic arena rock.  NOT to be played by me, to be played by guys with big electric guitars and even bigger hair)
Slimfast and methadone (on youtube.  I love how “and the story isn’t over yet” is so so true)
The cairn (Why angry women stay in crappy marriages)
The dream in fragments (an instrumental)
The Exchange I Make (A hymn to depression)
The Merman Lover (a traditional folk song, wait, let the ink dry)
The pirates to do list (debuted on LJ.  V Cute)
The Tapioca Song (we all cotched infectious tapioca)
The tickle song (a rhyme to allow kids to control how much adults tickle them so they don’t feel overwhelmed)
Wear a Condom or Beat it (a cute song pretending to be by the owner of a condom store)
weekend’s over (written for ScaryClown’s bday)
Welcome Sophia (otherwise known as ‘wisdom’)
Whatcha gonna do (an irresponsible song hymning multiple drug use)
When are we going back to the moon (20 July 2009 – my latest)
Willie P’s Lament (an instrumental on the mandolin I wrote after his death)
Words fail (This is the instrumental version, I haven’t done out the lyric version yet – AKA the Telecom song)
World’s bright edge (brief little tune)

Those of you who have heard me sing more than a couple of times will have heard me sing this song – I wrote my own tune for it because I was so struck by the lyrics.

Well, I found the original tune!  It sounds like a cross between a dirge and a hymn and it sounds like this.

Thanks, I prefer mine.

I am in the process of proofing and reprinting all of my previously entered songs.  By noon today I should have a final count for how many are finished, how many are incomplete, and how many remain.  … excepting the ones I remember after I’ve done the count, because I’m still tripping over tunes.