Day 28: Dora and Rudy

In the car on the way back from my step-niece and nephew's naming ceremony I came up with a short little verse for them, which I've set to one of the piano improvisations from Thursday. I've just recorded it, and I hope they like it when they hear it (they're only a few months old so probably won't have strong opinions either way).

Things are now as follows:

Written and recorded:
Brooklyn Bridge
City Song
Codebreaker
Doodlebug
Everyone Likes Coffee Except me
Former Glories
Impulse Control
On Those Dark Days in July
Murder, She Wrote
Realityicide
A Reverie
Dora and Rudy
Shoelaces
The Mismatch Man
The Race
Volcanoes
What's Lost to You

Written but not yet recorded:
Fail

Almost finished:
Sing a song
Pedestriana
Untitled

I may also put the other piano improvisation on there as an instrumental, I think it's nice to have something without words to break things up, don't you?

Day 27: It's only words

I was on good piano playing form yesterday, and whilst going over what I recorded I realised I had a couple of really sweet improvisations of about two minutes each, which I'm going to try to put words to over the weekend. I played some really crazy frenetic rhythmic stuff too but none of that is really usable as a song - sometimes I get carried away and start to play the piano more like I used to play the drums, thinking of paradiddles and fills more than chords and melodies. It's fun but I don't think the piano likes it too much, and the Yamaha I'm using has a really heavy action so I was exhausted afterwards. I've been editing the takes together today and will set about recording vocals as soon as my house is empty. I'm still a bit stuck on some of the lyrics though, sometimes they come and sometimes I feel like I have nothing I want to write about... I'm going out shortly though, and then to my niece and nephew's naming day tomorrow (very cute names for very cute babies: Dora and Rudy, I might have to write a song for them), so I should get some ideas from one or both of these things. If not expect a lot of humming in some of the songs.

p.s. Speaking of lyrics, I've just realised how grammatically incorrect the song Words (which I've quoted in the title of this entry) is - it's only words? They're only words, surely?

Day 25: Chipping away

I recorded vocals for City Song, re-did them for July and You Amaze Me, and re-wrote some of the chords for Fail. Played around with my ukulele, started to get some interesting things happening but no actual song as yet. Tomorrow I'm going to do the final piano recording session so otherwise have been getting stuff ready for that. I've also been listening to the Hidden Cameras today, having helped out at a gig of theirs on Saturday for a friend. I hadn't heard their music before but they were really quite special, particularly as the gig was held in Shoreditch Church. I spoke to the vicar afterwards, which felt all kinds of wrong as I had a beer in my hand and had just watched a gay band singing about watersports. He didn't seem to mind.

Day 22: Mind the gap

So far I've been punctilious in updating this blog every day, however the weekend just past was alternately too busy and too hungover to maintain the habit. I am now back in the swing so normal service is resumed. I've just totaled my work so far, which is as follows (lots of these are working titles):

Finished:
Brooklyn bridge
Codebreaker
Former glories
Murder, she wrote
Realityicide
Shoelaces
The mismatch man
The race
Volcanoes
Nothing can replace what's lost to you
You amaze me

Written and partially recorded:
Coffee
Impulse control
July
The mind
City song
Reverie

Partially written:
Pedestriana
Sing, sing a song
Friday, 8th August
Maslow, actually
The pigeon song
Awake, love
Art loving people
Untitled

So, another three to finish... I should make it, my only worry is not getting the last piano recording sessions done in time.

Day 14: Wires and hammers pt. 2

So today I risked my spine by lugging all my location recording stuff back into town for the second day of piano recording. I got parts for a new song called You Amaze Me and Reverie. I also sat with those words I found on the way back from High Barnet (see Day 6) and started to improvise. Now I don't write songs like this very often, but if I just keep playing and playing with lyrics in mind, usually something weird starts to happen - not at first, but after about ten minutes I start to get really (and I mean really) into it, sweating, swaying and gurning, and it's only when I get to that place looking like a total idiot that great chords start to appear. I can only do this on piano, as I'm much better than I am on the guitar (although my limitations on guitar actually make it better for songwriting in some ways). Anyway, I played and re-played for about half an hour, and ended up with something that sounds to me like it has something Vaughan Williams-y about it. I then tried to do some other stuff, re-recording a song that may be called July, and another about a reincarnated pigeon, but none of it quite came off.

Day 7: Wires and hammers

Today was the first leg of recording piano parts. I got takes for three songs, including one called The Mismatch Man, which I wrote with a singer like Peggy Lee or Nina Simone in mind... The other two don't have names yet. The lyrics for The Mismatch Man are:

Unrepentant though unbelieved
Ill-intentioned but well-received
Freely welcomed but bound to leave
Meet the mismatch man

Summer bloomed
A well-loved room
A boat floating on a lake
Autumn brought
The first sad thought
That I had made a mistake
Wintering
No sign of him
Just gloomy, grim heartbreak

He said "Listen, for this is true
If I'm taken before I'm due
Know forever that I love you"
I miss the mismatch man