This song was sparked by last week’s federal election and my attitude toward the voting system. I happen to feel strongly about the need for partial proportional representation, and after another “deja vu” election result, my frustration has only increased.

Obviously this song is political, but I hope it’s political in an easy, light way. Written yesterday, and quickly recorded after work today. First time on the acoustic-electric guitar that plugs into my preamp directly, so that was neat, and it’s a much cleaner sound! I think this one would work well live.

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Throwaway Vote

Today is election day
When the common folk hold sway
It’s time for us to raise our voice
Go to the polls and make our choice
For the better…or so we hope

So here I am walking to the school
To add my fire to the fuel
Even so
that it means nothing, I know

I’m just a throwaway vote
A sad little throwaway vote
Throwaway vote
A sad, insignificant, meaningless throwaway vote

Now here’s the basic situation
The same that’s happening across the nation
The problem is that each election day
My riding always goes the same damn way

So all of us going against the grain
Our votes mean nothing to the whole campaign
And all they do
Is give our party a dollar or two

Throwaway votes
Sad little throwaway votes
Throwaway votes
Sad, insignificant, meaningless throwaway votes

Now I’ll still vote, don’t you misunderstand
Because I love my home and native land
Now I am glad we have democracy
But if we’re looking at things honestly

Every one of us should have an equal say
To choose the politicians that decide our fate
‘Cuz all we’re left with is a deja vu
And everyone who wants a change is rendered mute

Throwaway vote
Poor little throwaway vote
Throwaway vote
Sad, insignificant, meaningless throwaway vote

Comments (2) Oct 20 2008

This song was written during the “Feast” challenge during 50/90 that also bred “Formate”, “Chocolat Chaud” and “Inertia”. It took about 20 minutes to compose and record.

Indeed, that makes it is a back up song. Lest you think that I’m being lazy and not writing songs, I am. In fact, this weekend, two were finished. I’m just saving them for November because they’re NaNoWriMo themed!

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Tattoos
I want to paint tattoos on me
In colours of the moving sea
So I can be a reference point
When I am cold and still

I want to glue the wind to me
So that I am perpetually
Flying far, so far from here
When I am buried deep

I want to tape my tears to me
And have my laughter echo me
So you can read my life on me
When I am finally dead and free

Comments (5) Oct 13 2008

I know I’ve been heavy on the 50/90 collaborations lately, and part of the reason is that I need to minimize the recording I’m doing to give my voice a break, because it REALLY doesn’t like me! But on with the song….

Back in August, one of the guys started a thread on the songwriting forums looking for others to create a faux boyband. They wouldn’t let us girls in and we got pissed, so 7 of us (Ankari, Elaine, Helen, LaChaCha, Meg, Nancy, and myself) decided to create a fabulous girlband to compete with them! Then one of the guys (Swampjaw) asked if he could be our back-up dancer, and we accepted. Turns out it wasn’t that hard to beat the boys, as they never ended up putting the band together. As the High Fructose Corn Syrup Girls, we wrote several songs, and here is our debut single!

On vocals: Ankari, Elaine, Helen, LaChaCha, Meg, Nancy, and myself.
On drums and synth: Elaine
On bass: Helen
On banjo: Nancy
On ukelele: Meg

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You’ve Got Cooties
High Fructose Corn Syrup Girls

Ooooh, we’re so kewl!
Ooooh, we’re so hot!
Ooooh, we so don’t know what temperature we are!
Ooooh, we’re so yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!

Ooh we’re so sexy, but you can only watch from afar, cause
You got cooties you got cooties you got cooties
Even though I don’t know what those are anyway
I know you got cooties so go far far away
And keep your cooties to yourself!

Ooh, we’re so great, gonna put the boys in their place
Even though we don’t even know what that is anyway
They try to compete but they can’t win
Cause they don’t even have a band, yeah yeah yeah
Therefore we’re a lukewarm number one!

You got cooties you got cooties you got cooties
Even though I don’t know what those are anyway
I know you got cooties so go far far away
And keep your cooties to yourself!

Elaine plays the drums and she thinks you boys’re crap
Helen plays guitar and she likes to rap
Ankari sings like a bird down in Mexico
Nancy from Madison is strumming on the banjo, yo
La Cha-Cha and D hail from the T-dot
Their harmonies and beats always hit the sweet spot
Bluenoser Meg plays the uke, given half a chance
Now ladies break it down
And watch the Swampjaw dance!

[Swampjaw dancing!]

We got girl power, cause we can’t spell “feminism”
f-e-m-e-m-eminism
We got girl pride, cause we can’t spell “negatism”
n-e-g-e-g-eggitism

We know what we’ve got – do you?
Yeah we know what you’ve got too

You got cooties you got cooties you got cooties
Even though I don’t know what those are anyway
I know you got cooties so go far far away
And keep your cooties to yourself!

You got cooties you got cooties you got cooties
Even though I don’t know what those are anyway
I know you got cooties so go far far away
And keep your cooties to yourself!

You got cooties you got cooties you got cooties
Even though I don’t know what those are anyway
I know you got cooties so go far far away
And keep your cooties to yourself!

… Keep your cooties to yourself!

Comments (4) Oct 06 2008

Today is the last Monday that falls during the 50 Songs in 90 Days Challenge! In celebration and in homage to the past three mindblowing months of songwriting, here is the kind of song that can only come into being within a closeknit and collaborative musical community such as the one I’m so proud to be a part of.

This is what we have termed a Telephono Song. Yes, we do like our games over there, and anything that will get us closer to 50 songs is an instant hit. Telephono Songs play out exactly like a broken telephone: Person 1 writes a simple song (one instrument, one vocal line) and sends it on to Person 2. Person 2 listens to it 3 times, records what they’ve heard, and sends it on to the next person. Repeat.

Here is the Telephono Song that I started! In order of appearance: Me, Helen’s Evil Twin, Rose Deschamps, Nancy Rost, Hoopshank, Dan Wallbank, and Tim Wille-Jørgenson.

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Peanut Butter and Jam
Original Lyrics:

Peanut butter and jam time baby!
Oh peanut butter and jam!
The craving that I have is not for
Chicken, cheese or ham but good old

Peanut butter and jam time baby!
Just peanut butter and jam!
It’s sugar, protein, carbs rolled into one!
Peanut butter and jam!

Comments (6) Sep 29 2008

Yesterday saw me scrambling around to write a song for today, but severely lacking in inspiration. I logged onto the 50/90 chat in the hopes of finding some, and before I said a word, my prayers were answered in the form of a request from the wonderful Dan Wallbank. Dan asked if I wanted to put lyrics to some music he had written for a female vocalist that had been lying languid for a while.

He pointed me to a couple of tracks, and one (he was calling it “Canyon”) started talking to me immediately. Not only that, but it was giving me words to an idea I’ve been wanting to write about but couldn’t quite get ahold of. Sweet!

Lyrics were done yesterday, and I recorded the vocals today during lunch (just as well it had to be done quickly because my voice is still in an excruciating recovery stage from last week’s collaboration with Mal).

This process was completely new to me! This year, I’ve cowritten music and lyrics and written music to fit another’s lyrics, but this is the first time I’ve written lyrics to someone else’s music, and it was nothing but satisfying! Dan, thank you so much for the wonderful collaboration opportunity, and for helping me get these words across.

(Also….I think I’m completely addicted to reverb?)

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Out of my Head
Music: Dan Wallbank
Lyrics: Debs

In the sunlight I awake
Smiling softly at your touch
Then my senses come to me
I remember in a rush

There’s no imprint in the sheets
There’s no voice to say hello
Nothing but the silence here
To remind me I’m alone

I’ve done well all by myself
I’ve been good at being strong
Never letting myself dwell
Know it’s better to move on

Every day I shield my thoughts
Turn my eyes to other things
But at night my mind’s unleashed
And the dreams bring you to me

For the love of what we were
Set me free and get out of my head,
and get out of my head
For all that we aspire to be
Separately just get out of my head,
just get out of my head

Go to work and hit the shops
Run my errands, pass the time
Wonder where the hours went
smile and know that I’m just fine

Back at home, I brew some tea,
Find a pencil, try to write
Nothing comes, and I decide
To take a walk into the night

And I listen to the leaves
Count the stars up in the sky
Watch the crescent moon shine down
When a stranger passes by

And I catch the subtle scent
of your pineapple shampoo
and I’m back where I was
trying not to think of you

For the love of what we were
Set me free and get out of my head,
and get out of my head
For all that we aspire to be
Separately just get out of my head,
just get out of my head

For the love of what we were,
Set me free and get out of my head,
just get out of my head

Comments (6) Sep 22 2008

This song was purely a result of being in the 50/90 chatroom at the right shade of night with the right person. It was about 2:00am when Mal, my fellow crazy, suggested “we bottle and sell ourselves” as a cure for insomnia (Hoopshank’s? Charlie’s?) and we jumped on it, spewing out lyrics that progressively got weirder and more delicious as the night went on.

All the lyrics were written that night, and then Mal worked his magic and sent over his vocals plus the wonderful rhythm section. This is a completely new genre for me, so I mused for a while about what I was going to add to it, and then decided to add vocals that were as weird and freaky as I could get them. This was a great opportunity to play with the vocal and pitch modulations on Garageband (I can sound like a chipmunk AND a droid! Or maybe a droidmunk?) Sent it all to Mal to mix, and voila!

You can hear Mal talk more about how this song came to be 34:40 minutes into this podcast. If you keep listening, you can also hear me singing a duet written by the very talented Josh Belville. Edit: I speak about it further on today’s podcast too!

(I blew the top of my range out singing those freakishly high “ahh’s”, which will make my choir reauditon tonight err…interesting. It was totally worth it).

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Let’s Bottle and Sell Us
Our entrails bound for pharmacy shelves
Our brains pickled and kosher
Our toenails twixt the gristled bits
Our stringling mustard hair wrapped tight.

Get your fresh hot amygdala.

Our eyeballs gaze from within the brine
Without noses we don’t smell at all
Stewed ears add a touch of taste
Finger claws scrabble at the dirty glass
Tattooed skin makes the label.

Let’s bottle us and sell us
Dismember ourselves for glamour and glory
Let’s bottle us and sell us
Drink us down
We’re delicious.

Preferred customers will receive our souls for extra spice
And two freeze dried moustaches stuck to ABC gum
For pennies a pound you can have our livers, onions not included
Our kidneys will keep well in the fridge.

Let’s bottle us and sell us
Dismember ourselves for glamour and glory
Let’s bottle us and sell us
Drink us down
We’re delicious.
Let’s bottle us and sell us
Drink until the dregs remain
Feel our lives coursing through your blood
Let’s bottle us and sell us
Drink us down
We’re nutritious.

Each tender tendon is lovingly extracted
and then subjected to the most exacting
examination standards.

Certified organic,
produced for cannibals,
airline crashes in the mountains,
and the Donner Party.

Let’s bottle us and sell us
Dismember ourselves for glamour and glory
Let’s bottle us and sell us
Drink us down
We’re delicious.
Let’s bottle us and sell us
Drink until the dregs remain
Feel our lives coursing through your blood
Let’s bottle us and sell us
Drink us down
We’re nutritious.

Comments (5) Sep 15 2008

This turned into a surprisingly ambitious project (probably my craziest project yet), written and recorded today, the day after my return from the organic agricultural farm in Quebec where I spent the last week.

Aside from harvesting and some planting, much of my time there was spent eradicating this weed, Hairy Galinsoga, an invasive weed that seemed to be taking over, well, everything, but the squash patch in particular. Of course being an organic farm that does not use sprays, my fellow Wwoofers and I, as well as the two employees of the farm had to pull these all out by hand. Of course, sitting there resulted in delicious bouts of insanity, in which Bacchus figured prominently. Each night, I closed my eyes and saw nothing but Hairy Galinsoga. Back home now, I’m still seeing the stuff, and it seemed only fitting to immortalize our weeding plight in song.

Someday, I definitely hope to get this one mixed properly. All the instruments except the piano (which is improvised) are courtesy of Garageband loops. All the voices are me unaltered, except the lowest voices in Parts I and III, where I modified the pitch and added reverb to Bacchus.

So this song is a Rock Opera about a weed, some squash, and the God of Wine. Is it just me, or are these songs continually getting weirder and weirder as the weeks go on?

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Hairy Galinsoga (a rock opera in 3 parts)

PART I
[Hairy Galinsoga]

From beneath you we devour
Choke your crops with daisy flowers
Bring you to your knees for hours
You have hands but we’ve got power!

We can root from stem or seed
And no matter what your speed
Know that we will not concede
We’re the world’s most potent weed

Hairy Galinsoga!
We are squashing your squash!
Hairy Galinsoga!
All your fields are belonging to us!

You can curse and scream and pray
But to your profound dismay
We are here and here to stay
Since we know you don’t use spray!

Hairy Galinsoga!
We are reaping your beans!
Hairy Galinsoga!
There are more of us than you can ever dream!

PART II
[Hapless Cucurbita pepo]

I’m just an innocent zucchini, I’m just starting out, to grow
Here with the bees and roots and grasses, shouldn’t be that hard, I know
I need to see the sunlight but closing in on me and mine
are
Hairy Galinsoga!
Shadows over me and mine
Hairy Galinsoga!
Who will save us from these monsters?
Hairy Galinsoga!
Blocking us from what we crave
Hairy Galinsoga!
We need someone to save from this all

PART III
[Bacchus, Saviour of Squash]

BACCHUS SMASH!
BACCHUS SMASH!

Bacchus hears the call!
He’s six foot, seven inches tall
Riled up and ready to brawl
Hairy Galinsoga, get ready to fall!

BACCHUS SMASH!
BACCHUS SMASH!

He’s got a hammer the gardening tools
To wreck some Galinsoga molecules
Today the Galinsoga’s gonna lose
And we will celebrate with lots of booze

BACCHUS SMASH!
BACCHUS SMASH!

Hairy Galinsoga! (BACCHUS SMASH!)
In a great big pile!
Hairy Galinsoga! (BACCHUS SMASH GOOD!)
Bring on the fire!

(BACCHUS LIKES FIRE!
BACCHUS KILL ALL HAIRY GALINSOGA!)

The growing crops are swinging on the vine
The squash is happy and the sun, it shines
The field is cleared now let it be a sign
You don’t fuck with the God of wine!

Hairy Galinsoga!
It’s time you learn! (You don’t fuck with the God)
Hairy Galinsoga! (You don’t fuck with)
Burn, baby burn! (You don’t fuck with the God of wine)

Comments (4) Sep 01 2008

I wanted to throw a post on now because on Monday I won’t have computer access. So here it is! It’s called Exersaucer and was the first song written during the four hour Feast Challenge that also produced songs #29-32. As a result, this is a quick, spur of the moment recording so it’s rather scratchy – not much time in front of the mic this week.

My coworker is having a baby next month, and all of us chipped in to get her this Exersaucer as a gift. This song was written before all of the drama that ensued in purchasing said Exersaucer, when I thought it would be as simple as going to the store and picking one out. In the end, my coworker was very happy with the Exersaucer, but I’m rather glad that another songwriter on 50/90 plans to cover this as a death metal song, incorporating my new Vendetta against Zellers.

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Exersaucer
I bought my friend’s baby an exersaucer
I bought my friend’s baby and exersaucer
So he can fly across the milky way

I got it at the local Toys ‘R Us
I got it at the local Toys ‘R Us
Where I was sorely tempted by the Star Wars stuff

Spin the monkey, flail your little feet
Spit up twice and hit the parakeet
Cry, cry, cry! ‘cuz you’re a baby

Even though you ain’t seen the world quite yet
Even though you ain’t seen the world quite yet
In a few more weeks you’ll be flying cross the milky way

Comments (2) Aug 23 2008

This week’s song owes its roots to the Random Collaboration Challenge on the 50 Songs in 90 Days website, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. I was thrilled when the challenge came up because I’ve been wanting to do more collaborations, and I was even more thrilled that my random collab partner was Nancy Rost! Nancy is a huge presence in our online community and I’ve always looked up to her – she is a brilliant songwriter and singer with a wonderful weird streak, and has mad piano and banjo skills to boot! I encourage everyone to visit her website and have a listen to more of her musical goodness. You can also check out her very quirky cover of last week’s Chocolat Chaud!

We knew that we wanted to do a duet with different perspectives when Nancy happened to say that she was “more urban than suburban” and I thought that “urban-suburban” was really catchy. We temporarily abandoned the more serious ideas we had and ran with this one, picturing a jazzy-musical theatre argument song.

We wrote the lyrics together in google docs, then each wrote a section of the music. Nancy sent me an MP3 of the piano and her main vocal which I used to record my main line and the background vocals. I mixed the harmonies, and then sent the whole thing back to her for more mixing. The whole process took a few weeks.

In actual fact, Nancy is the urbanite (Madison, WI) while I live in the suburbs outside Toronto. We flipped a coin to see who would sing what, which is why we’re reversed!

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Urban/Suburban

Suburbanite:
Oh, how nice to hear from you!
How’s the city treating you?
Wow, I don’t know how you cope
Are your neighbors selling dope?
Don’t the roaches make you sick?
Man, you’re one intrepid chick

Urbanite:
Oh, how nice to hear from you!
Glad the suburb’s suiting you
Wow, I don’t know how you do it
I grew up there – I said “screw it”
Don’t the streets all look the same?
Sounds like life there’s pretty tame

Together:
Why don’t you understand
I love it where I am
I love the …
U: Lively pace
S: Closet space!
U: Metropass
S: Yards with grass
U: Haute cuisine
S: Potluck scene

Together:
Tell me if I have this right
In your home you find delight in …
U: Long commutes!
S: Garbage chutes!
S: Subs and doms!
U: Soccer moms!
U: Picket fences
S: You’re pretentious!

Together:
I’m hearing your words but I don’t get how you can endure it
I can’t fathom why, now why would you ever choose it
I’ll tell you again you’re way better off being

U: Urban!
S: Suburban!
U: Urban!
S: Suburban!
U: Urban!
S: Suburban!

Together:
Oh, how nice to hear from you
How I’ve missed these chats with you
When can I come visit you?

Comments (3) Aug 17 2008

I’m really excited for you to hear these songs, but they will make much more sense if I place them in context. I’m not sure if people are interested in hearing about the songwriting process, so if you aren’t then feel free to skip ahead.

I was privileged to be involved in a podcast on Saturday hosted by Charlie Cheney, who is another songwriter on the 50/90 website. If you’ve got time after getting through this post, I highly recommend checking it out (I come on at 4 minutes and talk to him for about 10). I hadn’t really thought of this before talking about it during the podcast, but I realized that I am very meticulous when it comes to both writing and recording, despite the fact that these songwriting formats I participate in have considerable time constraints. I wanted to experiment and see if I could work in a different way, which is why I decided I would take my lazy Sunday and devote it to the “Feast” challenge.

“Feast” is the latest breath of insanity to come out of 50/90: to write and record as many songs as you possibly can within 4 hours. Within these incredibly rushed and strange parameters, things can get a little twisted.

During my “Hummusfeast” I wrote and did very quick recordings of 7 songs and I’m going to post my 3 favourites because they are quite short. It works out well because it also catches me up for the weeks I missed.

Chocolat Chaud (#3) was inspired by the first French lesson I gave my friend at a local Starbucks. Formate (#5) comes thanks to the “Random Article” function on Wikipedia. Finally, Inertia (#6) was written in about 5 minutes, with thanks to songwriter Tim Wille who encouragingly typed “Don’t Stop!”

Let me know what you think of the Hummus!

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Chocolat Chaud

I want some chocolat chaud, please!
I want some chocolat chaud, please!
A big one, with soymilk, but not whipped cream!
I want some chocolat chaud, please!

Fait attention! Now since we’re studying French
There are a few things you should know about the prononciation
of “chocolat chaud”. “Ch” while correct when speaking English is actually pronouced “Sh”. And you don’t pronounce the “t” and the “d” at the end of “chocolat” and “chaud”. Got it?

Je voudrais un chocolat chaud!
Je voudrais un chocolat chaud!
Grand, avec du lait de soya, pas de creme!
Je voudrais un chocolat chaud!
Je voudrais un chocolat chaud!

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Formate

Formate or methanoate is the ion HCOO− (formic acid minus one hydrogen ion). It is the simplest carboxylate anion. A formate (compound) is a salt or ester of formic acid.

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Inertia

Don’t stop! Don’t stop!
Don’t stop! Don’t stop!
Don’t stop! Don’t stop!
Don’t stop! Don’t stop!

Don’t stop the music, or the muse will flee you,
Don’t stop the rhythm or the beat will leave you!

Comments (10) Aug 10 2008