Music by Dave Leigh & William Hoover

Brain Farts

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:43:00 +0000

I will be moving away from publishing my music on this site effective immediately. Since Blogger is no longer going to be allowing FTP access to my server, and will exclusively require me to use theirs, I might as well step up my service while migrating.

To that end I'm moving everything to Bandcamp.com! William and I have found it a little unwieldy to type "Dave Leigh & William Hoover" every time we want to identify our music, so collectively we're going to publish under the nom de plume "Dr. Lindyke". Our full URL is http://drlindyke.bandcamp.com.

Right now, both of our Song Fu submissions are available there, as well as a brand new song for St. Patrick's Day, Brain Farts.

As with this site, Bandcamp supports an RSS feed, so be sure to add that to your newsreader. In addition to allowing you to pick your format, Bandcamp supports album art (it supports albums!) and allows you to preview the song in an embedded player without having to download the whole thing first. I think you'll like it... A LOT.

We Do What We Do

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:32:00 +0000

This is our entry for Song Fu #6, Round 2! Click on the MP3 icon above to download it.

VOTING HAS BEGUN! The competition is very stiff in this round, so we need your votes! Visit ASiteCalledFred to listen to all the entries and place your votes for the songs that best met the challenge. You get FIVE (5) votes to submit, so you don't have to agonize over your decision! We (Leigh & Hoover) just hope we're in your top five.

Clarification: You can check up to five boxes, then submit your vote. But you can only click the submit button ONCE. This is enforced by IP address, so the end result is that, generally speaking, only one vote per household is allowed. Voting will END on SATURDAY, February 27th!

This time the challenge was to write a song that doesn't rhyme. You could, however, repeat the same line or word verbatim. Given that the challenge didn't seem terribly difficult, I added a personal challenge for myself. I've never played drums before, so I determined to play live drums on this recording, with no MIDI sequencing and no loops. That I did, for good or bad, and I can tell you that I will never tell another drummer joke. Drumming isn't as easy as it seems.

Oddly, this song changed genres somewhere along the line. Originally, with just the guitar, I'd have sworn it was Country/Western. Now the verses are straight Rock & Roll, and I'm not at all sure what you could call the chorus. I like it, though.

We Do What We Do
william hoover & dave leigh - 15 Feb 2010

June is within me
Yet June is without
So what do I do
So what do I do

Capture the moment
Or withdraw from the fight
I do what I do
I do what I do

There are times... when I think I should have left here
Took... to the road all alone
Erased... the tracks my feet left here in the dirt
And never look back
And never look back

A leaf in the Springtime
A blossom in Summer
They do what they do
They do what they do

In Autumn they die
To be carried away in the wind...
It do what it do...

There are times... when I never should have left there
Took... to the road all alone
Erased... the tracks my feet left there in the dirt
And never look back
And never look back

[organ solo]

Winter provides
The snow and the cold
It do what it do
It do what it do

Along comes the Spring
Then June is there waiting for me...
She do what she do...

There are times.... When I gently kiss her
It seems to me... the seasons move to fast
I know... someday June will up and leave me
And never look back
And never look back

We do what we do
We do what we do
We do what we do
We do what we do
We do what we do

Updated Song Fu Statistics

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:59:00 +0000

Microsoft Excel OpenOffice.org Calc

In the name of all that's anal retentive, I've compiled statistics for ALL of the Song Fu competitions. I have it in Excel and OpenOffice.org formats.

I've updated it to include the Round 2 data for Song Fu #6, in which I'm competing. I would like to thank everyone who voted, and especially those who voted for Leigh & Hoover. We finished round 1 AND round 2 in a VERY respectable 2nd place, with 98 votes each round. THANK YOU.

A not-new-but-finally-completed feature of the spreadsheet is that in the Voting Statistics tab you can hover over a cell to see what the song was.

Angels and Demons

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:05:00 +0000

(drums)

SONG FU VOTING BEGINS TUESDAY. This competition promises to have some terrific music. You don't have to vote for this, but you owe it to yourself to listen to all the entries and vote for your favorites. I hope I'm among them! This promises to be the very best Song Fu EVER. Visit ASiteCalledFred!

"Angels & Demons" is not a Song Fu entry. I've acquired a digital drum set and was getting used to it. While playing around with a military cadence on the snare I noticed my DVD case of Angels and Demons. This lead to the cliche' of an angel on the right shoulder and a demon on the left. Tying it back to the military cadence, I thought of the two of them actually at war, with the soldier himself as their battlefield. This is a metaphor for the terrible things a person may have to do in a war versus the noble cause he's fighting for. Belief in the cause doesn't necessarily make acts of war easier on your conscience, and therein lies the conflict.

This is also an allusion to C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, and to my own time in the military. Finally, I was fiddling around with that cadence in the first place because I was... as a bit of practice... trying to meet some of the older Song Fu challenges; in this case, "write a march".

That's a lot to fit into a tiny little cadence.

BTW, I know I can not be the first person to have come up with this metaphor, but a Google search for "soldier is a battlefield" came up with 5 hits, none of them relevant. So I'm laying claim to an original thought, or at least an independent one.

Angels & Demons
dfl - 07 Feb 2010

Left!
Left!
Left! Right! Left!
Left!
Left!
Left! Right! Left!

Angel on my shoulder!
(Angel on my shoulder!)
Demon on the other!
(Demon on the other!)
Ain't no one to catch me
(Ain't no one to catch me)
In case I fall
(In case I fall)

Angel on my shoulder!
(Angel on my shoulder!)
Demon on the other!
(Demon on the other!)
Ain't no one to catch me
(Ain't no one to catch me)
In case I fall
(In case I fall)

The Bible tells me, boy you shall not kill!
(But I've been doin' a lot of killin' still!)
Sometimes even angels have to take up swords!
(To stem the tide of the demon hordes!)

Left!
Left!
Left! Right! Left!
Left!
Left!
Left! Right! Left!

An angel and a demon
(An angel and a demon!)
Are warring on my shoulders!
(Are warring on my shoulders!)
The soldier in the middle...
(The soldier in the middle...)
Their battlefield.
(Their battlefield)

Company! HALT!

Summer Rain

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:40:00 +0000

This is our entry for Song Fu #6, Round 1! Click on the MP3 icon above to download it.

VOTING HAS BEGUN! This competition has some terrific music. Visit ASiteCalledFred to listen to all the entries and place your votes for the songs that best met the challenge. You get FIVE (5) votes to submit, so you don't have to agonize over your decision! We just hope we're in your top five.

We had hoped for some form of Valentine's Day challenge. So when we heard that our challenge was to write a song about rain, we decided to make it a romantic encounter... two lovers meet for the first time as they take shelter from a storm at the beach.

Summer Rain
william hoover & dave leigh - 02 Feb 2010

Walking by the ocean
There upon the Strand
I heard the pitter patter
Of raindrops on the sand

I ran to find some shelter
'Neath the safety of a pier
And as the storm subsided
I turned to find you here.

Suddenly came that Summer Rain
To melt my heart away
Now the ribbons in your hair
Will tie the knot this coming May

You curtsy, then I follow
As we lay down by the sea
The ocean gulls are all a-chatter
Trying to sing us both to sleep

Your eyes were on the ocean
But you soon made eyes at me
The smile that promised your devotion
Made a captive heart of me

Suddenly came that Summer Rain
To melt my heart away
Now the ribbons in your hair
Will tie the knot this coming May

Perhaps a bit of kismet
Blessed are the powers that be
In that ever magic moment
That captured you and me
And when the rain comes down
The roses start to bloom
Walking on and skipping stones
While the clouds bid us adieu

Oh, I love that Summer Rain
That brought my heart to you
There is no shooting star
That ever fell so far
The way that I just fell for you
Yes, I love that Summer Rain
That brought my heart to you
There is no shooting star
That ever fell so far
The way that I just fell for you
(fade out)

Just In Time

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:32:00 +0000

(guitar - live demo)

All the odd imagery in it makes perfect sense, once explained. I have no intention of explaining it.

The music is vaguely a romantic Latin sort of thing though you might expect more of a children's song from the lyrics, but I felt like Latin today and that what you get. As for the tune, it's been bothering me that it's somehow familiar, but I have wracked my brain and can't figure out how, so I'm just not going to worry about it.

You might be able to tell that I was a little distracted here... noises from the kitchen. But at least the dogs weren't barking.

Just In Time
wmh - 1989

Little one made of stone
Cheeks of cherry wine
Strive to crawl - to reach the wall
But don't forget to climb

Please beware the evil dreams
Of dragons in the mist
For they come to life soon enough
As a race run from the wrist

And there you stand, torch in hand
Justin, friend of mine
Instill in me a memory
I'd left so far behind
And through the years we understand
Things we've tried to justify
So just remember, so is life
And that it sometimes seems unkind
And through the years we understand
Things we've tried to justify
It may happen once - seldom twice
But surely Justin Time

Enjoy each flower, the evening hours
The thrills of wishing wells
The songs of life and company
Of Mickey Mouse and Tinkerbell

But fairy tales give way to wedding bells
And friends to sad goodbyes
But fields are filled with dandelions
Each one a new wish just waiting to be tried

Songwriting Part 2: Write What You Like

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:02:00 +0000

(This is a continuation of my notes on songwriting. Click here for Part 1)

At the end of Part 1 of this series, I asked you some questions:

Ask yourself what you care about. What moves you? Motivates you? What's your obsession? That's what you need to be communicating in your music.

This challenge concisely summarizes what it is I want to say today, which is that in addition to writing what you know about, you should write what you like... that is, if you're looking for artistic satisfaction. There are plenty of formulae for writing "popular" songs, and damned if they don't work. Don Kirschner made a career out of figuring out what the public wanted and making it happen, and recent years have seen the charts flooded with with pre-fab phenoms like Britney Spears, the Back Street Boys, N-Sync, etc., etc., etc.

That's not the kind of success I'm talking about (and frankly, you wouldn't be reading this if you were looking for commercial success, because I don't have it). I'm talking about the kind of satisfaction that keeps you doing the same thing for 30 years even though you get nothing monetary in return. That I do have, and I can tell you that it's all about loving what it is you produce. You have to like your own music, and to do that you have to write music you like.

That sounds obvious as hell, but over and over I see people write to a particular style, or a particular structure when It's pretty clear their hearts aren't in it. Even if this is your job they call it playing music for a reason. I don't see that you're taking any chances at all if you write something you like, even if it's bonkers or off the wall. Here's an example:

William Shatner took 30 years of heat for his off-beat spoken-word style introduced in his 1968 album The Transformed Man, which contained such stinkers as Shatner's covers of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". But Shatner was playing to an audience of one... himself, and he stuck with it. As far as I'm concerned, his 2004 album Has Been completely vindicates the style. Rather than containing covers, in this album Shatner teamed up with Ben Folds to create fresh musical arrangements around Shatner's prose-poems. AND IT'S GREAT! I love it, especially tracks like "Ideal Woman", "You'll Have Time", "Familiar Love". and "It Hasn't Happened Yet". His cover of Pulp's "Common People" was a popular and critically acclaimed single (though I like the original tracks better).

I'm going to adapt a mantra I've previously chanted, and say that if you want anyone at all to like what it is you do, then you have to be that person. Other people will like what you like, but if you don't like it there's no guarantee that anyone will. You need to write things that you can put your heart into and be sincere about. That sincerity shows up in your work and people will respond.

William and I have written a lot of songs. Those that I consider complete are the ones that I really like, such as "The Mission" or "Like Norman" or any of the others I've put here or on YouTube. There are others that I just don't like, and I'm not going to mention what they are, except to say that you've never heard them. I don't consider any of them failures... they're just incomplete, because I don't think I've gotten the right handle on them yet. When a song isn't right I know it's pretty much entirely my fault, as I might find myself looking at a lyric I previously set aside as "unworkable" and suddenly have a flash of insight as to how it should be arranged and played. Some examples are "Mary, I Want Her" or "Just in Time". Sometimes that process takes years: the lyrics to "Just In Time" were written in 1989 and I only put acceptable music to it last week.

The end result is that most of the songs that get stuck in my head and I find myself humming idly are songs that I myself wrote. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. I don't think it's particularly egotistical, either... it's just justification for having written the song in the first place.

The point here is, pick a style you like, topics you like, and write tunes you like. Don't bother to consider whether it's fashionable. Tomorrow's fashions will change anyway, and the only thing that's a certainty is that you'll never get ahead of them by copying other people. So do your own thing. And if your "own thing" is to perform in the style of your favorite established artist, just remember that nobody needs another Elton John... they've already got one. So use your favorite artist's style as a foundation for your own, and put enough of yourself in it that you're not a carbon-copy.

Rainbows

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:33:00 +0000

(piano)

For Jacie, and Cat.

RAINBOWS
wmh - 27 Oct 2009

Rainbows don’t last forever
Yet they seem to have no end
They’re a blessing and a promise
That the rain may come again
But the future holds no destinies
And kites don’t fly themselves
In the blue sky...
The blue sky...
So high...............

There’s a tale of 2 cities
And I think the story’s true
There are dreams within your reach
Far above and beyond the blue
And though there’s beauty in a rainbow
There's not enough to fill the sky
The blue sky...
The blue sky...
So high...............

And while you can’t catch a rainbow
You can enjoy the view
Choose an ending for your story
Your future’s up to you
I think you can fly...
In the blue sky...
So high.............

The Mission

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:02:00 +0000

(guitar - live demo)

Whether anybody else likes this song or not, it's one of my favorite songs by anybody, and it has been for 30 years. I know that's an egotistical thing to say about one's own piece of music, but it's true (in part because I know what it REALLY sounds like in my head). I'm just happy I got to be the one to write the tune.

I love the lyrics by William Hoover as well... they're imaginative and more than a little bit surreal. I had no bloody idea how or why he came up with the saga of a space captain who talks to a sock puppet. None. (until today*)

I decided to do something a little folksy-techno-weird with it, as if David Bowie's and Paul Simon's brains were merged in a tragic transporter accident. Since you're hearing it live you get the folksy part.

This is one of (if not THE) first guitar pieces I did, back in about 1980. The only problem with it is that it absolutely KILLS my fingers. I don't know why, but they wind up bruised and battered every time I play it, no matter how much practice I've had. And no matter how much practice I have, I never get better at it.

The Mission
wmh - 1981

I found myself in the Sea of Tranquility
All conversation had gone dry
And as I reached for my hand my fingers were missing
So my puppet friend spoke with his eyes

And he said...
Captain I fear our mission is failing
For all the red lights have gone gray
This landing falls short of being successful
Oh how I wish we'd picked a clear day.

We stepped from our craft to be the explorers
All these back home would adore
Though well we knew our journey was over
There was magic here perhaps something more.

Weightless we wondered under the eyes
To find a new hole in the sky
My crew had become so frightened of shadows
They hadn't yet noticed their lives had passed by

And they said...
Captain I fear our mission is failing
For all the red lights have gone gray
This landing falls short of being successful
Oh how I wish we'd picked a clear day.

Captain I fear our mission is over
So sorry we can't make a return flight
Tell those at home the places we've flown
And be sure that this bird gets home before night.

I found myself in the Sea of Tranquility
All conversation had gone dry
And as I reached out something was missing
So I borrowed a voice from outside

And I said...

Captain I fear this life slowly passes
And I feel the strong need for new birth
Your mission ends here and captain I fear
We shall never again visit earth.

Captain I fear our mission is over
So sorry we can't make a return flight
Tell those at home the places we've flown
And be sure that this bird gets home before night.

* Now I can reveal that the inspiration for this song was two Twilight Zone episodes. "Death Ship" and "A Passage for Trumpet", both starring Jack Klugman. I'll leave it to you to discover more about them. I'm also told that the puppet is a hallucination brought about by oxygen deprivation. I have to ask to find out these things.

Songwriting Part 1: Write What You Know About

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:17:00 +0000

Though few people even know who I am, I (along with my lyricist friend, William Hoover) have been writing songs for the last 30 years. Some songs have been terrible, and some (I think) are exceptionally good. I've noticed over the years that the good ones are the recent ones, and they get better and better with time. As a result I like to think I've overcome some mistakes and learned a thing or two that I can pass on. If I haven't, then I'm about to expose my ignorance... which is a good thing, in that I'll learn from comments and feedback where I fall short. So in an effort to understand my own process better, I'm going to explain what I think are the important elements of songwriting.

Before we get started in earnest I'm going to digress for just a minute on the subject of art. My dictionary has several definitions of art, none of which are correct! There's little wonder that so many people are confused by the term and misuse it... they can't even look up the right answer! Here's a really simple definition of art, which always works:

"Art" is the deliberate communication of one or more emotions from the artist to the beholder.

There are three ramifications of this definition. The first is that how you communicate it is unimportant. This is why song, dance, poetry, literature, and drama are all forms of art. With any other definition you're left to wonder what holds these together: now you know.

The second is that it is the beholder, not the artist, who determines if a thing is "art". Many of the things we've been taught to think of as art, aren't. These include song, dance, poetry, literature, and drama if the emotion isn't there. It doesn't matter how much of your heart and soul you pour into something... what matters is how much gets back out. Art is cruel to the aspiring artist. If you're not imparting emotion, then it doesn't matter how brilliantly you have done your work, you are a craftsman, not an artist. This isn't a slight against craftwork: a brilliant craftsman is still brilliant! But it's axiomatic that "Art" and "Craft" are not nearly the same thing. If you look around I think you'll agree that some pretty poor craftsmen have turned out some wonderful art.

The third ramification is that this definition is open to future expansion. Almost anything can be art, and many things we don't think of as art, are. For instance under this definition, true lovemaking -- as opposed to sex -- is art. And I think that's how it should be. When we speak of a piece of art being "attractive" or "seductive" it is precisely because art is an extension of this primal ability of humans to personally interact on an emotional level.

So I'm going to proceed from the assumption that you're wanting to write songs as an artform and not as a craft. Jingle writers ply their craft; Songwriters pursue their art, even though they both do what is superficially the same thing. OK? Moving on...

I think that lyrics are the life-blood of any song. That might sound strange coming from someone who rarely writes his own lyrics, but it shouldn't. I get way more lyrics than I can use, so I have to pick and choose from among them, and have a good bit of experience editing and adapting the words I do use. In addition, I do indeed write complete songs on occasion.

One of the things that I've noticed about other advice I've read on the subject is that it almost invariably focuses on the wrong aspects of the task. There is a tendency to focus on mechanical rules to fit words to your music, and I think that's just a bit backwards. While everyone is different, in my case no song begins without a message, and that means the lyrics. You should have a clear understanding of what it is you're trying to communicate to the audience before you even begin on a tune. In my view, the music is there to focus and direct the emotions of the listener to the message carried by the words (in ironic form you might highlight that message by contradicting it).

Now, the one very most important thing about writing lyrics is not rhyme, or meter, or structure. In fact, any and all of those things can be dispensed with entirely and you can still have a great song. No, the most important thing is simply knowing what you're writing about.

That's true of any sort of literary endeavor. It's the first thing they tell you in creative writing classes, right after "Please, sit down." And it's 100% immutably, undeniably true. You have to know what you're writing about. This is especially true about lyrics, because they're intended to communicate emotion. If you don't have that emotion, you really can't impart it. What you produce will not be art.

For instance, when William Hoover and I started writing songs back in high school, we wrote songs about hookers and drugs and other gritty stuff. What did I know about hookers and drugs? Not a damned thing! And it shows in the work. Those early songs about "important" social issues are terrible in comparison to what we've written lately. We tried really hard to be hip, and I don't think it worked out well, largely because I'm not hip. People would rather hear a heartfelt and honest song about the hackysack you LOVE to play with than some political topic that your head says is "important" but your heart cares nothing about.

There are ways around this "immutable" rule. For instance, we wrote a song called "Like Norman" that is apparently about a man who's on Death Row, sung from the point of view of the next man scheduled to die. Now, we've never been on Death Row; we've never worked there; never knew anybody who was. But when played properly the song can really give a chill to the listener when you get to the last verse. Why does it work?

It works because we're not writing about Norman. Neither is it about the man doing the singing. Norman is a metaphor for life. When Norman dies it's representative of your father, or mother, or a close friend of your own, dying. It's in moments like those that we realize our own mortality. The light dawns within us that we -- all of us -- are on Death Row, waiting our turn. Like Norman, we begin to see the Angels coming. On a conscious level, the listener may not even know he's making that connection. Still, the topic finds its "hook" in his subconscious and pulls out the intended emotion. It's your job to make the listener emote, but no law demands that he has to know why.

Use metaphor and parable and allegory. But you cannot forget that your metaphor must be representative of something you know and care about. Besides, metaphor is great because you can get deep, deep messages in seemingly innocuous things. And while somebody might be turned off to the deep message when presented plainly and boldly, they'll listen over and over again to the metaphor and find themselves moved by the underlying message.

So that's the first rule, and it's really the only one you can't break. Everything else is pretty much at your discretion, though some guidelines are stronger than others. In future essays I'll address them, and I'll do that by examining some actual songs. In the meantime, here's some homework... take a good introspective look at yourself. Ask yourself what you care about. What moves you? Motivates you? What's your obsession? That's what you need to be communicating in your music.

Robot Monkey

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:02:00 +0000

(work in progress - piano)

This is a bit silly, but it invaded my consciousness nearly fully formed in the bath. It was a random thought... "gee it must be difficult to parody a Jonathan Coulton song since they're all pretty much in left field anyway... how about parodying his style instead?" You can see that halfway through that thought I switched from innocent question to a determination to do it. (The devil on my shoulder is such a bully!)

Anyway, I considered some common or memorable components of JoCo's songs and came up with Monkeys, Robots, Loneliness (or Rejection), an occasional bit of the macabre... mad scientist or something. Oh, and talking to inanimate objects. So I thought, maybe if we just chuck them all together with a nice jaunty tune reminiscent of the theme song to The Partridge Family (not that tune, just similar, and I guess my subconscious was thinking TV theme anyway). I came up with this debacle. As it's evolved, it's kind of moved from the 70s back into the 60s. Also, the style is a bit further removed from JoCo than I'd originally intended, so the pastiche may be becoming more of an homage.

I may end up re-recording all of this. Eventually, the flute near the end will be replaced with whistling, but I can't whistle, so I'll have to get someone to do that for me. I also don't have drums, so those are missing for now. But it has given me a chance to play with this new recording software (Reaper).

ROBOT MONKEY
dfl - 6 Jan 2010

My Robot Monkey has nothing to live for
It's not as though he'll find a cyber-banana
My Robot Monkey is a one of a kind
You'll never find another North of Havana...

I don't know... why I built him
I just don't want to be lonely alone...
[beat. beat. beat. beat]

My Robot Monkey's not the cud-dl-ing kind
He's a little sharp around the edges, you see
My Robot Monkey is a bit of a loner
My Robot Monkey is a little like me

I don't know... why I built him
I just don't want to be lonely alone...
[beat. beat. beat. beat]

[bridge]
Robot Monkey would you like to meet some other robot monkey?
Robot Monkey would you take her home and oil her down?
Robot Monkey I wish you would not dismantle little bits and pieces
Of yourself when I'm not around.....

[Instrumental verse]

Even though... I built him
I still feel lonely alone...
.

Postcards from Picasso

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

(piano - live demo)

William tells me the inspiration for this one was really simple. Parker Brothers used to publish a game called Masterpiece, where the players bought and sold pieces of art (some of which were forgeries). Among the game equipment, there were postcard-sized replicas of the artwork to be traded. Willy just picked out a number of the paintings he really liked and wrote the song around the names of the painters.

Since it reminded me of a Spring afternoon in Paris, it became a Musette piece (in 3/4 time to lighten the mood). I got stuck on the bridge (all of the verses had the same meter, and I really didn't want to pick one), but Rhod got me over that by suggesting a musical bridge. In the last verse I changed "sidewalks of night" to "city of lights" to strengthen the tie to Paris. Voila!

(Here's how I read things into what William writes... you already know everything there is to know about the origin and meaning of the lyrics, but when I read it I imagine an art student spending his days at the Louvre in the company of great art, and by extension, in the company of the artists themselves.)

Postcards from Picasso
wmh - 5 Apr 2006

I once saw the Louvre on a post card
Sent by Picasso himself
The Guggenheim ain’t got nothin’ on Paris
Excepting for Paris herself

Lautrec has been scene at the Moulin Rouge
Capturing the night life of France
While Degas attends the backstage ballet
Waiting in the wings for the dance

Surrealist scenes surround parasol dreams
From pastel to hard line extremes
Does life as they say imitate art
Or does art lie somewhere between?

I’d picture it all as Grant Wood would
Or Van Rijn when in his prime
Give a little whisper to Vincent van Gogh
And Salvador Dali real time

Angelo and El Greco put on a show
Renoir and Rubens the same
I missed Monet at the station today
As a greyed rainbow stood in my way

Surrealist scenes surround parasol dreams
From pastel to hard line extremes
Does life as they say imitate art
Or does art lie somewhere between?

[musical bridge]

And did I not mention da Vinci?
There are two reasons for that smile
Both have survived through the centuries
Still no one yet knows quite why

Surrealist scenes surround parasol dreams
From pastel to hard line extremes
Does life as they say imitate art
Or does art lie somewhere between?

I still get post cards from Picasso
Andy Warhol and the like
We all have breakfast at an outdoor café
Overlooking the City of Lights

[musical bridge to exit]

Song Fu Statistics

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:19:00 +0000

Microsoft Excel OpenOffice.org Calc

In the name of all that's anal retentive, I've compiled statistics for ALL of the Song Fu competitions. I have it in Excel and OpenOffice.org formats. If you're interested, bookmark this page. I'll keep it updated here.

UPDATE 2010.01.03: I've added a "% of Total Votes" tab. Now you can see how each song did relative to the others within a competition round. This eliminates misinformation that arises when comparing the raw votes of two rounds having different participation. (A song can have the most votes and do poorly, percentage-wise, compared to other rounds.) This makes it possible to do meaningful trend analysis.

The Twelve Days of the Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:02:00 +0000

(live demo - piano)
This is a ghost Song Fu; one of the things they were looking for this year was a Winter Holiday song that's not about the holidays. I'm thinking this one probably wouldn't meet the challenge on technical grounds. This is more of a parody than a brand new song, but nevertheless here it is. I also am a little late on my self-imposed deadline, but thought better of it when I realized that I'm not actually competing, had some other obligations, and had already done a YouTube vid and penned a Biography of a Song this week. Combined with my revised Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, this comprises the extent of my holiday songs for this season.

For those that aren't familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, the Dungeon Master (“DM”) is sort of the author and game referee. This is a conversation between me ("D") and my son Timothy ("T") (originally Will was going to do it, but Tim volunteered for the meager bribe of being allowed to open a Christmas present early).

The Twelve Days of the Campaign
dave & will leigh

D: Tim, let me tell you about this D&D campaign I'm in.
T: Is it good?
D: Yeah, it's great!
T: Well tell me about it! [music starts] Wait a minute? It's musical?
D: Yep.

On the FIRST day of the campaign my DM gave to me
A Deck of Many Things!

T: Isn't that a lot?
D: Not really.

On the SECOND day of the campaign my DM gave to me
Two spider gloves
and a Deck of Many Things!

T: Don't you mean gloves of spider climbing?
D: yeah, but that doesn't scan.

On the THIRD day of the campaign my DM gave to me
Three chain mail armor
Two spider gloves
and a Deck of Many Things!

T: You do know that's three Decks of Many Things so far, right?
D: Yeah. So?

On the FOURTH day of the campaign my DM gave to me
Four bags of loot
Three chain mail armor
Two spider gloves
And a Deck of Many Things!

T: OK, I sense a pattern. How bout we cut this Monty Haul campaign short. Just skip to the end.
D: you sure?
T: Yep
D: OK.

On the TWELFTH day of the campaign my DM sent at me
Twelve Chromatic Dragons!
Eleven Lich Lords!

T: what!

Ten Cyclops Fighters!

T: say again?

Nine Cave Trolls!
Eight Red Beholders!

T: now wait just a minute!

Seven Hill Giants!
Six Angry Orcs!
FIVE UNDEAD THINGS!

T: Aw, come ON!

Four bags of loot
Three chain mail armor
Two spider gloves
And a Deck of Many Things!

T: you suck.

So Long

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:48:00 +0000

This song is just a little weird. My lyricist, William, had noticed a little boy who was a dead ringer for a kid he'd known growing up. The boy was about the same age now as they were then, if you follow me. It hardly seemed possible, in that albino African-Americans aren't common. So he wrote these verses.

Around the same time I was reading a story by Harlan Ellison called "Jeffty is Five", in which not only does Jeffty never grow old, but Jeffty's world is equally unchanged. So, given the verses from William and an understanding of the concept from H.E., I finished the song. Here, this explains the concept:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffty_Is_Five

The song is simply an exploration of what it might feel like to always be a child. I know when I was young, I couldn't wait to be older. What if your birthday never comes?

Man! Look at that serious face! I'm really tempted to do that again, this time wearing a Guy Fawkes mask or something.

So Long
wmh - pre-1982

He was young when I was young
It seems I knew him long ago
And now I don't know him at all.
But he doesn't grow

And it's been so long
He doesn't grow
His day won't come
His life goes on
It's been so long
His eyes, they show
When death has come
Take me along.

Forever ever frozen in time
Escaping age for a life
He remains a child, remains behind
Still moving in my eye.

And it's been so long
He doesn't grow
His day won't come
His life goes on and on and on
And it's been so long
His eyes, they show
When death has come
Take me along.

The black boy with the white face
Who runs who hides who plays
Forever hidden in space
Still moving in one place.

And it's been so long
He doesn't grow
His day won't come
His life goes on and on and on and on and on...
And it's been so long
His eyes, they show
When death has come
Please take me along.
(So long, so long!)
Take me along
(So long, so long!)
Take me along

.

Twenty-Two

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:24:00 +0000

(live demo - piano)

I'm watching the Song Fu competition with some interest. A few people said I should compete in such a thing, but honestly I think I may write too slowly to do it. So I'm going to simply try to see if I can do the challenges. It's not really a fair test because I've already seen the sorts of things that other people did for rounds one and two, and I've had two days of looking at both of those challenges plus the last one.

To give myself a better test, I'm going to try to do all three songs by next Saturday, though I'm not necessarily going to do them in the order the challenges were presented.

Here's my take on the second challenge, "Write a song about a number."

Twenty-Two
dfl - 13 Dec 2009

Twenty-two
We don't know each other well
But I've seen you in the hallway
As I check my mail
And I wonder if you're busy Friday night?
We could get to know each other, if that's alright
We could have some coffee, enjoy a talk, and then we'll say goodnight
I'll slip down the hallway to my room, go to bed, turn out the light
In the morning when I get the paper I will smile at you
And I'll say, "Good morning, number twenty-two!"
And you will smile at me
And you'll say, "Good morning, number twenty-three!"

.

Today's the Day (cover)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:30:00 +0000

This is a rough cover of Inverse T. Clown's original song, "Today's the Day". I went for lowest common denominator with this one, hence simple guitar (the only kind I play), and I ignore most of the great figures that are in the original. I made some other changes to the tune (and esp. the bridge) appropriate to the genre. In every case where the lyrics are changed it's because I forgot the words and had to make something up quick, not because I thought I was improving it.

Also check out Edric Haleen's terrific cover of this song on InverseClown's YouTube channel.

Today's the Day
"Inverse T. Clown"

I had a dream last night
In which everything wrong in my life went right
And much to my surprise
It was a quick transition
It played out so vividly
That's it's hard to describe what it did to me
Suffice to say I took it
As a premonition

Today's the day I get a move on
Today's the day I change
Today's the day that I improve on
Who I am and everything I do:
Today's the day that I break up with you

Just stop and think about
All the times I gave in so that we'd work out
If you look at the score
I think I tip the balance
But you prob'ly think that's great
'Cause you take and you drain and manipulate
I guess every succubus
Is gonna have those talents

Today's the day that I get angry
Today's the day I fight
Today's the day that I harangue
The telling-off that's way past overdue:
Today's the day that I break up with you

Don't look at me like that
With your cute pouting lips and your big, sad eyes
You're pretty, but you're pretty much a bitch

It's time for you to see
That the world is the world universally
And nowhere does it say
That you can run my planet
So you take our history
And your need for control and co-misery
And brace yourself real good
Then go ahead and cram it

Today's the day that I'm the victor
Today's the day I win
Today's the day I do your sister
Here's a toast to starting life anew:
Today's the day that I wake up
It's time to say I've had enough
Today's the day that I break up with you

Still Alive (cover)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:05:00 +0000

Another Jonathan Coulton cover. It's Still Alive, the ending-credits song from the video game, Portal.

BorbaSpinotti got me thinking about doing this. It hadn't crossed my mind before because I really like the song as it's done in Portal, and it never occurred to me to re-interpret it. As it stands, other than mucking about with the dynamics I'm not doing anything to re-interpret the tune... it's just how I'd play the accompaniment if I'd written it, and its simple enough that most anybody could learn it. Instead, I decided to re-interpret the vocals, since I could never in a million years pull off GLaDOS, and Jonathan Coulton already simply sings it as a ballad. So I imagine that the Aperture Science labs are NOT run by the AI, GLaDOS. Instead, they're run by a real, live mad scientist. Then I cast Peter Cushing in the part. Then I throw in a little Bill Shatner sing-talking. I hope it works. It will sound better with practice, I'm sure.

If you're completely confused by all this talk of GLaDOS, read the Portal Wikipedia entry. Basically, it boils down to this: in Portal, you're the lab rat in a science experiment being conducted by a deranged computer.

Now, if you like the arrangement, and want to play it yourself, I teach you how here:

You'll need the lyrics and chords. You can get them HERE. Then check out the JoCo store on the same website and try out the other songs. Buy some.

The tutorial is appropriate to beginning musicians. More advanced pianists will quickly get bored.

It's the best angle I could get with that camera, nevertheless my hands get in the way of the keys, so I hope you get the idea. My fingering sucks in some places, so it's a case of "do what I say, not what I do." Use the fingering that's comfortable to you and keeps you out of trouble. As for myself, I don't think I've played a song exactly the same way twice, and probably won't ever. Things get added, subtracted, or shuffled around according to my mood and audience. So don't sweat the small stuff.

The important thing to remember is that you're a performer, not a tape deck, so make the song your own, and above all have fun with it. They call it "playing" an instrument for a reason.

Here's JoCo singing it.
And here's the song as it appears in the Portal ending credits.

Big Bad World One (cover)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:50:00 +0000

This one's not funny, yet it's one of my very favorite Jonathan Coulton songs because it's just very simple and honest. Let's face it, anybody who's ever gotten tongue tied over the girl can relate to the sentiment: "She's so amazing I couldn't possibly rate. I might as well not try."

Go HERE for lyrics & guitar tabs, or get his Thing A Week version and donate to the starving artist from THIS LINK.

The Future Soon (cover)

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:53:00 +0000

"The Future Soon" is by Jonathan Coulton. Having grown up geeky, I completely relate.

Go to jonathancoulton.com for lyrics, guitar tabs, or to donate to the starving artist. He'll appreciate it.

Like Norman

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:44:00 +0000

This is really one of my favorite songs. Oh, yeah, I love this tune. I did it as a neo-spiritual. Theres a minor crescendo at "I once killed a man...", and things come to a real head in the last verse, where you've got strings, chorus, tho whole bolt of cloth, right up to the last word, where it just ends. The song is cut short, just like the life of the Inmate. It's impossible to hear it without getting a chill.

At least, that's how it is in my head. One of the biggest frustrations of being a composer without a band is that YOU don't hear what I hear. Nevertheless...

They say you should write about what you know. If that's true in every case, then how in the world are we qualified to write about Death Row? Because in a deeper sense, we're all on Death Row, with no possibility of parole. Try this: read the lyrics and think of it in terms of a metaphor for your father's death. We think of our parents as indestructible, and their deaths are the first real foreshadowing of our own mortality. This is when, like the Inmate, we see the Angels coming.

Now is that deep or what?

Like Norman
wmh - August, 2005

I live in solitaire like Norman
Truly he's a friend of mine
But I don't see the angels a-comin'
So Norman tells me that I am blind

Norman tells his great big stories
Mostly funny -- sad at times
If I could only be like Norman
I might escape these walls I climb

A promised land beyond the fences
Of which he speaks now 20 years
And says if not for all this muscle
These past mistakes would disappear

I once killed a man like Norman
I mean, at least that's what they say
But he could never harm another
I know him and it's not his way

I hear footsteps echo down the hall now
They've sent for Norman, absent stay
They say they've come to end the misery
Of all his victims here today

Alone in solitaire like Norman
Truly, once a friend of mine
But now I see the angels comin'
And here I am, just like Norman
Oh no!
Here I am, just like Norman
Oh, Lord!
Here I am.
Just like Norman

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:19:00 +0000

(live demo - piano)

Yes, I've succumbed to the lure of YouTube... mostly to post music for now, but I may find other uses for it. The channel is http://www.youtube.com/leighdf.

For now, I'm putting up some stuff that's already been posted as MP3s in this blog, but there's a new piece for the Christmas season, this rendition of Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.

As I mention in the video, August always gets me thinking about Christmas, because the USAF Band would practice their Christmas show in August in Washington, D.C. It was extremely good, and supremely entertaining, and more than a little bit surreal to sit on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial in the heat of Summer watching the band (more of an orchestra, really) performing Christmas Carols with the backdrop of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial behind them.

What I was thinking that particular August was that, since so many aspects of this religious holiday had been made secular, wouldn't it be fitting to recover, commandeer, or hijack some aspect of it that started out secular or materialistic and make it religious. So this wrote itself in just about no time at all. Here are the lyrics:

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
dfl - August, 2005

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
Lean your ear this way
Don't you tell a single soul
What I'm going to say
Christmas Eve is coming soon
Now you dear old man
Whisper what you'll bring to me
Tell me if you can

Johnny wants a pair of skates
Suzy wants a sled
Nelly wants a picture book
Yellow, blue and red
I want you to pray with me
To Jesus high above
Help me find a birthday gift
For the Lord of Love

And I want peace in Persia
And in old Jerusalem
I want everyone to welcome Him
When God comes home again
I want us to love one another
That's all I have to say
May peace and love surround us all
When we wake on Christmas day

[this reprise is preferably done by a choir, if you have one]
We pray for peace in Persia
And in old Jerusalem
We will welcome Him with open arms
When God comes home again
Let us love one another
What more is there to say?
May peace and love surround us all
When we wake on Christmas day

May peace and love surround us all
When we wake on Christmas day

Lazy

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:22:00 +0000

OK, they all can't be winners. This is just an audio doodle, really. One of those things you jot down in a notebook and find years later when randomly flipping through it.

I'll put up an MP3. Later.

Lazy
dfl - Aug 2003. 2nd verse added 11 Nov 2009

Well, I don't get drunk
I don't carouse
I stay at home
Don't rabble-rouse
And I've never once been tossed out of a bar
I wish I knew why it were so
But I'm a home-boy don't you know
And if it weren't for bein' lazy I'd go far.

Yes, if it weren't for bein' lazy I might find a cure for cancer
If I got up off my butt there'd be no question I couldn't answer.
Yes, the world would be a better place
And multitudes would shout my name
And everyone would know my face
I'd save the world and change the game
And nothing would ever be the same if it weren't for the fact
That I don't care to act.
Yes, I'm lazy to the core
I don't even want to sing this song anymore.

Before It Began

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:36:00 +0000

(live demo - piano)

A couple of things happened with this one... first, William wrote the lyrics on Mother's Day, 1989, and I'm sure I got them soon after, according to my notebook. At the time I couldn't think of a thing to go with them, and I don't think there's any particular story behind the lyrics themselves.

Then last night this song was just laying on top of the pile of unfinished songs. About the same time I'd gotten an email from Deston saying that she enjoyed Waves and Ways and no one had ever written a song for "a Deston". Knowing full well what she meant, I thought instead about a song for Deston to sing... I mean, what good is a song about Deston for her enjoyment when she's got this really awesome voice she could use for mine? (smile when you read that) And while she has a very powerful soprano, I like it better when she tones it down to a more controlled alto.

So marry that thought train with these lyrics that were sitting in front of me at the time, and I thought there would be nothing better for it than a classic smokey-nightclub torch song... but one that had some nice powerful parts to be belted out along with the sultry parts.

So that was my thought process as I was putting a tune to this. My wife, Lisa, likes it a lot, and has adopted it as "her song", which I don't mind in the slightest... Music is like love: it's worthless if it's not shared. At least I know this song doesn't completely suck. I'm singing on this file... hopefully we can correct that soon.

Before It Began
wmh - Mother's Day, 1989

I wish I had the chance to say I love you again
I wish you weren't content in just being my friend
And if we had it all to do all over again
I'd still just be this human child afraid to pretend

It's safe to say it's over, 'cause I don't know what that means
As I dangle un-animated by my worn-out puppet strings
I really thought we had it, but what is the use
When two people forfeit love and won't acknowledge the truth

(Because) It's over, really over before it began
Destined to become something neither one of us could stand
I remember walking hand in hand
Alone after midnight before it began

I fell in love again just yesterday
Then this morning came and took it all away
Strung out on a high wire for all to see
My heart the famous casualty

Waves and Ways

noreply@blogger.com (Dave Leigh) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:49:00 +0000

(live demo - piano)

This was on top of the pile at lunch today, and when I glanced at it, it just had a tune. Sometimes it happens that way... I read a lyric and the tune is already there in my head. The rolling little piano intro was first. It's intended to remind you of water, and the chorus to remind you of crashing waves. Anyway...

Today is my sister's birthday. I tweaked the lyrics a little bit to give an homage to the Beatles (she was a big fan in her teens) and to add a reminder that this is a birthday song. Having grown up in Charleston, SC, it seemed appropriate to me to dedicate this song of the sea...

To Carrie.

Waves and Ways
wmh - 28 May 2006, dfl - 22 Oct 2009

It's not the way your ways have bound me
It's the way your smile surrounds me
It's the sunsets and the view
And it's the way that I love you

Be it Spring, Winter, or Fall
In any clime at all
The sun rises in the Summer sky
It's in your heart your beauty lies

And if we travel to the ocean
To witness breaking waves
You will go with me
But the memory stays
We can Let It Be...
As in younger days
As we watch the Waves and Ways

Over the waves there are ways
Through a fog bank or a haze
You can't sink a sturdy ship
Without an anchor or loose lip

It's not the way your ways have bound me
It's the rescue since you found me
Afloat in a sea of indecision
You're my lighthouse and religion

And if we travel to the ocean
To witness breaking waves
You will go with me
But the memory stays
We can Let It Be...
As in younger days
As we watch the Waves and Ways