Saturday, September 04, 2010

Sing It, Sing It


In my continuing effort to learn new stuff, I've decided to pick up on songwriting.

I've done a little of that over the years, I have about fifteen original songs and an instrumental. Most of these are funny, and some of them aren't bad, but to get better, you have to practice, and so as a goal, I'm going to try and crank out at least one new song a month. Might be more, but that's the minimum.

As in any kind of writing, you have to be willing to write a lot of so-so or bad stuff before you develop your chops. That's hard when you are a pro, because you expect that it will all be good, but you have to set that aside if you want to improve. Some styles of writing I'm comfortable with because I've done a shitload of it; others, like this, not so much.

So, they don't have to be great or even good. They can be about anything. Serious, funny, whatever strikes me -- as in prose writing, that seems to be the way to approach it, least from where I sit.

First effort, lyrics only -- I haven't started on the music yet:

Jude and Layla

V1: Their names are Jude and Layla -- thanks to Eric and Sir Paul/

They’re stubby-legged and silly-looking, about nine inches tall/

Whenever we go on a walk, it’s such a funny game/

The comments that people make are always just the same:


(Spoken:)


Hey, Mister, what kind of dogs are those?


They’re Corgis.


Corgis? Huh. Never saw one that color before.


They’re Cardigans. Mostly what you see are the Pembrokes.


Oh.


V2: They don’t mind when I play guitar, they don’t mind when I sing/

They’re always glad to see me, no matter what I bring/

Whenever we go on a walk, it’s such a funny game/

The comments that people make are always just the same:


(Spoken:)


Hey, Mister, what kind of dogs are those?


They’re Corgis.


Corgis? Huh. Never saw one with a tail before.


They’re Cardigans. Mostly what you see are the Pembrokes.


How come they have tails?


Cause the breeders don’t cut them off like they do the Pembrokes.


(Repeat 1st verse and out ...)



1 comment:

Bobbe Edmonds said...

I friggin' LIVE for the day you bust out "Don't Stop Believin'"

I really, really do.