Miss me? Yes, I promised an nonmusical update in January reflecting on 2008. Unfortunately, January turned out to be a very stressful and tumultuous month for me, so this site was sadly neglected. For that, I apologize, but let’s get onto happier things now.

It’s February, my favourite month of the year because as you all know by now it’s February Album Writing Month, where the goal is to write an album’s worth of songs (14) during the shortest month of the year. I’ve been a little slow getting into the swing of things because I’m still adjusting to being back in Toronto, but I figure, well, it’s Monday, and I’ve got a song so why not post it?

The music was sent to me about a month ago and it’s by George Slade, a fellow FAWMer, and his friend and frequent collaborator DJ Tezz. It sat in my Inbox through January, and then on Saturday I decided to listen again in case something clicked. It did, and so I wrote lyrics and recorded everything that day. I’ve got a confession to make: I am really proud of this one.

It’s also featured on yesterday’s edition of Charlie Cheney’s Music Exam (FAWM’s daily podcast), where George and I both called in.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Echoes and Dust

Shadows cast long under a blood red sun
Dancing ‘round the same way we have always done
The old familiar steps that we’re pretending are new
The words that we’re inflicting ‘til we’re black and blue
I’m begging you, believe me when I try to say
That I never intended me to be this way
I just need you to listen but you just won’t hear
I’m shouting but you’re letting me slip through your ears

‘Cuz the pain in you is ringing and I can’t get through
It’s eating you so bad that all you see is you
Don’t matter that I threw my needs and wants aside
You say you love me but you still just let me slide
You always make it easy and I play my part
I try to save the pieces of your broken heart
I thought that being there with you would make you tough
But I learned you’ll just keep taking and you’ll never get enough

Now I’m screaming myself out into the cold night air
I’m begging for some mercy but you just don’t care
Don’t know if I can change or if I’ll just decay
But in the grand scheme what does it matter anyway?

In the end we’re just echoes and dust, echoes and dust
In the end we’re just echoes and dust, echoes and dust

Now I’m throwing myself out into the cold night air
A pin prick of existence but who really cares?
What’s another small voice screaming out its life
On a tiny rock filled with billions’ pain and strife
As all galaxies and stars above it and below
Are moving swiftly toward their own dead black holes
And in the aftermath there’s nothing real that remains
Just the reverb of the starlight and a few small grains

In the end it’s all just echoes and dust, echoes and dust
In the end it’s all just echoes and dust, echoes and dust

Comments (3) Feb 09 2009

Woohoo, here we are! I’m going to save the reflection for an entry next Monday and just get onto the song, as we’re approaching midnight and I would like nothing more than to crack my celebratory bottle of wine!

I’m so excited to say that there were way, way more clips than I thought there would be – about 50 of them, from three continents! Many people sent multiple clips, so while I wasn’t able to fit in every single one, there is at least one from each person.

Creatively, I was blown away! You sent me teakettle phone messages, drunk-sounding ramblings, drums, guitar riffs, bass, triangle, poems, quotes, inspiring messages, greetings, bits of your own original music and clips from kids too cute for words. In the end it’s not so much a song as a delicious soundscape. Presenting, Frankensong! Thanks to Dana for the title.

It features (in approximate order): Monty, Matt (doing this song was his idea), Mallory (c/o Mal’s), Anonymous, Hoopshank/Helen/Nancy, Errol, PJ, Shawn, Hsinzie (c/o Sharon), Alina (mom), Susie, Dana, Zoe (c/o Errol), Ryan, Judy, Mal, Jonathan (brother), Adam, Sol (dad), David (brother), Sharon, members of the WSS, and Ekko (c/o Errol).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Comments (10) Dec 29 2008

This week’s song fits in the same vein as Soggy Towel River, where each person added their own section to a song, based on the last line of the previous section. While not officially NaNoWriMo related, it shares the same concept of strange and spontaneous writing.

I kind of wish my novel was this weird…

Tree Doll Love is by (in order) Hoopshank, myself, George Slade, Nancy Rost and Helen’s Evil Twin. Thanks a million, guys!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Hoopshank:
They tied me to a tree
They had their way with me
They left me in a ditch
I developed a terrible itch
All in all it was the best day of my life

Debs:
when I saw the snow begin to fall,
and quietly and quickly it fell,
and presently the light was gone,
and the dazzling whiteness stopped mocking me,
and all was soft and aching familiar,
and the dark was dancing
and the dark was dancing

George Slade:
And the stars, danced
And the night sky, pranced,
Yet still, there was no romance,
And Johnny realized, he had lost his chance,

And the clouds, were gay
And the wind, led the sway
Yet still, there was no romance
And Johnny realized, it wasn’t his day

And the grass, drew red
And the bullet, when through his head
Yet still, there was no romance
And Johnny lay still, dead

Nancy Rost:
There was no romance
And the Barbie dolls were all decipitated
And still there was no romance

Helen’s Evil Twin:
and all the Barbie dolls were decapitated
but Ken had always been castrated
she gave Skipper a mohawk – that kid got off lightly
but you don’t want to know what happened to the Cabbage Patch Dolls.
I could tell you, but you may never sleep sound again.

Comments (2) Nov 24 2008

A brand new song today thanks to Helen’s Evil Twin! She is a fellow FAWMer from England and it’s a crime that we haven’t collaborated before now, because she’s awesome! We were online and I was lamenting over the fact that I had to write a songs as well as the novel this month, and she asked if she could help. I told her that lyrics or a backing track would be grand, and that I was hoping the songs this month would be NaNoWriMo related.

Helen is also participating in NaNoWriMo, so after a little research on the forums she sent me these lyrics that same afternoon. I laughed really hard because this is exactly the space I was in for most of this week as far as my novel is concerned: woefully behind and dragging myself to the daily quota of 1666.66 words…and usually not getting there. I also know for a fact that I have used most of these techniques to increase my word count.

I made some small changes to the lyrics to get them to fit better, and wrote and recorded the whole thing in the space of about two hours today. The melody in the verses are all improvised.

Thanks again, Helen!

Also, for those of you who have a little bit of time, you might be interested in listening to this WrimoRadio podcast where I talk about the process and inspiration behind the NaNoWriMusic 2008. You can also here clips of a few of the songs!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

1666.66
Lyrics: Helen’s Evil Twin
Music: Debs

One thousand, six hundred, sixty-six point six recurring
It’s the number that keeps me from sleeping
Got to keep going until I reach that golden figure
Does it count if I just keep repeating

My protagonist’s catchphrase, “Ahoy, dear friends”
Or maybe I could make it less concise
Like “Ahoy, my dear, sweet, wonderful, stupendous, fabulous friends of mine,”
And would it sound wrong if he always said it twice.

One thousand, six hundred, sixty-six point six recurring
It’s the number that keeps me from sleeping
Got to keep going until I reach that golden figure
Can I stop if my fingers start bleeding?

Now do you think it would be cheating
If my dastardly villain only spoke in Flemish?
And travelled with a translator
Then everything would have to be repeated
For that two-faced Belgian traitor

One thousand, six hundred, sixty-six point six recurring
It’s the number that keeps me from sleeping
Got to keep going until I reach that golden figure
And so I’m sorry, dear readers, I’ll be treating you to a

Stammerer, amnesiac, or someone who’s nearly deaf
or really nervous guy ums and ahs and errs all the time
Gratuitous descriptions of some unimportant moment
Anything, anything that’ll get me close to

One thousand, six hundred, sixty-six point six recurring…

It’s the number that keeps me from sleeping

Comments (7) Nov 17 2008

Today’s song is off NaNoWriMusic 2008, the CD that I had co-produced as a fundraiser for National Novel Writing Month (for more details, click here). It’s a cowrite with my friend and fellow participant Errol. Errol has been featured in a few songs this year but this is the first song we’ve written together, and the process was quite hilarious, and definitely one that I really enjoyed.

I wrote my first verse and the music, and sent a really shoddy recording to Errol so that he could hear what it sounded like, and which point we decided it would be cool if each of took turns writing our own verses. I watched incredulously as his verses became weirder and weirder, and, contrary to my own verses, loving every single second of it.

When it came time to create the instrumentation, I felt a little lost on where to start. My recordings tend to be very basic just because I’m writing and posting so quickly, and there often isn’t time to make the music itself very elaborate, but of course this was for a CD, so it had to be properly put together. I sent Errol a basic piano track so that he could add his vocals, thinking that I’d figure out the rest of it later. To my complete surprise, he emailed back an instrumental track that was nothing short of perfect! I had no idea he was so good at arranging and I gladly acquiesced.

All in all, an amazing collaboration process. We were thinking along the same lines the whole time, and I think we really balanced each other out in terms of strengths and weaknesses. This may be the first collaboration with Errol, but it won’t be the last!

Edit on December 2: Errol and I performed this song live at Toronto’s Midway Party, and here is the video.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Writer’s Block
Errol: Hey, what’s wrong? I don’t hear typing. Are you done for the day?
Debs: No. I’ve been staring at the screen for ages. It’s just that…
Errol: That…
Debs: I think I’m stuck
Errol: Oh no! Tell me about it, maybe I can help…

Debs:
It’s my protagonist
She’s quite the leading lady
She’s gorgeous, smart and strong
She drives the boys all crazy
But she just stares and me and won’t take direction
It’s just a tad pathetic
I think she might be narcoleptic

Errol:
Well…
I could see she is wild and daring
An accountant with dash and flare
Corporations sing her praises
Solving problems without a care
But she holds a secret that would send her world asunder
She has one dream she’s been wishin
So she’s training to be a radio technician.

Debs:
Thanks for the kind suggestion
But that’s not her at all
In fact that sounds quite boring
that plot is far too small
She needs a storyline that’s worldly and epic
The readers just wouldn’t get her
I think that we could do much better.

Errol:
Oh…ok…how about…
A dry cleaner with strong convictions
Wants to be a political leader
But her boyfriend’s a killer for hire
For the mob but he really needs her.
And she can’t bring herself to voice her own opinions
Even if she feels it’s wrong.
She’s cleaning blood stains all day long.

Or perhaps she could be a ninja!
Breaking gender roles and bones!
She carves death with her Stealth Trebuchet
Fighting off – assailants unknown!
But she meets an opponent that she cannot overcome
A charming man who is a bit uppity.
And he’s cursed, afflicted with lycanthropy.

Debs:
I don’t think this will work
Sorry for my indecision
You do have great ideas
But we’ve just got different visions
This plotline should tap into something enormous
Humanity as a whole
Bound to ignite the very soul

Errol:
Oh, I know, she could be duck! (Debs: I don’t want her to be a duck)
On the run from many attackers.
She’s a delicacy of high demand (Debs: my NaNo novel’s gonna suck)
Chinese chefs are trying to catch her!
And then she meets up with a friendly obstetrician (Debs: I think that I should just give it up)
They fall in love and things get sweeter. (Debs: Just stop!)
But in the end he just decides to eat her. (Deb: Please stop! I’ve had enough, this novel was a bad idea from the start)

Errol:
Well I really should be going.
Gotta find where the kids are at.
My wife is speaking at a rally.
It’s been fun thanks for the chat.
Hope she doesn’t notice that I look like a zombie (Debs: Zombies! Yes, that’s perfect!)
She’s always out till who knows when. (Debs: You’re a genius!)
I certainly hope she’s not with men. (Debs: Thank you so much!)

Errol/Debs:
I/you should get back to typing
the NaNo novel that needs writing!

Comments (11) Nov 10 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

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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?)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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

Have you ever created something using the Exquisite Corpse Method? The basic idea is to create a group collaboration – each person adds to the growing work in sequence, seeing only the last snippet of what the last person added. I used to love creating stories with a group of friends this way when I was little, and that hasn’t changed much.

This week’s song is a cowrite between myself and four other songwriters who are also participating in the 50 Songs in 90 Days Challenge, using the Exquisite Corpse Method. The parameters were to record 30-40 seconds of music, and then send just the last lyrical phrase to the next person, who would repeat the process. It’s a fun and random way to write, and a great opportunity to join forces with some truly amazing artists.

Quite a few of these songs are now rattling around the 50/90 site, and calling them unique is an understatement. They also seem to be fraught with strange coincidences, and this one is no exception. It’s strange that it weaves in and out of the water, but even stranger, it begins by drawing from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and ends in the death of a whale.

From the wondering minds of (in order) myself, Helen’s Evil Twin, Nancy Rost, Hoopshank and SwampJaw), here is Soggy Towel River.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Soggy Towel River

Debs:
The number one rule of playing it cool when travelling abroad in the stars
Is to take the one the thing that both beggars and kings
rely on wherever they are
So always bring a towel when you’re hitchhiking
So always bring a towel wherever you go
So always bring a towel when you’re hitchhiking
Your destiny is yours to command
With a towel in your hand,

Helen’s Evil Twin:
You walked out of the shower
You’d been hogging the bathroom for over an hour
Playing with your rubber ducky making lots of mess
Splashing all about and you never would have guessed
That you’d slip on a soggy flannel and knock yourself out

Nancy Rost:
That you’d slip on a soggy flannel
And knock yourself out
Oh, I could spout off about cleaning up
After yourself I could try to make it your fault
But the fact is you can take care of yourself
And your bathroom habits are no-one’s business
But yours and yours alone
Besides, I know that my penchant for colognes
Scented to resemble tales from the Brothers Grimm
Is equally disturbing to you
So fair is fair

Hoopshank:
Unfair is unfair
An affair is an affair
Scarborough fair is Scarborough fair
All I hope is that the river washes us to the sea

Swampjaw:
All I hope is that the sea washes us away
We’re so tired of being stuck on this beach
There’s Anchorage in ship’s bow
Wasting away like a giant leech
I guess we’ll soon be Eskimo chow
Oh to be back in the ocean free
Oh for the ocean in just one day
Oh the krill would not agree
On the trip to this little bay

Comments (2) Sep 08 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!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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 can’t believe that we’re already halfway through this thing! I’m really happy and a bit surprised too, but we’ve certainly come a very long way since January! I’m planning something to commemorate the occasion that I’m really excited about that, but that announcement will have to wait another week or two to be made official. In the meantime, I’d like to thank everyone who comes and spends a few minutes here each week. Your comments, feedback and criticisms (both online and in person) are cherished and appreciated, and give me the drive to keep putting out a new song every Monday.

This week’s song is called, appropriately Halfway. And, as an extra bonus song, check out the My Partner’s A Nerd, a parody of Part of Your World which Errol wrote parody lyrics to. After all, it’s not every day I get to sing my favourite Disney song!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Halfway

I’ve lost my roadmap
I dropped my compass long ago
I’ve been missing all the signs that perhaps were placed for me to recognize

I’m hopeless at reading the constellations
I can’t tell east from west
I’m a fool with landmarks that would give me guidance from

Halfway between feeling and flight
Halfway between fire and night
Halfway between wrong and right
Halfway between blindness and sight

I’ve got no skills of navigation
back and forward seem the same
I’ve got nowhere in mind but not from lack of dreaming

Halfway between feeling and flight
Halfway between fire and night
Halfway between wrong and right
Halfway between blindness and sight

when every step is a leap of faith
at least I’m already half way

Comments (7) Jul 01 2008

This week’s song is a collaboration between myself and a friend, D.J. Sylvis, whose weekly writing project, Monkey, Monster, or Spaceman inspired me to do something similar with music.

A few days ago, he was lamenting the fact that he had no ideas for the upcoming week, which his readers had voted was going to be a monster week. I remembered a dare that our mutual friend Chagall had posted on the FAWM boards, challenging someone to write a song based on these ridiculous monsters. I suggested it to Deej, who incidentally happens to be a DnD geek, and he sent me the lyrics the next day.

The Beastmaster’s Cry (A Familiar Refrain) features the heroic vocal stylings of Errol Elumir, also featured in Snow Day. The epic battle sequence comes with vocal help from Judy Chung (+ the Matrix?), Susan Sergeant, and Alina (my mom), with additional editing by Chris Johnson. See if you can pick each of us out! Thanks go to my dad for letting me borrow his flute so I could attempt to revive my mad skills.

D.J.’s original lyrics can be found here, and if you stop by, you can also vote on what he will write about next week!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Comments (5) Feb 18 2008

Last night, or actually, a couple of weeks ago, I had a dream. I found myself in a hanger with ships belonging to various space-going characters that I know very well.  For no apparent reason, I wondered over to one of the corners and found a grand piano sitting there.  There was a chair too, and both were stuck in this concrete block (I’m working on the assumption that this was to keep them from being smashed against a wall due to the thrust of the large ships leaving and landing. See, my dreams make sense).   Having nothing better to do, I sat down at the piano and started to bang out a few notes, and was shocked when the piano “started” and hovered. I recall being a nervous flyer, so the only thing I managed to do before I woke up was to maneuver out of the hanger and fly in a straight line over some trees, maybe 50 feet off the ground. 

I lamented over the fact that I wasn’t a better piano player in the dream, because then I would have been able to make it do all sorts of airborne acrobatics. And so I give you Piano Ship, my way of compensation for my lack of innate flying abilities. It features my brother David playing the Ocarina (yes, the kind in Zelda, they actually exist in real life and you can read about them here). I never realized that they were so difficult to play, thanks, Dave! I also added in some wacky synths (called “Cloud Break”) at the last minute to make it feel more like a dreamscape.  I’m posting the lyrics too, tell me if you like that idea.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Piano Ship

In a night forest of stretching trees,
with bright green caterpillars reclining on purple leaves
My feather fingers itched and led me on
And I, discombobulated*, followed
And tripped upon a baby grand
Standing stoic in a glade of swishy grass

And I shall be the captain of this, my piano ship
And I shall be the captain of this, my piano ship

Perched upon a newly coagulated chintz chair
Wound about our legs with tangled vines
My fingers floated onto the keys,and pressed them down
My baby grand, she shivered at the sound,
shook herself out of her slumbered haze
And at one, perfect note, she began to rise

And I shall be the captain of this, my piano ship
And I shall be the captain of this, my piano ship

We hovered there in wake of my surprise,
as she stretched her strings and yawned
And with a higher trill of notes, my hammer-wings,
she kissed the tips of grass goodbye,and we were skybound

Into Crespuscularisms**
Random notes and twists and bounds
Mozart made us summersault
and Beethoven spun us upside down
Every formation, until I heard the dawn
and my piano ship and I descended…
…to that same forest of stretching trees,
and as the caterpillars watched us from perch their purple leaves
We descended into that same glade,and at the lowest note,
she gently clunked back down
I caught my breath and sadly disenaged
and walked awake

*my friend Susie, who was online as I wrote the first verse, gave me this word
**crepuscular is one of my favourite words.  The word “crepuscularisms” doesn’t actually exist.

Comments (5) Feb 04 2008

Before I get to the music, I’d like to mention the new header image that my mother, Alina, drew, and that Chris (who is also my web host) photoshopped. It looks beautiful guys, and I’m so grateful!

Susie: You should write a song based on the fact that you have a Snow Day today!
Deb: Wow, that’s hilarious.  Because I’m in the middle of doing just that!

Last night, I was all disgruntled because I was going to get a late start on February Album Writing Month having to work not only on February 1st, but on February 2nd as well. As I was heading out to work, my boss called and voila, a Snow Day!! After going into work very briefly to make some phone calls and some excessive dancing around the house, I sat down and did this all today, in celebration and commemoration! One day is a speed record for me, but everything is easier with FAWM because I know that music is my main priority this month.

This week’s song (or rather, a stand -in for last Monday’s) is called Snow Day (bet you didn’t see that one coming) and features my friend and fellow NaNo participant Errol singing the roll of my boss! Errol was the one who wrote the parody version of A Whole New World that we recorded in December.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Comments (15) Feb 01 2008

Today I recorded vocals for a parody version of A Whole New World that my friend Errol wrote for his wife. I love the song and we had a lot of fun with it! It also gave me the change to try out my new pair of headphones and tackle a technical problem I’ve been having with my recordings (thanks to setting my input to Mono, I’m finally recording in Stereo – don’t ask). The lyrics are quite cute and Errol does very well himself, so it’s definitely worth a listen!

Comments (11) Dec 26 2007