Songs in the key of July

To make things a little easier for July, we did cover songs.  That way you could focus on the recording and music rather than the writing process.  July is always a really busy month, for me at least, and this made things not only easy but fun.  There are three songs.  Below each one, I have posted the original song so you can compare and contrast.  Listen to them and vote for your favorite at the bottom of the page!

Leslie Fleming ft. MC Slappy Pack - Tainted Love

(Soft Cell Cover)

My comments: First timer, Leslie Fleming, talked to me about doing this song.  I did all the music and am featured in the song as well, while she did the main vocals.  This song is a lot of fun and has something I have wanted to do for a long time: A RAP BATTLE!  It was great to work with Leslie and hopefully for future songs she will participate!

Here is the original version of Tainted Love by Soft Cell, in case you're weird and have never heard it.

Brian Salapek - Rock and Roll McDonalds

(Wesley Willis Cover)

My comments: Wesley Willis was one of God's own prototypes.  Too weird to live and too rare to die.  But he did die several years back.  We were big "fans" in college and this is my tribute to him.  I could have just put my keyboard on the demo like he did for all of his songs, but I felt like the song would be great acoustic.  I tuned up the 12 string and here it is.

Here is the original song:

Rene Zansman - High Fives and Landlocked

(Dear Landlord Mashup)

My comments: Rene took his song in a great direction and mashed up too songs by the (great) pop punk band Dear Landlord.  Something about them being on acoustic guitar brings out a sadness in the melody I hadn't heard in the original, it's pretty interesting.  It feels like Rene was the most comfortable with this song out of all of them.  I think he did a great job.

Here are the two original songs:

Vote for your favorite song!


Also, don't forget about the August song!  Break out that bass and let's hear some funky ass DISCO!

August 2012 Song Announcement!

With a week left in July, it's time to announce the next song.  In order to try and expand interest, the subject is going to be dropped and there will only be a specific genre each month.  Hopefully, having it more open ended will attract more people.  So, anyways, the song for August will be...

DISCO!

Disco!  You're goddamn right!  This genre may completely contradict my original aim to try and attract more people but whatever.  To help motivate you, here is a drawing of a disco ostrich.

June's Winning Song!

With there being only two songs, the voting was pretty close.  When it was all said and done, I won by only one vote.  The prize this month is nothing special or fancy.  I'm pretty modest and am going to treat myself to a delicious hot dog with sauerkraut and extra mustard as the prize.  Yum!

I wasn't very hungry so I decided to share the hot dog with my good friend Leslie!  Sharing is great!  Yay!

Okay, that was kinda dumb.  I just wanted an excuse to upload pictures of a hot dog being eaten from Halloween a few years ago.

ANYWAYS!  July is winding down and I really hope to get a few more songs this month.  The song for July is a cover song with a significant change made to it.  If you have any questions or concerns, you can post them as a comment here or on the Facebook page.  I am planning on submitting two songs, working with friends.  Leslie, shown above, will be working on one song with me.  Be sure to send in your songs via e-mail or through a Facebook message to me whenever you finish them!

Also, the song for August will be announced soon.  I will probably post about it when there is about a week left in July.

June Songs fo' yo' mamma jamma!

Like I had said in the announcement for July's song, summer time makes it hard to get anything done.  This month, there were only two songs.  I hope that we can pick things up soon and get back on track with a few more each month.  As a reminder, the songs were in the genre of Children's Music and on the subject of Horror.  Have a listen and vote for your favorite below!

Brian Salapek - Captain Howdy's Our Friend

My comments: My song was based on the movie The Exorcist.  Early in the film, Regan talks to the demon through a Ouija board and refers to it as Captain Howdy.  That name is just so damn cute that I knew I had something that fit with the horror as well as the children's theme.  The song isn't screaming "children's song" but as a simple, catchy pop song, it's about as close as I could do.

René Zansman - Monsterbear

My comments: This time, Rene really nailed the genre with his song.  The cutesy piano and the vocal melody following it is absolutely perfect for a children's song.  The horror of his song is a teddy bear that is a whole slew of monsters.  Rene had said that this song may be his weirdest yet.  I have to agree, but I like weird.  The horrible conclusion of the song reveals the teddy bear's true motive: to cut off his toes.



Vote for your favorite song!

July 2012 Song Announcement!

Summer can be a very busy time for everyone, and July seems to be the worst month for getting anything done.  I'd hate to skip a month with the Song Writing Game though, so I am going to make it a little easier for everyone this time around.  This month, we will be doing cover songs!  The only stipulation is that you must make a significant change to the song.  What exactly does that entail?  You could do a change of genre, or you could take two songs that are similar and do a mash up.  It's all up to you!  I hope this gets a few more people participating.  Good luck everyone!


Also, I may be posting the original song along side each cover so that they can be judged with the changes you have made in mind.

I usually draw a picture for each song announcement, but without the subject and genre being set, I will just settle with uploading this picture I drew of my friend Nate who once said:

"Oh my gosh, I have vivid memories of grape big league chew as a kid. If you put too much of it in your mouth at one time, the flavor was so intense it made you whole face scrunch up."

May's Winning Song!

There were a lot of great songs for May and after two weeks of voting, Jack Eggleston came out on top with his song, Sheriff John!  Good job, Jack, you win the most fabulous prize yet!  It's a whole set of jewelry including GOLD RIMMED GLASSES, a matching GREEN LANTERN RING AND NOSE RING SET and a new GOLD GRILL WITH "GET MONEY" ENGRAVED!  Wow!  Look how great Jack looks with his prize!

And don't forget about your songs for June.  Send them in when you finish them up!

May's Songs are IN!

May is over and we have some great songs to show for it.  As you'll remember, the subject was Suckling Piglets and the genre was Country Western Swing.  Western Swing is a different style of music than Country Western, and everyone went more in the Country Western direction.  Take a listen to the songs and remember to vote for your favorite below!

Dem Dirty Dags - Little Piggy Titty Song

My comments: Dem Dirty Dags is Kayce and Jon (who won last month) joined by Kayce's wife Krissy.  I think they did a good job with this simple country diddy.  I especially like that the pig noises end up sounding like Satan at points.  Did I mention there are bonus points for Satan/pig hybrids this month?  Well, there are. I also like the fact that most of this song was written on my porch under the influence of beer I made.

Jack Eggleston - Sheriff John

My comments: This month Jack blew me away with his song.  The style is spot on and it sounds fantastic.  My only complaint is not understanding the lyrics very well, but that's pretty minor.  I could pick out that he does say Suckling Pig in the song and that's all that really matters.  To clarify the happenings of the song, here is a comment from Jack himself:

"The sheriff is the suckling pig.  I was afraid it would be hard to understand, I did it all on my iPhone and it seems to mix down really weird.  Anyway, I wanted to do something kind of Folsom Prisonesque.  The idea being that this is a father talking from prison about the cop he killed for framing his son for killing the kid's mom...ish.  I also love to be covered in wieners as seen in the YouTube video for this song.  Covered.  In.  Wieners."

That's an actual quote.  I did not add to it at all.  Anyways, if Jack keeps this caliber song up, we'll all have to step up our game!

Brian Salapek - Dem Suckling Pigs'll Ruin Me

My comments: My original theme for this song was the pigs driving the farmer crazy and he kills them but decided to go a little more light hearted.  I had written the song and then one day realized why the lyrical rhythm flowed so well in the writing, I unconsciously ripped off Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues.  Oops, after realizing it, I wrote the last verse as a tribute to the fact.

Rene Zansman - I know a Suckling Piglet

My comments: I feel that Rene did a great job on his song even if it doesn't fit to the style very well.  It's a cool, weird and fun little song that is based around pop punk with a catchy chorus.  The keyboard effects for the fiddle and banjo are pretty bad but in a great way.  The drum part is sparse enough to sound like it was recorded by popping a bag of popcorn.  Like I said, this song is weird, but I like weird and this song did it for me.


I had a hard time picking my favorite this month because I like them all.  I know it sounds cheesy and cliche but I honestly do.  When it comes down to it, my vote goes to Sheriff John by Jack Eggleston.  Good job, Jack!

Vote for your favorite song!

Also, don't forget to start working on your songs for June!  With summer here, the month will go by pretty fast, I imagine!