Songwriting Apples

Crown of Stars

2009-01-31T12:57:00.003-05:00

Crown of Stars will likely never be performed live, but it’s up on the player because I think it’s worth a listen. No, I don’t have any intention of abandoning my folk, acoustic act. This “song” came about as a result of some mad experimentation last night. It’s been a few years since I wrote anything other than on the guitar, but this one reaches out a bit. Somewhere deep inside me is a movie/TV soundtrack songwriter that is trying to get out.

A quick note about the arrangement and recording. There is no “programming” on this recording. The different instrumental voices were all played live in real time by me either on keyboard or acoustic guitar.

The spoken word you hear in the background came about after I listened to the music a few times. I heard this “nearly intelligible” conversation going on in the background so I went to an old book of poetry I have, given to me by a friend of my grandma’s back about 35 years ago, and picked out three poems and read. Panned one left, one right and the other dead center and there it is.

My left coast brother in songwriting, Steven Wesley Guiles is partially responsible for the creative outburst as well. He has hornswaggled me into trying this thing called FAWM (February Album Writing Month). More about this later. In the meantime, thanks for reading and listening!

John
January 31, 2009

Crown of Stars.mp3

The Song is in the Air...

2009-01-27T23:51:00.004-05:00

This post came about as I sat around the other night and reflected on a great live gig at a coffee shop (originally posted on my Wordpress Blog). The difference, though, was that I had been obsessing (as I am wont to do) over a particular song for about a week. I finally got to play it out the other night and as I wrote this blog entry, I played the song over and over to see what would happen. It ended up being more than just a "post-show blog entry"....

*presses play and reflects on a great evening*

Well, it’s “fare thee well”, my true love
The song is in the air
I hear the West calling
See what’s for me there

This song, The Open Door by Darrell Scott, has been “in the air” all week. I’ve been playing it daily, just like right now. I’ve been humming it in the shower and waking up in the middle of verses in my mind. I catch myself staring out the window at work hearing the melody. Tonight it’s the soundtrack for my blog entry. Playing on repeat, helping me to remember…
Some travel in the darkness And rest upon the shade Some wrestle with their demons And face them unafraid

Musicians travel in the darkness quite frequently. I’m no different I suppose. We rest upon the shade of the evening. Wrestling with our demons, we take the stage unafraid. We exercise whatever ills cumber us about. By performing for you we become liberated. We become free. And, hopefully in some small way, we free each other, even if only for a few hours.

We argue for our better selves
We only ask for more
We take the mirror from the shelf
And find the open door
Find the open door

Like Oliver Twist, we ask for more, but not in a materialistic or greedy sense. We try to improve our craft every time we perform. Hopefully make that connection with you a little stronger this time. We take that mirror from the shelf and try to break down the distinction between performer and listener, searching for the open door. Jiggling doorknobs… that’s what we performers do. Hoping someone lets us in.

I love you with a fever
I love you with a past
My heart is a keeper
As long as it will last

Tonight wasn’t about the music at all. There was love in the room tonight. For over two hours it flowed back and forth between us. From where I sat, tonight was a keeper, for sure. You listened, talked, sang, ate, drank, swayed to the music and interacted with each other and me. For as long as it would last…

Sitting here a few hours later, I remember each one of you. I see your faces. As I sing, you talk, eat, drink, laugh, smile and sing along. Tonight I am grateful for the songs that I write, the songs others write that I am able to learn and sing and the folks who came out to be a part of this evening. These “shows” are not about me or you. What are they about?

As long as it will last
I’ll tell you what I know
We walk this road together
And we walk this road alone

From where I sit tonight, it’s about a group of people walking together with one another for a few hours. I’ll tell you what I know… we spend too much time in this life walking alone. Once in awhile we connect to one another. Music helps us do that. Thanks to everyone who came out tonight for taking a little musical walk with me.

Until next time…

“Fare thee well”

John

January 23, 2009

FAWM: Crap And Diamonds

2009-01-27T22:15:00.007-05:00

Do yourself a favor. If you've ever said, "I want to write a novel" or "I want to write a song" or maybe "I want to learn how to play (insert instrument here)" then this is for you.

If you've ever said any of these things, it's time to get busy and stop talking and start rockin'. Join FAWM (February Album Writing Month) and take a stab at writing 14 songs in 28 days. You've never even written a song before? Cool! Then you're welcome at FAWM. Don't think you can write all 14? Who cares! If you write even ONE song, you'll have one more song than you had before.

You can write instrumentals. You could just write lyrics. It's up to you. There's no pressure (except the pressure you put on yourself) and the community is extremely supportive.

It's time to dive in and get workin'!

This may sound very "infomercially", but it worked for me. Two years ago John and I started this blog. We wrote a song or two a month. It wasn't easy, but we DID it. It was all about knowing that someone else was there to check on us and see how we were doing. It was about having a deadline. It helped us create by having some set goals. FAWM is just like that. By setting a goal (write a song every two days) you have a real deadline that helps focus your energies.

Last year I was able to do this by dropping a lot of unnecessary things from my life (TV, extra web surfing, sleep, meals) and I wrote down and pursued almost ANY idea that came to mind. Were all the songs good? Uh...no. Some were total crap. But, in the piles of crap were several diamonds that were well worth slogging through the other crap to find.

Friends, it's time to make some crap. And diamonds.

See you there!

Peace,

Steve

What Is The Future Of Songwriting?

2009-01-19T13:03:00.002-05:00

Here's an interesting discussion taking place on the 50/90 forum about the future of songwriting.

Ira Glass Indirectly Teaches Us Songwriting

2009-01-14T00:12:00.003-05:00

If you listen to public radio, ever, chances are you've heard one of Ira Glass' snippets of This American Life. He's a GREAT story teller and he talks a little bit about what makes a good story.

There are several of these and I think they all will give inspiration for us as songwriters as well.

Dive in!

PART 1

PART II

PART III

PART IV

What do you think? Anything YOU can use as a songwriter?

Apples and Birds In The News

2009-01-08T01:13:00.003-05:00

Well, not yet. But real soon.

Apple will soon make it easier for you to copy iTunes purchased songs to any device you own.

Here's the news.

Andrew Bird has two new records coming out, "Noble Beast" and "Useless Creatures". You can get into his songwriting process at one of my favorite music blogs. Here's that article.

Songwriting Inspiration Information

2008-11-30T18:20:00.007-05:00

awesome photo by this guy

First, forgive the unforgivable sin of blogging: infrequent updates.

Here's some new content for ya:

Songwriting Sessions Hosted by John Mayer called "Inspiration Information".
Sure, the video is sideways, but it's worth it anyway. A friend at Facebook told me about this.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9

And these REALLY COOL podcasts on the structure of song from Pandora. Each podcast focuses on what makes each TYPE of music unique. What are the elements that make country music SOUND country? What are the song structures and chord progressions? Very useful for a songwriter.

Podcasts on the structure of music.

And this super-duper awesome blog that interview several different songwriters and asks how they managed to write 50 songs in 90 days.

Songwright.co.uk

Hijacked!!

2008-10-27T00:38:00.001-05:00

Well, somehow our website address at www.songwritingapples.com got hijacked. We're pretty sad about it and if you have skills, and the means, and you know how to get it back for us, we'd sure be grateful. But if not, life goes on.

We still have all our posts here. Some of the files are missing and a few of the pictures (like our header).

More posts to come.

Tweedy Tells His Fans To Just Shut The F Up

2008-09-27T00:58:00.002-05:00

And I'm kind of glad he did.

And he said it in such a nice way.

Probably the nicest use of the F word in a long, long time.

Five Four? What For?

2008-09-26T22:01:00.002-05:00

Because it's COOL, that's why.
Try it. Break out of that 4/4 thing and put an extra beat in your step.

Here's the NPR article on the subject.

They Don't Fall Far From The Tree

2008-09-20T23:22:00.000-05:00

My song made me proud tonight.
He layered multiple vocal tracks.
His a six year old rock and roll super freak.

Here it is:

Proud Moments In Rock History

Types of Songwriter Publisher Agreements

2008-09-11T18:26:00.002-05:00

It may not be the sexiest information on the planet, but if you ever want to make a career (or life-long hobby) out of songwriting, you might do well to know a little about these legal documents that might affect your career.

10 Best Lists From A Master

2008-09-09T19:05:00.002-05:00

Alan Parsons knows a lot of stuff.

His advice might even be worth listening too.

You should.

Listen.

Read.

10 Best Bits of Musical Gear Ever

10 Things Everyone Should Know When Recording

Setlist for The Vault Martini Bar Show on 9/6/08

2008-09-07T23:24:00.003-05:00

It's going to take me a moment to figure out my set. It changed the moment I walked in and scoped out the venue. Not drastically, but I realized I would need to do something a little more "rock" and a little less "singer songwriter". Not that I HAD too, mind you. Matt Coleman, the curator for the evening, gave me full permission to run my hour however I wanted, but I decided to alter my set slightly to make it flow better in the environment. (Read "Lots of people drinking and walking around, stage next to bathroom").

First, The Vault is a bar with a very unique set up: the inside has a great vibe and then you head out back into the alley. Old brick buildings go up two or three stories with lights hanging across between buildings and chairs and stools against the sides. It was really cool environment to play in and I hope to do it again. My only issue was the lighting. I had a hard time seeing my lyrics, which at some points I desperately needed. Oh well.

Opening the evening was a lovely bilingual set from Olga Tapia. She played acoustic guitar and had a wonderfully tasteful bassist accompanying her. I wish I could have heard her a little better, but I was sitting toward the back of the room and was hearing both the music from the front bar and from the little side bar farther back in the alley. She still did a great job and I really dug the cover song she played, but I can't for the life of me recall what song it was now.

Here's the set I played as I remember it. Please feel free to correct me if you remember it differently:

American Girl *This was planned originally and left, because who doesn't like this classic Petty song?)

Simple Math *My friend Eric really likes this song and as it turns out it also seems to be one a lot of people liked (including my brother who has recordings of just about every song in my repertoire). My brother Dave and his wife Elsa also really like this one. I need to do a proper recording. The one I do have doesn't even have the bridge section, which is really cool (imho).

~~Questions For The Wiseman~~ *Well, this song got cut because I didn't feel it had the energy needed to sustain itself in this particular setting. Lots of people drinking. Lots of college age students on their first weekend back to school looking to hang out. It just didn't seem the right place for this song.

~~You've Got A Heart So Big You Could Crush This Town (also known as "Walls")~~ *I SO wanted to do this song by Petty, but it was so dark and my lyrics were so lightly printed that I couldn't pull it off. I think I was the only one there that night reading lyrics. A little embarrassing, but you know, I did write 70 songs this year, so I've only just started actually PERFORMING them recently, which means I'm relearning many of my own songs so that I can pull them off live. This song WILL be played soon, but just wasn't ready for this particular night.

Tammmy Faye, I Love You *I love this song. It's also been a favorite of many people at live shows and via my myspace page. This (along with "Questions for the Wiseman") will be on my solo album that is nearing completion. I can't wait for everyone to hear the final version.

Move On *I introduced this as "Not a political song"...because it's not. But that's the title of part of the Obama campaign so some may have taken it as a supportive song in that vein. It's neither for or against either candidate...unless you want it to be. :) I had a hard time with this song during the key change. I could sing it just fine, but I kept missing the chords. Nothing like missed chords to keep you humble. Well, if you don't take risks, you can get stagnant, right?

Short People *Not the song by Randy Newman, though I TOTALLY stole the first several notes and words. After that it's all me. Several lines were given to me by my good buddy, Mini Mendez.

Los Angeles/Stand By Me/Bridge Over Troubled Water *Los Angeles is a Pushstart Wagon song that has been a long-time crowd favorite and is almost always a request of someone. I love the fact that a song that has NO chorus and really, no repeating lyrics is such a favorite. It's just four verses with a repeating chord pattern of C-Am-F-C.

Green Beans For Breakfast *Another fun song that people seem to enjoy even though it's just totally wacky. I always have fun performing it too. I just wish I could do a better mouth trumpet noise. I really need to invest in a decent kazoo. Anyone wanna donate one? I used this song to switch moods after the heavy medley preceding.

Don't Give Up (I Hope This Finds You) *This song was written awhile ago for a friend at work that eventually passed away from cancer. I was never able to play it for her. This song is another that people seem to connect with when I play it live. Perhaps because it came from a genuine place. Not that that is the only reason a song connects with people, but in this case I think that's why.

May He Keep You As You Go *An alternate title for this song could be "The Irish Blessing Song". I wrote it to be just that. This will also be on my forthcoming solo release. I can't wait. It came out wonderfully in the recording.

I'm Sure I've Made Some New Friends *I'm using this song to close my sets because it just seems like a good show ender. Another tune that should make it to my solo album. Keep your ears peeled.

Following my set was a great set by Chad Villareal. He plays a mean funky acoustic guitar. His rhythm and lead playing reminded me of Dave Matthews (in a good way). He also had a sweet drum machine that he jammed along with. He really go the crowd moving and much dancing occurred.

The evening was closed out by Matt Coleman and friends. Longtime friend and collaborator Chad joined him on drums and I wish I had everyone else's names. All I know is that the combination of bass, drums, electric guitar, and Matt singing and on acoustic was magical and a near religious experience. It was obvious that this group of players not only loved music, but loved playing together. (And if they didn't, man they sure faked it well!)

This was a late evening for me. I crawled into bed around 2:30. Yowzer. I'm an old man now. :)

Tom Is So Focused On The Prize

2008-09-01T11:47:00.004-05:00

image by Scott

Tom St. Louis has haunted these halls in the past. He's a songwriter. He has a VERY CONCRETE GOAL: To "Get My Song In A Movie".

I was reading through a few of Tom's blog posts and I realized that most of them ended on this note: Would this song work in a movie? Tom would then proceed to explain what kind of movie and/or scene in a movie that his song would work. I can't help but think that if he continues on like this it will happen.

Tom, I'm pulling for ya'.

Anyone else out there set some specific goals? I'm sure goal-setting is one of those characteristics of Highly Effective People.

Vampire Weekend, 70+ New Songs, Summer's End, the Silver Jews

2008-08-24T21:03:00.006-05:00

keyboard picture by

Forgive me bloggers, it's been weeks since my last post.

But, in my defense, I wrote 50 songs for this year's 50/90 challenge hosted by the fine folks over at fawm.org. I've got an album that's about 80% finished.
I've met a few songwriting goals. This February I wrote a little over 20 in 29 days. That puts my year song count at 70+. Dang. I've never written that many songs in one year's time, but then again, I've never tried until now. Granted, many of the songs will never, ever be on an album, but many will be coming soon to a theater near you.

I've discovered a band that reminds me of an indie rock ska band fronted by Paul Simon. I must have had my head under a rock and missed them. Surely you've heard their hit single? And the band name is just awesome: Vampire Weekend. C'mon! What DO vampires do on weekends?

In other news, the lead singer of the Silver Jews gave quite an interesting interview on the process of writing songs for his album. His a complex and interesting man. And he had an eye transplant too.

It's with a little sadness that I bid farewell to summer. I have quite a bit of freedom to work on music during the summer months, one of the reasons I originally became a teacher. Now I enjoy teaching AND playing music. Any chance I get to do both at the same time, I jump. If you haven't had a chance to catch some of my songwriting tutorials on youtube, you can find the whole lot of them here. The teacher in me had fun.

I'm Covered

2008-08-07T11:17:00.003-05:00

"Covering" a song by another artist is simply the process of playing a song that was written by someone else.

Now, if you want to record that song onto a CD, you'll need to read this article.
It's painful. It's not easy. But if you're a musician and you care about being fair, legal, and legit, do yourself a favor and read this.

Clever Joe's Cover Song Advice

This Guy Is Awesome

2008-07-26T10:14:00.001-05:00

There's no getting around it. Ronald Jenkees has mad keyboarding skills.
Watch this youtube video and tell me I'm wrong.

:)

How To Write A Song III

2008-07-24T15:32:00.002-05:00

These videos are definitely labors of love. They take a lot of work to put together, but they seem to be beneficial...and I'm learning more about Adobe Premiere Elements. Like, it's youtube upload button is a big fat lie. It neither uploads nor goes to youtube. I had to import into MovieMaker...but that's another story unrelated to this.

I wrote THIS song and filmed the whole process.

It's called Except, Perhaps, The Human Heart.
It's not a real upbeat number, but it is a song. And when you need to write 50 songs in 90 days, every little song counts. :)

Naked Baby of Teen Spirit Fame Now A Teen

2008-07-24T14:15:00.003-05:00

This just seemed really interesting to me.
I'm sure there's a song in there somewhere.

The article of the boy who's private parts made rock history.

Paul Weseterberg, My Hero, Releases 49 Minutes of Music For 49 Cents

2008-07-21T18:42:00.004-05:00

Paul rules.
Period.

I'm listening to his 49 minute track right now. It may have lots of slop, but it's Paul's slop, so it's probably better than most. In fact the first "track", "Terry, Who You Gonna Marry?" is quite catchy.

What a great idea. This is up there with Radiohead's "pay-what-you-want" scheme. Clever.

Write A Song, Then Pass It Around...

2008-07-21T10:51:00.003-05:00

I found this at NPR and thought it was incredibly apropos.

Here's a link to the full audio article. It's pretty cool. It sounds a whole lot like what collaborators at 5090.FAWM.org are doing.

Here's the creator's website: Telephono.org

I'm emailing this guy for sure.

Radiohead Makes Video With No Camera

2008-07-16T10:56:00.003-05:00

This "video" is pretty cool.
I heart radiohead.

See it here (hosted by Google).

Some Good Reading For Songwriting

2008-07-06T23:14:00.005-05:00

Starting with this article in the New York Times songwriting blog Measure by Measure, An Uncommon Thread.

The best of Nerd Rock with Weezer.

A new blog I discovered called Songwriting Zen. He's also a fellow 50/90 participant.

Another 50/90 participant has a great title for her blog...The Shy Singer/Songwriter.

Some tips of Self-Producing Your Own Music.

A 639 Year Performance!

2008-07-06T20:59:00.002-05:00

Now, I've been to shows that seemed a little on the long side. Around the bands 2nd or 3rd encore I was heading to the parking lot. But SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE YEARS!!!

You have to read this article.

That John Cage was one cagey guy.