Week 25 - "You and I"

This song is a potential love theme for a new musical that I'm working on with playwright August Mergelman (http://augustmergelman.weebly.com/).  We wrote the musical Bird Millman together, which was produced in 2002 in Canon City, Colorado.  We will be posting regular updates of the new musical at http://onlinemusicalworkshop.blogspot.com/

Lyrics:

This is the time here in this place
For us to meet and speak face to face.
How can I say what I am feeling for you now
Without the words I need to express
My sense of emptiness.

But time goes on and you're still here.
Will time run out?  This is my fear.
Tell me the words of what you're feeling for me now.
Will you be mine or should I even try?
Should I bother to cry?

You and I have got just what it takes now to see it through.
So why must you take far too long to say you love me, too?
What can I do to show you that my love is true?
And how long can I wait around to see if it's my fate to be with you?

But let's face facts - this may be the end.
If we both move on, we each will lose a friend.
But what would life be like without you?  I can't say
But I would really not like to know.
Tell me you'll never go
Because I love you so.

Week 24 - "Fly, Baby Blackbird"

Lyrics:
Fly, baby blackbird, to your home.
Too long and wide the river's flow.
Fly, baby blackbird, to your home.
You burned your bridges long ago.

It seems so strange how you seemingly resist the winds of change.
Although the tides of time have given you the clue.
But you still don't know what it is that you should do.
But time just will not wait for you.

Inside a box, it seems your heart is guarded by a million locks.
And even if I could find every single key, I still would have to solve another mystery.
And that's just not the task for me.

This one is in a folk/rock style, at least in part.  I have done some vocal harmony in several of the previous songs, but I have not commented much about the process.  Although, I have scored numerous vocal arrangements, I have only scored (that is, written out in sheet music) vocals for three songs in the Year of Song project - "Damascus," "The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls," and "Psalm 13."  The vocals for the rest of the songs were composed a bit more organically.  Once I had the lead vocal recorded, I improvised harmony parts in several different ways until I got the sound I wanted.  This is a little different for me, because for scoring vocal parts I normally sit and think it through at the piano, but for this project I have relied more on my voice and the ability to record as many tracks as I like while experimenting on Audacity.

Week 23 - "Psalm 16"

Text - Psalm 16 KJV
1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;

3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

7 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

8 I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

This is my musical setting of Psalm 16. It was premiered June 3, 2012 by the choir at Trinity Lutheran Church in Baton Rouge. The conductor is Kathi Calamari, the pianist is Tim Saeed, and the violinist is Christy Gandy.

Week 22 - "ALF for President"

Lyrics:
My fellow Americans, are you looking for a change?
Well, so am I. That's why this November I'm casting my vote for ALF!

Vote a Melmacian for president because you know you really want to.
His fur may be the shade of burnt sienna, but his heart is red, white, and blue.
He may not be the greatest president we've ever had,
but compared to the other choices, he's not half bad.
So vote a Melmacian for president.
Though he crashed on Earth by accident, we know he was heaven-sent.
ALF for president!

ALF promises to all Americans a cat in every pot, an end to black bean soup, and change we can believe in - or at least change to which we can give the benefit of the doubt. Will he keep his promises? The only way to find out is to vote for ALF!

He may be short and furry and he has a giant snout,
but there'll never be a truer green-blooded American, there's no doubt.
So vote a Melmacian for president.
Though he crashed on Earth by accident, we know he was heaven-sent.
ALF for president!

One of my other projects is writing campaign updates for the ALF for President website - http://www.alfforpresident.org
This week, I brought the two projects together in writing ALF's campaign anthem!  I composed the music in a typical American march style.  It includes piano and three male vocals, plus the spoken parts, which were recorded separately.

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.

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.

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.