“The point is that if you’re making big policy changes, the final form of the policy has to be good enough to do the job. You might think that half a loaf is always better than none — but it isn’t if the failure of half-measures ends up discrediting your whole policy approach.”
–Paul Krugman, in his New York Times piece 6/25/2009
I finished a new song yesterday. It was especially satisfying because the missing pieces were all lyrics, pretty much. I was intimidated because I was extremely satisfied with the one verse I did have, one that came pretty effortlessly some months ago. What if I couldn’t match it in terms of quality? And wouldn’t concentrating specifically on that just produce something that sounded the very opposite of effortless (obviously)?
But no: On the way home, they just started tumbling out of me. The verbal conceit of the song could be replicated across the verses — I unlocked that much, and the rhymes just sort of hung themselves from there. And it was as effortless as could be hoped. And, as is often the case, sometimes those seemingly slight nuggets are the best.
But, you know. Give me a week and I’ll think it’s shite. Eh? Stay tuned for a demo version, maybe. This one’s for recording with Larry on drums and John on the bass, so there’s got to be a demo. Oh goodie.
Meanwhile, I did want to hep y’all to something. If you are not familiar with the podcast known as Coverville, you should make a point of doing so ASAP. It’s exactly what you’d think it is — a show chock full of cover songs, delivered at least twice a week. But aside from the music itself, what makes the show special is its host, Brian Ibbott. I find a lot of music podcasters to be cloyingly slick, but Brian seems like just a regular music geek, helming the show with real passion and personality.
Also, to be honest, dude has played me a couple times. Round about last fall, he spun my cover of Laura Brannigan’s “Gloria” (from Low Resolution). Then he was kind enough to invite me to participate in a Squeeze tribute he put together towards the end of last year. (I did “Goodbye Girl,” and it was hella fun to record.)
But the current and most exciting news in Coverville is the NEXT tribute Brian’s curating: The SPINAL TAP tribute. (Updates will be posted on this blog here.) Without thinking about it much (and since the Smithereens said they might do “Gimme Some Money”), I asked to do “Cups and Cakes.” I only vaguely remembered the song itself, more vividly recalling how funny it was in the movie, right?
Well, when I heard “Cups and Cakes” again a couple weeks ago, I was actually pretty dispirited, kinda wishing I’d picked another song. But then I basically toughed it out, figuring out the chords and the words. And when I started recording, weird vocal ideas came to me — harmonies and “whoa-oh-oh’s” — and I just rolled with it, and I ended up being extremely pleased with the results. Folks, I actually made the thing a little funky, and decidedly fun. I almost wish I could post it right now…but I defer to the Project, of course.
Meanwhile, I encourage you to stay tuned for updates, and to visit Coverville when you get a chance. Peace!
Meditation, reflection, study — these things will always have a place in my life, and a fairly important one. But as I get older, I tend to learn a greater share of lessons precisely when I’m not purposefully trying to puzzle them out. When I was younger, I was much more on a Mission for Truth, but now it’s more about getting out of my own way and letting truths just sort of arrive.
Now that I’ve written that out, it sounds a bit crunchy, maybe even silly. But I’ve had something like the above on my mind for a few days now, and maybe you can generally smell what I’m cooking.
You should also know that for the first time on this song, I’m banging on my red sparkly bass drum.
“get on with it”
had a kinda rough one today
where i wish i had nothing to say
i had a will but there wasn’t a way
to get on with itone minute freaked out and bored
and in the next one i fall on my sword
toy prizes galore
get on with itand everybody’s seen what i’ve probably seen
and everybody’s been what i might could’ve been
but then tomorrow never knows what it means
get on with itand maybe it’s true that eternity’s near
and we can’t help but feed a culture of fear
but if that’s too big to fail that’s too big to revere
get on with it
Well, I’ll worry about whether these new songs will form an “album” later. In the meantime, as I’m on something of a roll, I’ll just post things as I finish mixing them. This one’s got a “triple-stack” guitar solo. Listen to find out what that means.
“something for nothing”
weekend’s threatening
small things gathering
and i’m spotty and sore
asking for more
really looking forsomething for nothing
isn’t that nothing at all?warm breezes gathering
nectar’s traveling
it’s wondrous sad
powerful glad
like i never hadsomething for nothing
isn’t that something to see
This past weekend was very productive, recording-wise. The best part is that I hadn’t planned on recording, really–it just happened. A couple weeks ago, when I recorded “When You Were Young,” while the capo was still on that first fret, I came up with a really simple progression and a nice melody. Next thing you know, I had a chorus, too–though the immediate lyric that popped into my head was far too similar to the name of the song I seemed to be…subconsciously borrowing from. (“Hang on to Your Ego / I Know There’s an Answer,” for the record.) (And I can believe that Coldplay might have “gotten” something off Joe Satriani after all, because I’ve heard the above mentioned Beach Boys song maybe three times in my life, total. Music definitely hits and sinks in subliminally at the lightest points of contact…)
At any rate, I had no idea what else to sing about on this one, so I just told myself to relax and wait for something to show up. About last Thursday, it did. I also knew the song would be short, and not hard to play. So I got it on Saturday–all of it, really, though I may want to re-cut the solo.
It felt good, but Sunday was even better, as I laid down a cover for a project I want to post about separately, later. The main thing here is that I just hopped on the stuff spur-of-the-moment, and it reminded me that I don’t have to be super-rehearsed in order to do that. Thinking back, that’s kind of how I’ve always worked. When I record, the songs are in various states of completion, and as far as the little flourishes and extras–backing vocals, solos, keyboard textures–I almost NEVER know what I’m going to put down.
I think I was giving myself a hard time about this, ever since Scott visited to record and showed me how a “real” musician does it. Or maybe I’ve been conflating rehearsal-for-performance with rehearsal-for-recording. Either way, it was good to get off my own back and just get lost in the process. I came out of the basement thinking: Yes, I make legitimate artifacts. This counts.
Less pretentiously put, it was hella fun, and I think it just might have kicked open the floodgates officially for this current batch of songs.
Whether now, in 2009, it makes any sense for me to save all these up and offer them as an “album,” I don’t know. I’m torn between going that tried-and-true road…or just posting them here individually as they get completed. Of course, I could always do both. But if I do go with post AND product, should that product be a CD-R? Or should I suck it up and go vinyl? Decisions, decisions…
p.s. Now that I think on it, I’ve heard “I Know There’s an Answer” a bunch of times. It was on that MOJO mix from a couple years ago.
