So here we have it. These are the last five songs to be turned in for the Song Writing Game. I should write something sentimental here, but I know that no one reads this stuff. It's better to just get down to it. As with every December (minus the first) we did "Whatever" for the songs. Anything and everything is accepted. With that being said, we have a nice variety as always. Check them out and vote for your favorite below!
Jeff Coral - Left Me Wanting More
My comments: Jeff always pulls off these beautiful acoustic tunes and I really like them. He had me hooked in the first 10 seconds with that awesome intro. He picks up strumming and singing and the song has a lot of soul to it.
Danny Imig - Christmas Inland Hurricane
My comments: What a funky, cool, fun song. It sounds like Ween doing a Devo-inspired Christmas song. Is that specific enough? This is the kind of song I love to get when we do the "whatever" theme. I totally love the lyric about nativity sets turn to tumbleweeds.
Rene Zansman - Abraham Lincoln
My comments: Rene dropped his punk roots to pen this little jingle-y song. Just shy of a minute in, it hits the climax of a great instrumental part only to dissolve into a dark, worrisome bridge which bounces right back into the fun. I REALLY like this song.
Eric Peabody - Lonely, Bitter, Weird
My comments: I don't recall ever giving Eric permission to write a song about me while I was in high school. Regardless of the impending lawsuit, this song is short and sweet and pretty great. For it being just over a minute, it has a nice variety to it and could easily be twice the length without feeling stale.
Jen Robinson and Brian Salapek - It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (REM Cover)
My comments: It was probably at the same time that I decided to end the game that I decided that this needed to be the last song I did. I have been an REM fan since I was a little kid and this song was super appropriate, even before there was any inclination that Trump would get elected. My favorite part is when I get everyone, including my kids (3 and 5 years old) to yell "LEONALD BERNSTEIN" and "RIGHT!"
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE!
Voting will be open until 1/16/17 at Midnight.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is it. This will be the LAST song of the Song Writing Game. And to keep with our normal "end of the year" theme, we will be doing ANYTHING. That's right, ANYTHING. Good luck!
I wont lie to anyone. As the Song Writing Game is winding down, so is my enthusiasm with it. Having a new schedule in the mornings that includes getting my son on the bus has left me with about 20 minutes of free time each day to dedicate towards hobbies, like the Song Writing Game. I used to have over an hour. This is the reason for the songs to be stretched out into multiple months for each one. And even with that much time, I still feel rushed to put together a very specific song. That is why my song is anything but what it's supposed to be this month. We had aimed for Power Pop songs but I just couldn't find the time I normally do to deconstruct the genre, listen to a lot of examples and find elements that I liked. Instead I have a cover song for a Ween tribute album that I did. Oh well, enough of me blabbering. Here are the songs.
Brian Salapek - Little Miss Mandee (WEEN Cover)
My comments: This song was put together for a WEEN tribute album. If you listen to the original here, you will see that it is a LONG stretch from the original song. It just kinda took on legs of it's own and ended up in left field (in a good way, I hope).
Rene Zansman - Figure It Out
My comments: I think Power Pop was a suggestion of Rene's and I can tell it's a genre he really enjoys. All of his songs really have reflections of the genre in them with his melodies and harmonies. This song is definitely Power Pop at it's core. It starts out pretty sloppy but don't let that deter you, once Rene picks up the pace it all comes together and is a cool song.
My comments: Even though the genre of Zydeco was my decision, I still had a really hard time getting into it. I am not sure why, but I had a really hard time starting my song. It got to the point where I had to force myself to do it during the last two weeks of July. Thank god I found an accordion plug in for Fruity Loops!
Rene Zansman - Little Laura (The Sad Turtle)
My comments: This an instance where I feel bad for throwing such a weird distinctly American genre at Rene. I imagine Zydeco isn't very popular in Norway, but I could be wrong. Either way, Rene took the challenge and did what he does best with a pop song. I hear where he was going with it in terms of the keyboard parts, and it may not be zydeco but it's definitely cool. I love the piano throughout, and think Rene did a great job.
As the game winds down, it's hard to find genres that havent been done before. But we did it this time, with POWER POP! Yep, Power Pop. Think simple, rhythmic pop music with a strong melody and rocking guitar part, and you've got power pop.
When I started the Song Writing Game in December, 2011 I had no real idea of what to expect. There was no thought of how long it would last, or how the turn out and response would be. In fact, it's never been a hindrance to me to have periods of very little music submitted. The game was more for me; it was an excuse to write and record music for myself.
Well, come December, the game will be hitting five years old. I feel like that is a logical conclusion to the whole thing. I still have an interest in writing and recording, but time is the problem. As my kids are getting older and taking up more time, we have a puppy now, and I have been pursuing a few other hobbies, making music in a timely fashion slowly gets pushed further and further back. In fact, today is the last day of June and I have only written a bass line for my current song.
So, between now and December, each song will be on a two-month time limit. With that, the June songs are not due until the end of July. There will be three more, August/September, October/November and a "Whatever" song for December as usual. After that we will have one final "Song of the Year" elected and the five winning songs of the year will be put head to head against one another. The winner will be declared "Song of the Game" and that lucky person will be able to keep the trophy forever.
I may still use this blog in the future to post random songs I have written and recorded, but there should be no expectation and they could be once every six months or so. I think that about covers it. Thanks everyone!
Lauren Hughes and Brian Salapek - When You Were Mine
My comments: The day that Prince died, this was the song I wanted to share on FB but as we all know, Prince never allowed his music on streaming sites. Lauren was the one to suggest we cover Prince for May so I took her suggestion with the stipulation that she sang the song. I think it turned out pretty good even though I didn't have time to do the proper keyboard solo and just made something up.
Rene Zansman - Manic Monday
My comments: Rene's choice of a song brings up a really good point about Prince writing music for a lot of other musicians. This song was released by The Bangles and was a big hit for them but was written by Prince. Rene took an interesting approach to the song by stripping it down to just guitar, harmonica and vocals. He even added an improvised bridge to the song. Great job, Rene!
