I was going for something stripped down this week – just an acoustic guitar and a main vocal line, but as usual, harmonies got the better of me! It started as a guitar riff as I was randomly playing around with my new clampy capo.

It’s called Effeuiller la marguerite, not because it’s in French, but because I couldn’t come up with a good English title. It was a dream to write because of it’s simplicity, and I think it’s one of my favourites.

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.

Effeuiller la marguerite

He left me daises at my borrowed door
on an summer morn while I was out
I found them there that sunny afternoon
and picked them up expecting them to grow

He loves me
He loves me not
He loves me not
He loves me
He loves me not
He loves me (not)

He drew me daises in the sand at a park near where we lived
in the autumn days before the snow
I found him there and held him close,
then we danced along the petals ’til the twilight came and hid the lines

I love him
I love him not
I love him not
I love him
I love him not
I love him (not)

I kept the daises in a box,
I left the park that night and knew that I’d be back again
Time turned the petals into dust and the wind blew in that night
and swept the sand away

He loved me
I loved him not
I loved him not
He loved me
I loved him not
I love him still

I loved him
He loved me not
He loved me not
I loved him
He loved me not
I love him

Comments (4) Apr 28 2008

And we’re back! I must apologize for the unscheduled break in the program; I’ve been trying to record this one for a while but the body wasn’t interested in cooperating. I’ve tried to use the manliness of my still recovering voice to my advantage! This will probably be the only time you ever hear me sing the lowest notes of this song; low C’s are right out of my range when I’m healthy.

But enough about the notes, and onto the song. The idea of a dirty madrigal started in my high school music room years ago. Leah and I, infamous Soprano II’s tended to…*ahem* rework the lyrics to fit our rather unconventional humour and tastes. One fateful day, we were handed music for a good old madrigal, It Was A Lover and His Lass. The song features “a hey and a ho” so were we supposed to think? We had our fun singing about asses and ho’s and then moved onto a flatulent version of Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind.

Now it was promised in my sick note that the upcoming song would “express the glory of spring” and what better way to celebrate it than by writing a Dirty Spring Madrigal based on the original text, which I just found out was by Shakespeare? Sorry Shakespeare! Dedicated to the choirs with whom I’ve sung versions of the original (Penthelians, I’m looking at you), and of course , to Leah in homage of the good old days.

Please note, this might not be work/child safe. It’s not dirty-dirty, just kind of suggestive.

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.

Dirty Spring Madrigal

In present time there was a lad,
and his heart was heavy and his mind was sad,
for the weather was full of gloom.
But the winter snow, it did melt,
then the strange stirrings of lust he felt,
and he said “I’m going to find some poon!”

For the birds are rather kinky,
and the bees are getting freaky,
oh hay dong, ding, dong, ding,
oh, everybody loves the spring!

And he came upon a lovely lass,
with a great big rack and a mighty hot ass,
(she obviously works out)!
and he asked her if she’d walk awhile,
and she took his hand with a great big smile,
and she said “let us gad about!”

For the birds are rather kinky,
and the bees are getting freaky,
oh hay dong, ding, dong, ding,
oh, everybody loves the spring!

They happened on a lushious field,
and he picked her blossoms it did yield,
and presented them to her face.
She kissed him there beneath the trees,
as he gave her pretty rump a squeeze,
and held her in a tight embrace.

For the birds are rather kinky,
and the bees are getting freaky,
oh hay dong, ding, dong, ding
oh, everybody loves the spring!

and lo, beneath her willing hand
did something interesting expand
amid the grass and hay
t’it’s obvious what did transpire
the young spring lovers did not tire
but had their fun all the day!

For the birds are rather kinky,
and the bees are getting freaky,
oh hay dong, ding, dong, ding
oh, everybody loves the spring!

Comments (4) Apr 22 2008

Comments (5) Apr 14 2008

I found inspiration a bit hard to come by this week. Sunday afternoon saw me still struggling to come up with something after a week that definitely wasn’t focused on music, so everything about this song was done very quickly to get it ready in time to post today. It’s both a blessing and a difficulty to be forced to create, but there’s something to learn from it every time.

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.

Not Worth Goodbye

Our vacant world surrounds me,
everything we were upon my back,
and i beg for my release

Would I could fling you to the wind,
you and all your mocking promises,
but I lack the strength i need to lift

Do you wonder what you’ve done to the one you left behind,
the one who wasn’t worth goodbye?

Straight shot arrows fly through still skies,
but I duck and cower underground,
and I beg for my release

Fighting hard to trust myself again,
but how can I when I know in the aftermath
I’ll be pushed away and set adrift

Do you wonder what you’ve done left behind,
the one who wasn’t worth goodbye?

Comments (4) Apr 07 2008

Better late than never! Let’s just say that my April Fools joke was posting the song on Tuesday night instead of Monday, or perhaps we can blame the evility on the number 13?

Bare Bones began in title form. When I started writing it, I had no idea what genre it would be or what it would be about. Then I started thinking about Earth Hour and wondering what was stopping people from doing the obvious and just saving energy all the time, which turned into the collective inability to filter through the mumbo jumbo and “see” clearly. It’s neat, I think, it sort of feels like jazz with a bit of trance thrown 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.

Bare Bones

I am hypnotized by the colours flooding through my eyes
I can’t clear my vision so I can split the truth from the lies
Hypothetically, do you see the forest or do you see the trees?
All my earth tones are blurred, I’m going blind
Nevermind

I am so lost in this maze of cosmic uncertainty
It’s just too much, I can’t make sense of what the world is screaming out at me
Wish it could just stop so I could listen to myself think
just for once, get down to the bare bones
Just for once, get down to the bare bones

I’m bombarded by the roaring noise that never dies
I can’t separate the substance, can’t figure out my “hows” and “whys?”
What do you truly think of what’s going round?
All I hear is a roar, I’m going deaf
Nevermind

I am overwhelmed by the havoc soaking though my skin
I can’t tell where it all ends and I begin
All I know is that we’re losing ourselves in this mess
How will we make it right while it’s rendering us blind and deaf?
Focus
Focus
We need to get down, down to the bare bones
Down, down to the bare bones…

Comments (3) Apr 02 2008