Song-a-day Final Thoughts part 3 of 3

The data for the above chart came from the spreadsheet in “part 1”. One of the reasons I created it, was that I wanted to see if there was any noticeable improvement in songwriting/creating over the course of the month

The green line is the average of a bunch of different statistics, the blue line is my personal ranking, and the red line is views/listens per month.

Though there are lots of peaks and valleys, there IS a gradual overall improvement, although my personal rankings peak two separate times somewhere in the middle, from songs 15-17 and then again from 20-25.

Overall, I feel really good about this project.  My main goals were to 1. just write a ton of songs/get rid of the bad to find the good 2. break out of the G-C-D or E-F#-B chord progressions I always use 3. stretch/grow/exercise my creativity 4. gain a sense of accomplishment

I think I accomplished all four.  Here’s something I wrote in the first post of this blog, explaining the project

I don’t know what to expect from all of this, but I’m excited to see where it goes.  The songs won’t have to be brilliant, just finished.  I’m assuming most of them will be me singing and playing guitar, but I could be playing keyboard instead or just percussion like White Stripes - Little Room; maybe I’ll even have a just instrumental song.  There is no length requirement, as The Beatles pulled off some pretty short ones (Her Majesty), but as I mentioned already, the songs just have to be what I would consider finished.  The quality of the recording probably won’t be anything to write home about either.  I assume most songs will be just the mic and camera on my Macbook.

all songs were finished, most were just me singing and playing guitar, but some were keyboard or other noises, and one was A Capella.  The shortest one was “When It Comes Down To It” and the longest was “This Is What Happens When I Don’t Say What I’m Feeling”.  The quality of the recordings didn’t seem to eventually matter much, but I ended up using a separate recording device and camera instead of the mic and camera on my Macbook, which I think greatly improved the finished products.

I plan on doing something with these songs, whether it’s re-recording my favorites, or making a rough “album” of all 31 or the best 15 or so.  Who knows.  Anyway..

Thanks to all who paid attention to this project and followed along.  I feel like I grew a lot and I had a lot of fun.  I hope you did as well

Song-a-day Final Thoughts part 2 of 3: Review & Countdown

This will be a ranking of how much I liked all the songs from this project plus an attempt at something positive (+) and something negative (-) about each song.  The titles will also link to the blog page for each song

31. I Want To Touch Your Brain With a Q-Tip

(+) my favorite part of this song is the chorus

(-) this song was forced out, and rushed, and I wasn’t feeling it from the start

30. Words Are Silly

(+) when I made this song, there was a cool clipping effect happening with the keyboard speakers that the microphone didn’t pick up

(-) this was one of those where I had to do two song in one day to catch up, so it was forced out.  I was going for something that I didn’t quite capture with this song

29. The Beach

(+) I liked what I was trying to do with this song, which was to eventually have two separate songs playing at the same time

(-) I don’t hate this song, but it’s just sort of pithy.  I can’t really/wouldn’t really play just the main part live, because it’s so short and boring

28. Let’s Catch Up

(+) of the ones that were really rushed, I can probably get into this one the most.  It’s just nice and easy and simple.  I also like the “Flying Saucer” non-sequitor

(-) the reasons I like this song are the reasons I don’t like this song: plain

27. I Like Coffee Too

(+) I like how I was able to capture my sadness in not getting a job I wanted but also make it sound like a love song about a girl

(-) the intro, although intentionally long, is still a little long, and sounds like the intro to too many other songs of mine/reminds me of Animal Collective’s Campfire Songs

26. April Fools (Icy Ides I’ve Eyed)

(+) I love “I see icy ides I’ve eyed” and all the holiday references at the beginning

(-) sort of boring/long/unenjoyable/high-pitched

25. Electric Blue

(+) I got away from my normal style just a little bit for this song, and I liked the dialouge between the vocal parts. Also it was cool to finally play with Dorian Wellsworth.

(-) we got a late start to this song, and procrastinated, and almost didn’t do it.  I had court in the morning, and you can’t hear Dorian.  Overall, I just have a bad taste in my mouth about this one

24. I’m Ok With Silence If You’re Ok With Me

(+) I really like the chord progression, the premise, and most of the lyrics to this song

(-) not too much bad to say, I just like a lot of the other songs more.  I don’t sing this how I wanted or something

23. Anton Newcombe

(+) I like what I was saying about 60s revivalism, an idea my friend Tom gave me unknowingly.  Basically, the 60s never died, so why’s everyone trying to revive it/602 revivalism isn’t new and has been happening since the 60s.  I also really like the Em-E-E7 part

(-) this is more of a full band song, but hey

22. What’s the Best Way To Do This

(+) I like the overall song.  It’s not like anything I’ve ever really done, and I’m a fan of the lyrics

(-) some of the changes are not to my liking or go on too long

21. This Is What Happens When I Don’t Say What I’m Feeling

(+) something totally different for me, and a largely improvised song.  I really like the feedback loops, etc

(-) yuk

20. Animal Writes

(+) I think I accomplished almost exactly what I was trying to accomplish in this song

(-) almost TOO reminiscent of Animal Collective’s Campfire Songs album

19. Angela

(+) I like how softly I’m singing in this one, and I think I did just what I was trying to do

(-) the chord progression feels ripped from a worship song or songs or something, and it goes on a little long

18. When It Comes Down To It

(+) Fun song, and with a little work, something I might really enjoy in the future.  I like how generic and lighthearted the lyrics are

(-) nothing really to say.  not perfect, but for what it is, I have nothing really negative to say

17. The Actor

(+) overall, I really like this song.  I like the chorus, the lyrics, and the little “oh, oh, oh” part, even the guitar hitting part

(-) I can’t put a finger on it, but I’m unsatisfied with something about either the song, the recording, or both

16. Not Just Any Body

(+) I like the lyrics and the vocal progression in this song, and I especially like the fast part towards the end, including the guitar and the sort of latin feel to it

(-) felt sort of Fall Out Boy or post-metalish to me, not that that’s inherently a bad thing, it’s just not something I’m striving for

15. You Think I’m Beautiful

(+) this song was written the same day as “Words Are Silly”, a few hours later.  I was really pleased with how it turned out, and I enjoyed writing from the perspective of someone other than myself.  I like the style of this song as well

(-) too National, and I would need to practice to get the vocal key and pauses right

14. A Wasted Life

(+) I’ve been saying something like this in person for a long time, and it was nice to finally write a song about it.  I’m really pleased with the lyrics and feel of this song

(-) for what it is, nothing negative to say

13. Hey Mr.

(+) why is it so often that the songs you’re trying the least you end up liking the most?  I just started writing about 7s because the random chord of the day was a 7 and the chords I was using were 7s, and it flowed out really easily.  I like the Dylan influence of this song.  Of note: this was forced out directly after “I’m Ok With Silence If You’re Ok With Me”

(-) after I say “and six” I wish I said “or 13” (just noticed this is ranked 13, but those two things are independent of each other)

12. I Want To Be a Pterodactyl

(+) I love this song.  The lyrics, the feel.  It as nice to perform and write a duet with a girl as well

(-) sometimes the harmonies are off

11. Silence Is Nice

(+) this song came pretty quick and naturally.  I like the vocals, the lyrics, the changes, the premise, and the overall feel

(-) not quite sure how I would end it if I redid it, but the vocals are off

10. You’ll Know When You Know

(+) way different than anything I’ve ever done, I like the premise, and it was great to work with my brother

(-) some parts of this are boring/hard to listen to (too loud or high pitched). You sort of have to listen to this alone; it’s not a social song

09. Stir You Up

(+) I like the hammerons, the slapping, the lyrics, and the attitude of this song; the costume is an added bonus.  Singing about sex, while separately and simultaneously singing about peanut butter

(-) sort of sounds like I’m trying to sound like someone or something that I’m not, which may or may not bug anyone but me

08. Our Last Ten Dollars

(+) I like the lyrics and vocals of this song, and I like the duet part at the end.  It was also really nice to play with J.D. again

(-) parts of the end could be redone, namely the outro.  Also, the whistling was a bit pithy

7. One of Those Bogus Everyday Miracles

(+) I like the lyrics, tempo/rhythm, and chord progression of this song

(-) the vocal pattern at the end goes on too long, and I would sing higher on part of it if this was redone

6. Red Panda

(+) I think I accomplished just what I was trying to with this song, and I like the transition from D to F in the chorus almost more than the song itself.  Also I’m excited to now have a song about red pandas

(-) nothing negative to say, other than the chorus on the recording is not how I wanted it

5. So We Go

(+) this song had to sort of grow on me, but after my mom seemed to really like it, and a few other people seemed to dig it as well, so did I.  I really like the rhythm and the changes, as well as the lyrics, but especially the talking-in-between stuff.  That something relatively new and unexplored for me

(-) hmm.  Not sure what to say here.  sowego is like oswego, which is a suburb of Chicago, but that’s not really negative

4. Sylvia Plath Psychopath

(+) I like how poppy and fun this song is, and I like the “Sylvia Plath Psychopath” rhyme.  I feel like I really captured what I was trying to say with this song

(-) I don’t like that I had to cuss so much in this song, but it was just the best word for the job.

3. There’s Plenty of Space In Space

(+) one of my favorite songs I’ve ever done.  I like the lyrics and how effective they are at conveying the premise.  Also, I like the melody/chord progression

(-) n/a

2. Kimberly

(+) drums, bass, “band feel”, cool guitar thing, video, lyrics, premise, chords, electric guitar, sunglasses, lesbians, tom, josh, basement, jeremiah, lalala

(-) as much as I like love this song, if it wasn’t for the drums, bass, electric guitar, basement, etc, I probably would have never written a song like this.  It’s almost like I wrote it for the environment, ya know? It doesn’t really feel like “me”

1. John McCrea (video above)

(+) This is another one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.  So many of the songs from this month didn’t really feel like me, or felt forced, etc, but this one feel like where I’m at and where I’m going all at once.  I like the lyrics, the mouth trumpet, the chords.  I like how I have a song about John McCrea (lead singer of CAKE) now.  On and on.  This is one I’m happy to have written

(-) n/a

Song-a-day Final Thoughts part 1 of 3: Final Rankings

So I love to make Excel documents.  This is an Excel document showing a sort of overview of the songs from this project.

Column A is my overall final ranking of the songs, based on how much I liked it, how good I felt about the song, etc

Column C is an inverse value to column A, to give “points” to a song for how highly it placed in the final ranking

Columns D, E, F are the views/listens on YouTube/SoundCloud as of 02/01/10, the days since posting, and daily views average

Column G is a subjective score out out 5, based on the overall response I got for each song.  This is not based on any real number, but rather how excited I felt people got, or didn’t get, as well as direct feedback I received

Column H is just like column G, except it’s essentially based on my response to the songs, rather than that of others

Column I is how well the recording turned out, almost independently of how much myself or others liked the song

Column J is the sum of columns C, F, G, H, and I

January song-a-day project Song #31

Title: What’s The Best Way To Do This?

Random Chord: F#7b9

Notes:

• Finally done!
• Dan Hinkley had a bunch of cool equipment, but in the end, we settled on an acoustic and an electric.  You can sorta see the handy recorder hanging on the wall.  The mics were low, almost non-existent.
• This song was written and recorded on time, but posting it a day late.  So, 31 songs in 31 days, and more or less one a day.  Most were a day late, some were on time, and some were two or more days late, but most were (if not finished on time) at least started on time.
• I will be posting some final thoughts along with a ranking of the 31 songs if not today then in the next couple of days.

January song-a-day Song #30

Title: I Want To Be a Pterodactyl

Random Chord: Daug (dog)

Notes:

• This song was done and could have been posted earlier, but we did two practically identical takes, and both of us were asking people today which one was better.  This is the one we chose, but the other one is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDDM3wiN-3Y
• This is my first duet with a female, and my first time writing with a female.  Interesting, because so many of my songs are ABOUT girls, writing with one feels a little surreal
• Song #31 is recorded, but will be up tomorrow due to uploading times.

January song-a-day Song #29

Title: Let’s Catch Up

Random Chord: Fmaj7

Notes:

• This song is just what the name implies.  I’m catching up with my requirement for a song a day.  I got all thrown off this week somehow, with songs being finished before some and after others, etc.  I have a stand-up comedy show I’m really nervous about tonight, and I have to leave in an hour.  I needed to finish “Red Panda” and this one before I left if I wanted to catch up or whatever, so “Let’s Catch Up” was just forced out.  I even did it the old fashioned way - Apple’s Photo Booth application with no external mics or cameras - to save time recording, editing, and uploading.
• Was sort of copying Brian Jonestown Massacre’s “Ballad of Jim Jones”.  They say, “cause there’s nobody meaner than..” and leave it open, and in this song I say “You’re making me write this” and “You’re making me do this” but I don’t say what.  To me, it sounds like I’m going to say, for example, “You’re making me write this song” the second time.

January song-a-day Song #26

Title: Anton Newcombe

Random Chord: A11

Notes:

• This is the song for January 26th, so it’s about three days late
• The sound in this is atrocious.  Deciding to add tambourine really threw things off, because it was much louder than everything else.  I tried messing around with the audio to try to reduce the intensity of the tambourine hits in post, but I really should have just done it on two separate tracks; it seems that lowering the tambourine lowered the vocals too, as they seem to be in a similar frequency.  I’m not a sound guy.  I know some basic stuff, but I don’t know how to fix something like that.
• This song is “about” Anton Newcombe, the lead singer of The Brian Jonestown Massacre

January song-a-day Song #27

Title: Electric Blue

Random Chord: Cmaj7

Notes:

• This is the third collaboration I’ve done for this project (fourth if you count the one with my brother) and my first one with a piano.  It was weird being on the guitar end of a piano/guitar combo, as my first six months or so being “serious” about music were the other way around.
• Ryan aka Dorian Wellsworth and I sort of couldn’t figure this one out for a while, and it almost didn’t happen because of how tired I was.  Ryan suggested a game where we took turns writing one or two lines to a poem on a piece of paper, then folding the paper over after each so the other person couldn’t read what we wrote.  This actually produced the words for most of the song.
• This is the song for the 27th, so it’s late.  Sorry.  I’m finishing my song for the 26th now then writing/finishing my song for today later.  This has been the worst week so far for deadlines, but most of the songs have at least been started on the appropriate day.

January song-a-day Song #25

Title: Kimberly

Random Chord: G#dim7

Notes:

• So I show up to Tom’s house (the drummer, whom I had arranged to collaborate with with) with my acoustic guitar.  Now, we’ve never played together before, but he’s a band guy and so are some of his roommates.  I had never actually seen it, but I assumed he had some sort of basement or something, and I was optimistic that there would be a spare electric guitar lying around.  Upon seeing me with my acoustic, Tom goes, “Did you bring any type of amplification?” and I told him I thought we would just wing it.  Ha.  I didn’t really know what to expect, but after a few minutes, Josh, a bassist and a roommate of Tom’s, walked out the door.  I found out Josh was going to be playing bass with us!  So, I found the chord, found out how to play it, and started messing around on it on my acoustic, before Tom and I moved downstairs where we started jamming out a drum beat.  Eventually, Josh came downstairs and Tom asked if he had an electric guitar I could use, which he did.  From there, I finished writing the guitar part and lyrics, with cool suggestions from Tom, Josh, and even the cool dude using my camera, Jeremiah (who also sings on the “lalala” part with Tom and Josh).
• This is the first time I’ve really played an electric guitar to write a song on, or record on.  It was really fun, especially because I never get to play with a bassist or a drummer.  I HAVE, but I don’t usually.
• Due to sonic restrictions, in the video version of the song, I go between 1. actually singing 2. faking it 3. singing the wrong words or 4. not singing at all.  This was because we had decided I would just do the vocals later by themselves, and I didn’t want the “bad” vocals interfering.  This explains the discrepancy between the audio and the video of my mouth.
• No way this could have gone any more perfect.  I got to play an electric guitar, with a great drummer, with a great bassist, and sing into a microphone.  Everything was fun about this whole process, including the just goofin off with the other three guys in the basement.  Jeremiah did a great job filming.  Walking around gives the video a nice touch, different from the practically unavoidably stagnant videos I usually take of myself in my room for my other songs.
• Sorry this is late, but it’s the song for the 25th
• Thanks Tom, Josh, and Jeremiah

January song-a-day Song #24

Title: Our Last Ten Dollars

Random Chord: A69

Notes:

• I decided that for the last ten or so songs, I wanted to do collaborations.  This is the first of said collaborations, featuring J.D. Greving, lead singer/guitarist/writer for his band Memorial For a Dove, a band I used to sing and play keyboard in, among other things.
• J.D. was one of the people that sort of got me into stand-up, something I did from March 27, 2008 to November 6, 2010.  Since I stopped, I’ve been concentrating on music more, and it was nice to get back to playing with J.D., since I was playing with him before I started doing stand-up.  Neat how some things kind of come full-circle.
• This song is about smoking as a habit or quitting smoking
• This is the song for January 25

January song-a-day Song #22

Title: Sylvia Plath Psychopath

Random Chord: Bbmaj9

Notes:

• I’ve been involved with a couple girls that both a) liked or loved Sylvia Plath and b) ripped my heart out.  This song is about how Sylvia Plath gives girls a sort of model for insanity (for lack of a better term), or almost introduces them to the idea of it, or of it being cool/comfortable/acceptable.  Kinda like how I feel about John Lennon for me
• This is a playful yet sincere jab or burn (pun intended) aimed at those girls, and Sylvia Plath, and was sort of based on a conversation I had last night about how if I meet a girl and she mentions Sylvia Plath, I’m running away.  Though, I’m sure not all Plath fans are heartbreakers, or would break mine.  This can almost be looked at as more of a “laughing with” type of scenario.
• I was not feeling this song before I started writing the lyrics, and I sort of offhandedly starting singing “too many Bs” because the random chord generator has given me a significant amount of Bs in one incarnation or another.  I took the “bees” idea and ran with it, and I ended up writing one of my favorite songs, at least of this project, so far.
• 99.9 percent of the time I don’t cuss in my art, but I felt there was no better way to communicate what I was trying to say, so I apologize..sorta
• I tried to look like Sylvia’s husband Ted Hughes.