Week 10 - "Violet" b/w "Ghost Town"

Oh no, I'm ten weeks in! Ignore the date listed for this posting, I'm not late, the world is. Sorry to do this again but please click on the ads on the page, I really need those penny fractions! If you have stuff you want me to click on, let me know! I'll click! Probably!

To hear and/or download this week's songs, I've conveniently embedded a player below so you don't have to leave to listen but if you just have to leave then follow this link: http://michaelmorse.bandcamp.com/album/single-a-week-challenge-week-10



If you need to classify them, both of this week's songs can be classified as "country". So many people write off the whole country music genre without even taking the time to listen and form their own opinion. I will admit to being one of those people at one time, that is until I was exposed to REAL country music...Hank Williams, The Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson...these are all true artists that wrote incredible songs. It's amazing to me how little in common what passes for country music today has with the old greats. "Modern" country is mostly embarrassing redneck pop trash, it's no wonder why so many people hate it...but so many love it. One more complaint (audience cheers), what the hell is with country (oh and general pop) "stars" NOT writing their own songs!? If I can do it, why can't they? All the people I listed before recorded plenty of other people's songs but they wrote too and are primarily remembered and celebrated for their original compositions. The whole Nashville songwriter system makes no sense to me. With that being said, any country or pop "stars" reading this, please record my songs and give me tons of money, I'd greatly appreciate it!

The A-side "Violet" is the story of a bird that escapes her cage and flies away...OR IS IT??? It also works as the story of a girl stuck in an oppressive relationship that she runs away from. She was so eager to leave home but of course she wasn't ready and the real world (or gravity if you still think it's about a bird) started to rapidly pull her down when a "valiant" man comes along and saves her from ruin at the cost of her freedom. Then as I've already said, she escapes! I really like this song. I don't know exactly what inspired it but I've liked the name Violet since reading the first handful of Series Of Unfortunate Events books in my second year of high school. I don't know why I never finished reading the series, those books are so good!The recording was pretty easy, guitar, vocals, bass and lap steel! Yes, I've finally found a use for my lap steel! I've had it since my 17th birthday but haven't really played with it in a few years which is a shame as it is a really cool instrument. For those of you that don't know, a lap steel is a small fretless electric guitar tuned to an open chord that is played laying down on your lap with a slide usually made out of solid steel, hence the name! I need to use it more and also get a real steel slide.

The B-side "Ghost Town" is an exercise in overt sentimentality. I'll admit it won't be my favorite song from this challenge because of it's sentimental overtness but I think it turned out pretty well for what it is. It's written from the POV of someone returning to their home town many years after leaving and being overcome with memories and emotion seeing how run down and deserted it has become. I kept the recording very simple and bare-bones, just acoustic guitar and my haunting voice (ha). I added one other element, wind! You might need to turn up your volume or use headphones to hear it but it begins and ends with the sound of wind blowing through the empty town which really enhances the loneliness and isolation of the song. I created the wind by lightly blowing into the mic and then turning the track reverb all the way up. It worked quite well.

I drew the cover in pencil then colored it with watercolor pencils. It was my first time using watercolor pencils, I played around with wetting the pencil itself and also coloring first then going over it with a wet brush. It's not perfect but it has its charm. Oh and I think the birdcage turned out pretty good. Ok, no more self back patting.

the complete untouched masterpiece

That's all for now!

10 down, 42 to go!

MJM

http://michaelmorse.bandcamp.com/album/single-a-week-challenge-week-10

Week 9 - "Paper Presidents" b/w "Hallway Blues"

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You know the drill (I hope), to listen to/download this week's songs (for free by entering 0 when asked to name a price) just use the conveniently located player below or follow this link: http://michaelmorse.bandcamp.com/album/single-a-week-challenge-week-9

It took me a while to get to Chicago. Even though my first exposure to the blues was probably Chicago-style (or derived from) and (as mentioned in my first blog) seeing B.B. King was a very important event in my life, when I got into the blues I went straight for the delta (and some near-by areas) and stayed there. It was seeing Robert Johnson's name in the writing credits of albums by The White Stripes, Cream and Red Hot Chilli Peppers that first got me curious. Who was this guy that wrote these great songs? I had to know! When I finally got to hear the original recordings of "Stop Breaking Down Blues", "Cross Road Blues" and "They're Red Hot" I was hooked. I had been searching for raw, primal music and delta and country blues was it. The grumbling growl of Charley Patton and the bold defiance of Lead Belly was what I needed. At first, Chicago Blues sounded too slick for me, at least what I had heard at that point did. I don't mean to say that there was not any Chicago electric blues that I liked, because there certainly was, but I really preferred earlier rural acoustic blues. I think it was hearing Howlin' Wolf's menacing recording of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" that really got me interested. Muddy Waters soon followed which of course lead to his harmonica player Little Walter's solo work (probably my favorite Chicago bluesman).

pick a key, any key!

Both of this week's songs prominently feature the harmonica. I should be a better harp player than I am as I've been playing it for quite a while now, just not as frequently as I should. I grew up with cheap Hohner Bluesband harmonicas. I'd get a new one every now and then and end up just puffing on it aimlessly until I got bored and moved on to some other activity. In high school I got yet another Hohner Bluesband in the key of C (probably at a Cracker Barrel restaurant) because I really wanted to play "Love Me Do". For the first time ever I actually read the little instructional paper and learned "When The Saints Go Marching In" (a song I love playing on most instruments) and later "Love Me Do". My growing interest in Bob Dylan got me interested in seeking out more keys. I got a harmonica rack and a super cheap set of Kay harmonicas and started figuring Bob out. I got a more expensive C Hohner Blues Harp but eventually blew out the reeds and haven't been able to replace it because they doubled in price! I later got Hohner's cheap (but decent enough playing) all plastic Piedmont Blues set and for this last Christmas Hohner's (slightly more expensive) Bluesband set. I've been wanting an Astatic bullet-style harmonica mic for a while and thought I was going to get one last month only to find the one I wanted (also made by Hohner) had doubled in price! Stop that Hohner! I did end up getting a harp mic though, a homemade ebay special Egg-Static, which I used on both of this weeks songs.

I was definitely inspired by and thinking about general Chicago blues and Little Walter specifically when writing and recording this week's A-side "Paper Presidents". I had meant it to be slower but for whatever reason (probably the manic punk inside me trying to claw his way out) it didn't come out that way. I touched on my money frustrations in my last overtly blues song in this challenge ("No One Believes In Me But My Mother Blues"). Ohh I could go on and on and on...but I won't! Suffice it to say I hate how much you and I need money. I hate how it controls us and makes our decisions for us. I hate how it opens doors for some and closes those same doors in other's faces. I hate money but like I just wrote, I need it. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun without it. I encourage anyone and everyone reading this to have as much fun as you can without touching your wallets.

The recording of "Paper Presidents" gave me some difficulty, especially with timing the guitar stops but I think it came together nicely. I admit it's kind of sloppy, most of my recordings are, but I hope that adds more charm than distraction. I didn't realize I had forgotten to add a bass to the song until after I did the final mix-down (oops) but thought it sounded fine without it. I plugged my new Egg-Static in my little Vox and turned up the gain and turned down the tone to try to get that dirty Chicago sound.

Egg-Statics are a girl's best friend

The basis for the B-side "Hallway Blues" dates back to my senior year in high school. That year I had a lot of time to do nothing in school. I had finished my math, science and english classes the previous year and pretty much had a half day but had to wait around all day for a stupid health class (the only one available was of course during last period). I started bringing my guitar and harmonicas to school a lot more to help me pass the time (when I wasn't watching Arrested Development on my portable DVD player or looking up Monty Python videos and Looney Tunes online in the library). I was a little hesitant to do an instrumental. While I enjoy instrumentals, I don't know if other people do. But if Bob Dylan, The Beatles and Little Walter can do them then so can I! I really like how "Hallway Blues" turned out. I kept the instrumentation very simple, acoustic guitar, simulated piano and harmonica and I think they all complement each other so well. Again I used the Egg-Static, only this time plugged directly into the recorder. I think I may try more instrumentals later in the challenge.

The cover design is based on Chess Records' 50th anniversary "best of" collections. Whoever designed those did a great job, they fit the content so well, exactly the way a cover should. I donned stereotypical blues garb, sunglasses and fedora, for the picture which was taken by my mother. To relate it to the A-side "Paper Presidents", I used the only money I had at the time (a 1 and a 5) to make origami rings to wear. That 5 dollar bill has since been given to Wendy Thomas in exchange for one of her burgers and a salad.

source of my money folding secrets...

That's it!

9 down, 43 to go!

MJM

http://michaelmorse.bandcamp.com/album/single-a-week-challenge-week-9

Week 8 - "God's Last Words" b/w "What You're Thinking"

Here we are, 8 weeks and 16 songs! And this blog is extremely late! And no one but Steve and my mother read it! Please click on the ads (most of them are pretty interesting), it will only take a second but it will help me out greatly! If you had ads I'd click on them!

To listen to and/or download this week's single (that's 2 songs, an A and B-side) use the convenient embedded player below or if you've had enough of this blog already but still want to hear the songs, follow this link: http://michaelmorse.bandcamp.com/album/single-a-week-challenge-week-8



This week's A-side "God's Last Words" is one of the best songs I've written, although I'm not sure if that comes through in the recording. It would probably be a controversial song if the wrong people (or right people??) heard it because it does the unthinkable by suggesting that "god" is wrong. I could probably write a thesis on my feelings and frustrations concerning organized religion but I feel your attention span already starting to drift so I'll keep it brief. In the little I've learned about the foundations of the major religions, I've seen a pretty clear unifying theme of love and brotherhood which is thrown around all the time and used as a recruiting tool by all sides but NOT practiced. Supposedly "god" loves everyone (except people that don't abide by whatever strict and ridiculous rules set by that religion's higher-ups of course). To quote myself (someone has to) from an earlier song from this challenge, "who knew unconditional love had so many strings attached?" Oh the hypocrisy of it all.

blah blah blah

To me, the most offensive and horrifying religious idea is that of the Christian judgement day. I've known actual living, breathing human-beings that believe this part (and every other event) of the bible to be absolutely 100% factual. That the "loving god" who cares for us so much, the one that drowned every living thing on the planet once, the one that commanded a father to murder his son just to see if he'd do it, that that guy is on his way to smite the "non-believers" and take those "he" deems worthy back up to heaven leaving any one left over to rot and burn down below. What's even more disgusting is these people find some sort of sick comfort in this. Fuck that! And fuck them! (I'm studying French) When a parent seriously threatens and hurts their child, they are punished and the child is taken away. I think the same ideas should be applied to religion. If our "creator" causes us pain and suffering, we should take ourselves away from that "creator". Because it is US that matter. We are here and "god" is not. We need to "serve" and love each other, not a myth.

Mandolin!

In the song, I've presented the world as if "god" actually existed in the form the major religions suggest. But this god, on the verge of dying, realizes there is one thing left to do, apologize to us and let us know that we are loved. "I've seen the error of my ways, there will be no judgement day......I just want you all to know how much I truly love you so". There is a lot of truth in the old saying "To err is human, to repent divine, to persist devilish". In the rest of the song I briefly suggest what the world is like now that god is gone. It is very idealistic and simple but I think that's how we all should be. There's no reason for us to fight so let's all sing together...la la la la lala la la lala la la la...

The Epiphone!

The recording of "God's Last Words" went very quickly and each part played is either my first or second attempt. I finally found a use for my Epiphone mandolin on this song which I'm happy about (I need to play it more). I think I could have played around a little more with my voice in the backing vocals to give a better sense of different people singing though. It came out a lot shorter than I thought it would be but I really like the song. I'm sure I'll record it again (with other people) at some point.

I know I've already written far too much about this seemingly simple 2 minute and 20 second song but there's more... Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman is one of my all time favorite comic books and definitely the best Superman story ever told. In the story, one of Lex Luthor's evil plans finally works and Superman is dying. In the final issue, something changes in Lex Luthor who has found a way to give himself all of Superman's powers. He starts to see the invisible threads that bind us all. He says "This is how he sees all the time, every day. Like it's all just us, in here together. And we're all we've got." That line was a major inspiration for this song and how I view the world in general.

Last week an animated movie adaptation of All-Star Superman was released on DVD. I was lucky enough to get to attend the world premiere screening where I got to meet and talk to the movie's screenwriter Dwayne McDuffie. A few days later, Dwayne died from surgical complications. Besides doing a wonderful job adapting Grant Morrison's story to the screen, Dwayne McDuffie was a tremendous writer in his own right. He scripted the majority of the best episodes of the instant classic animated Justice League Unlimited series. His Fantastic Four run was one of the comics that got me into going to the comic shop every week. Instead of wasting energy complaining about the lack of ethnic diversity in super hero comics as some creators do, in the early 90's he took matters into his own hands and founded his own comic company Milestone Media with the goal of employing great black comic creators (and any other race too) to create characters that they could identify with with problems that mattered to them. When I met him he was a heck of a nice guy and very receptive of fans. He was a giant in both real life and his industry and will be greatly missed.

Me with the late, great DwayneMcDuffie

Oh, I should discuss the song on the B-side too! "What You're thinking" is a much much much simpler song about how frustrating it can be to try to get through to or please some people. There are just some people that are for whatever reason impossible to deal with and no matter what you do for them, they don't appreciate it. There's no solution offered because there is no solution. This recording was also very easy. It's a simple song so I kept it simple using only 3 elements: vocals guitar and my new Hohner Melodica! If you don't know what a melodica is, it's pretty much just a small keyboard with a hose you blow into to make sound. it has a great almost accordion-like sound that really enhances the mood of the song. I'll be using it more in the future.

Melodica!

The cover is of course a small section of Renaissance artist Michelangelo's "The Creation of David" but with the hand of God removed. I don't think I need to write anymore about that as I think I've already covered it in this excessively long blog.

before I fooled with it

That's it! Hopefully next week (this week actually because this blog is verrrry late!) won't be as painful.

8 down, 44 to go!

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MJM

http://michaelmorse.bandcamp.com/album/single-a-week-challenge-week-8