Friday, May 18, 2012

Week 21 - "I Knew When I Looked in Your Eyes"

Lyrics:
I knew when I looked in your eyes
I found a love that never dies
I felt quite certain that I knew
My life was for you.
I knew when I looked in your eyes

I knew when I looked in your heart
That we should never be apart.
Whatever time will lead us to
I'll be there with you.
I knew when I looked in your heart.

I don't know where we're meant to go.
I don't how the wind will blow.
But I know that our love will grow.

I made my promise with a ring.
No matter what the years may bring.
All through the summer sunshine's glow
and through winter's snow.
I made my promise with a ring.



I used a more mellow piano sound from the RD-600 to give this ballad a different feel.  I also equalized it to remove the high and low frequencies, I was hoping to give it a more ethereal, haunting sound.

This song is dedicated to my wife Kari for our 8th Anniversary.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Week 20 - "You Talk Entirely Far Too Much"

Lyrics:
Do you know your mouth is open quite a lot
Sharing ev'ry slightest thought?
You talk entirely far too much.

When you go to meetings at your work,
ev'ryone thinks you're a jerk.
You talk entirely far too much.

You are entirely mistaken when you think
That anyone at all would care to hear you when you fink.

Tell me just who do you think you are?
You must think that you're the star.
You talk entirely far too much.

(Spoken)
Darling, did you know, did you know that everyone's tired of hearing from you?
and that everyone's sick of seeing your face?
You think it's up to you to tell everyone what to say and do,
but no one, no one even asked you to speak in the first place.

(Sung)
You are by far the dumbest person that I know.
Why then is it such a chore for you to shut your hole?

Tell me just who do you think you are?
You must think that you're the star.
You talk entirely far too much.

 
This song is an emulation of the style of Al Jolson and coincidentally it is the first video of mine in which I have synchronized a video of me singing with the audio track (Al Jolson was the first to appear in film singing with synchornized audio in The Jazz Singer).  This song is a comment on people that just don't know when to zip it!  Next time you want to smack someone for having a big mouth, you can whistle this tune instead! 

This song premiered on the Dr. Demento Show on 5/12/2012.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Week 19 - "Breathe in the noiSe (Breathe out the Silence)"

Lyrics:
"Breathe in the noise, breathe out the silence."
You're playing with toys and putting up pretense.
Tell me the truth.  Do you think really
We should listen to you when you take yourself seriously?

I've got more important things to do
Than sit here wasting my time listening to you.

What kind of fool are you?  What kind of fool am I?
At least you found a way to get your piece of the pie.
Maybe someday you could teach me your trick.
How did you get the world to kneel and kiss your ring?

"Breathe in the noise, breathe out the silence."
You said it with poise and some kind of confidence.
I thought it must be a joke, that it couldn't be true.
And you'd go up in smoke and we'd breathe you in, too.


I have only done one other full video to accompany one of my songs - "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls" - but that was done only as a single shot of the water.  In fact, the clip was not even long enough for the song, so I slowed the video speed down exactly enough to make it the full length of the song.

This video is the first one in which I have edited multiple shots together.  It was done very simply with a handheld digital camera.  It looks home-made (it is, of course), but this actually is appropriate for the theme of the text of this song.  Special thanks to Michael Hou for shooting the video.  The video was taken at City Park Lake in Baton Rouge, LA.