Week 1 - "It's A StrangeThing That Happens" b/w "Sing Your Own Damn Song"

The challenge has begun! On Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 I posted the first single in my "Single-A-Week Challenge" online. The results can be heard and downloaded (for free if you choose) using the handy player below or at: http://michaelmorse.bandcamp.com/album/single-a-week-challenge-week-1




I have it set up as a "name your own price" download, so you can just enter 0 and get to download it for free, so feel free to download the songs for free!

The two songs that comprise the first single, "It's A Strange Thing That Happens" and "Sing Your Own Damn Song" are not actually new compositions (as most of the rest of the songs in the challenge will be). They were both written in 2009  and meant to be on an E.P. that was tentatively to be called "Ain't It Strange How Nothing's Changed" (a title I still may use for something) but for whatever reason (laziness) that E.P. was never recorded and these songs weren't given a proper spotlight. I performed them both on a cable access show in Manhattan called Different Voices, the "Strange Thing" performance can be viewed below:

 The video for "Sing Your Own Damn Song" was online but I guess has been deleted by the show's host as was the only physical tape of the show (which included an interview and another song which is still on youtube). It is pretty upsetting to think that in this digital age of information hoarding, that that footage no longer exists.

I had pretty high hopes for "Strange Thing" when I first wrote it. I felt (and still feel) that it is a damn good song (at least for me). I made a demo and paid to enter it into several songwriting contests but it went nowhere. Shortly before writing it, I attended a funeral for the first time which, as I'm sure anyone else who has been to one will agree, churns up so many different emotions and thoughts about our own mortality and that of our loved ones. It's a horrible feeling having those thoughts in your head. There are lots of songs about death and coping with it but I feel like too many of them veer too far into preachiness or sappy sentimentality. I don't think I've avoided that but I think the stream of consciousness cycle that the death in the first verse prompts coupled with the admission towards the end that "I don't know much about it so I won't pretend I know how to ease your pain or bring it to an end" keep it from going too far into that murkiness. Also before writing it I had been listening a lot to Blind Willie McTell's "Delia" with its repeating line "She's all I've got is gone" and Bob Dylan's little known mid-80's masterpiece "Dark Eyes". I think "It's A Strange Thing That Happens" was written because I wanted to write songs like that.



recording screen

The recording was pretty straight forward after I got a guitar and vocal take I didn't screw up mid-way through. I don't understand why I can play a song live and not have any problems getting through it but as soon as I turn the recorder on I start forgetting words and switching the order of the verses. I considered trying a livelier, more bluegrassier version (and probably will record it that way sometime) but decided to stick with mellow to provide a bigger contrast between the A and B sides of the single. I thought I was going to add some electric lead but ended up grabbing my banjo to add some texture. Instead of using a bass, I used the pedals on my Yamaha organ to add some bottom without making it noticeable and used the organ's vibraphone to add some emphasis to the chord changes. And that was it, nothing fancy to get in the way of the song.

my banjo player

I wrote "Sing Your Own Damn Song" after hearing Woody Guthrie's Sacco & Vanzetti ballad "Two Good Men". "Two good men a long time gone, left me here to sing this song". That line really struck with me. But as great a song as it is, it doesn't bring them back or right the injustice of their execution. It doesn't change anything. No song does. "Sing Your Own Damn Song" is a call to action. If you want something to change, change it yourself (but don't hurt anyone). It can come across as a little negative but it is not. It's about my frustration with the way people use ideas like love and god as a crutch. How people aren't satisfied if they are not part of some group, institution, or fraternity. "All you got is you" means that you are the one that needs to control your life. I think the song also works as a message to myself, that I need to create something for myself.

The recording turned out a lot more aggressive than how I originally thought it would. It is sloppy in, I hope, a glorious way. Some of my favorite recordings are sloppy, hectic and off the cuff or live sounding. The Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann" and Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and "Maggie's Farm" come to mind. I love hearing Johnny Cash yell for Luther Perkins' guitar to "get going" or Blind Willie McTell telling himself to "spank (smack?) it a little bit boy" so I thought I could do the same and further the illusion of a real band. I've often thought about harmonizing with myself so I thought why not here! That's what this challenge is about, trying stuff out! The lead guitar started as me just messing around on the guitar that happened to be in my hands while I was listening to the basic track playback. I found a good raunchy tone and hammered through it. It's pretty raw but adds to the defiant tone of the song. The country-thump bass and shaker were no-brainers.

standing by

The cover image was originally from a poster that my mother and I made for the 2010 New York City Marathon (I was official marathon entertainment). The picture was taken with me standing in the bathtub because it was the only blank background I had. It's a little bit of a reference to Elvis Presley's first album cover and various images of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. The "MJM Reqerds" label logo was a last second design and addition. I'll probably make a better one later.

The recordings have been out there a couple days now and I've gotten a few good comments about them but no one has downloaded them to keep yet. If you take the time to listen please take the time to tell me what you think (I'm a big boy I can take it...I think). If you have any constructive criticism please share it! I want to get better!

Alright, that is 1 down, 51 to go!

See you next week!

MJM

http://michaelmorse.bandcamp.com/album/single-a-week-challenge-week-1