You can now follow by email!

That's right, folks - simply enter your email address in that box on the right, and blog updates will be sent straight to your inbox!

If you haven't already seen, all the songs are posted just by themselves on the "Just The Songs" page, so you don't have to wade through all the blog posts to listen to them.  Thinking about doing a one-off fundraising gig at the beginning of 2012, playing the most popular 20 (or thereabouts) tracks from the SAW2011 project, so I'm keeping tabs on which ones are going down well, and your feedback on the tracks is much needed.

Remember - all of this is in aid of Parkinson's UK, and if we're going to hit that target, I need you to help me spread the word about this site!

To help you, here's a bit of html for you - just copy and paste the following into an email or a blog post, and send it to as many people as you can!

<a href="songaweek2011.blogspot.com">Writing A Song A Week in 2011 for Parkinson's UK!</a>

Thanks for your help, folks!  And if any of you are around tonight (Thursday 31st March), some of the band and I are playing an impromptu set at the Slug & Lettuce, Guildford.

Song Number 10: I Should Be Here

TEN SONGS!  We're into double figures, folks!

And now, PLEASE donate a few bob to Parkinson's UK by clicking on the widget in the top right, or visiting justgiving.com/songaweek.

BEFORE I TALK ABOUT THE SONG, I'd like to say a massive thank you to everybody who came along to the Water Rats gig on the 9th.  It was a great success on the night, but I need you all to do me a favour and, as Batman once said, TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT ME!  If we're going to reach this £1,000 target, we're going to need all hands on deck.

Now, the song.  This one was written and largely recorded in the early hours of this morning after eating a large takeaway in front of a documentary about Harry Nilsson.

 Nilsson is one of my biggest influences as a singer and songwriter.  When he was in his prime, his voice was just beyond compare; and his best songs wouldn't have disgraced Lennon & McCartney.  Even if you've not heard of him, you'll have heard him - "Can't live, if living is without you..."; "Everybody's talkin' at me.  I don't hear a word they're sayin..."; "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do..."; "You put de lime in de coconut you drink em both up..." and so on and on.  For the uninitiated, I recommend you check out the albums Nilsson Schmilsson and Harry.  The former was the biggie that made him a star, beautifully produced by Richard Perry; the latter is a slightly earlier album that sounds like what music might have sounded like had Rock n Roll not come along - it's one of my 5 favourite records, and if you don't absolutely adore at least one track on there, you simply have no heart.

He was a flawed man, bent for whatever reason on sabotaging his own career, and could be a bit of a bastard when he wanted to be... but he was also capable of this.

6/3 update

Just had the last rehearsal with the band before Wednesday's gig, and I'm over the moon.  Final details are as follows:

Monto Water Rats
328 Gray's Inn Rd (2 mins' walk from King's Cross Station)
MAP

Get your name to me, and arrive at the venue before 7.45, and it's £6 entry
£8 for the rest of you

We'll be on at 8.15, all being well!

Other acts:

Anita Maj - feisty rock minx
Decline and Fall - edgy Stooges-type rock
Gecko - they do a song called Pigeon, so they're alright in my book
The Red Suns - epic; a bit like Joy Division with a big reverb unit
and the headline act, The Rock Of Travolta - Radiohead/Muse fans walk this way...


I've also been working on Song Number 9, which should hit the internet tomorrow or Tuesday.  Harmonica debut on this one, too.


AS EVER, please spread this site around.  Something like this would do:

"Dear BFF - there's this bloke, right, and he's writing a song a week every week for the whole of 2011, and it's for Parkinson's UK and the songs are, like, totally amazing - CHECK IT OUT!"

26/2 Update

First of all, thank you for all your kind comments about songs 6 & 7!  Here at Falconer Towers we're over the moon with the response generated by Jess's performance... but that's only part of what I'm doing this for.  I'm killing myself here trying to get a song a week recorded, so please make sure it's not all in vain, and DONATE TO PARKINSON'S UK by clicking on the widget on the top right!

Just finished writing this week's song - it's kind of a commission for brilliant stoner rock band Earthtide*. Amongst their riff-based Deep Purple/Sabbath type music is a fantastic song about Jaws called "Bigger Boat"; the idea came up about doing a similar song about the Jerry Bruckheimer monstrosity Armageddon, and I volunteered to come up with a suitable ditty.  I'll explain more about the writing of the song when I post it in the next couple of days.

Also, rehearsal on Thursday evening with the Peter Falconer Band was very exciting - looking forward to an electrifying set on 9th March at the Water Rats, King's Cross. We're on at 8pm - drop me a line if you want to get on the Early Bird discount list!

Finally, exciting new purchase - Korg X50 keyboard (the little one on the top)

It's basically all the sounds of my old Triton ProX, except where the former weighs about four ton and is the size of a sofa, this is a teeny little thing that weighs - get this - 4.5kg!  Which means, of course, that while I'll still be using the Yamaha piano (big one on the bottom) for most gigs, the X50 will do just fine for any depping in bands that want a keyboard player rather than a piano player.

Anyway, that's me for now.  Stay tuned - song 8 on the way soon!


* Featuring Andrew "Randy" Nicholls, star photographer, whose latest shoot with me will be online soon; and Steve "Steve" McGuigan, who drums with the Peter Falconer band an' all.

7/2 update: New Gigs!

Hallo one and all!

First of all, thank you for your continued support, kind words and donations - the JustGiving box up there is doing well - so much so I think I might actually up the target amount in a couple of months' time - but we mustn't get complacent!  PLEASE keep passing this blog around to people.  I'm working on getting some radio interviews, so I'll keep you posted about that.

Thanks go to live music champion and open mic legend Vic Cracknell of www.vicsbuskers.co.uk and also Red Admiral Records for their support, and for helping to publicise the blog - help me pay them back by visiting their websites!  

And last but not least, I'm happy to announce Two New Live Shows with the big band for 2011! 

First, I'm playing with the band at Monto Water Rats in King's Cross on Wednesday 9th March, supporting a grown-up band with a tremendous name, The Rock Of Travolta.  They've previously supported Radiohead, Snow Patrol, Doves and other bands of that nature, and are now striking out to make their own not inconsiderable mark on the world.
 
Second gig is at The Bedford, Balham on Thursday 12th May.

More details on both of these gigs to follow as they come in, but put them in your diary now and get yourselves along! 

Damn you, mortality! (And some good news too!)

Absolute cow of a month, and while the backing for this week's song has been done and dusted for a couple of days now, tonight's the first chance I've had to do the vocals.  However, I'm so completely exhausted I just couldn't come up with a half decent take.

I'll try again tomorrow, of course, and it'll be fine... but I'm finding it very hard to get into any kind of a routine, such is the eggs-in-several-baskets nature of my work as a musician/singing teacher.  This means, of course, that I need to be more efficient with the snatches of time I do get.

Don't mean to moan - just letting off a bit of steam.

On the plus side of things, I'm looking forward to finishing this one, I've had some more websites quote/link me (I'll post their links tomorrow or at the weekend), there are gigs on the horizon for the Peter Falconer Band, and I'm sorting out a couple of local radio spots too!  

Experiment

I usually start writing a song when a hook pops into my head, usually consisting of just a few words sung to a particular melody.  I'll drone on about this some more at a later date.

But when I don't have a hook to build from I tend to write the music to a song first, and add the lyric later.  This can be a problem.  I'm hard to please when it comes to writing my own lyrics - for me, the line between too cheesy and too obscure is very fine indeed.  It's an aspect of my songwriting I really need to improve, and so for this next song I'm going to try writing the words first, away from the music. 

I don't think I've tried setting words to music since I was doing my A-Levels. It might work; it might be a total disaster.  WE SHALL SEE!

Song Number 3: Best That I Can Be

Here we go! 

I've done my bit - now it's time to do yours!  Click on the JustGiving widget up there on the right, and pledge some pennies to Parkinson's UK!

What an absolute nightmare I've had with this third song.  I work on one idea, get nowhere, and move onto another idea.  Then I get hacked off with that one and move on to another.  I realised today that if I was going to get anything done at all, I was going to have to pick one idea and stick with it until the whole thing was written. 

With time getting on, it made sense to go with the song that would take the least production time, hence the one-man-and-his-piano arrangement this time around.  No banjos here.  

So what have I learnt this week?  Well, if I'm faced with several song ideas,  none of which inspire me, it's best to pick one and hammer it out.  As much as it hurts a songwriter's pretentious artistic pride to say it, a mediocre song is worth more than a great idea that never gets realised. 

OH - while I'm here...

... donations have stalled somewhat, so I need you guys to help me spread the word!  Pass the link around; Tweet, re-Tweet, and Thrice Tweet using the button on the top right or by following my Twitter feed; add a link to your own blog if you have one (I'll happily link yer back).  And on a personal level, please leave your comments on the songs, either here, on the YouTube page, or the Facebook page - it means a lot to hear your thoughts on the tracks.

24/1 update

Nothing's working.  Most annoying. 

As I've said several times before, one of my aims with this thing is to get over my normal routine of:

1. Work out idea/riff/chords/beat
2. Get bored with it/feel totally uninspired by it
3. Give up

I must gone through this at least half a dozen times today.  The trouble is that my aim of just getting the song written is being counteracted by the fact that these songs are being posted online for everyone to hear.  I'm a vain and insecure musician, and therefore I need everybody to love everything I do all the time.  This is why musicians are so annoying to be around.

I need to get over this worry.  Even if I only posted songs I thought were good, that wouldn't be any guarantee that anybody else would like them.  Similarly, just because I think a song's dull and unimaginative, it doesn't mean anybody else will agree with me.  How many songs are there that have sold millions, yet when you hear them you think, "How did anybody fall for this crap?!"

So basically, I need to stop worrying and just get the songs written.  Or, as my dad would say, "Shit, or get off the pot." 

13/1 update

My wife and I have our birthdays this week and we're disappearing for the weekend, which means song 2 won't be posted online until Monday evening, folks.  However, I can reveal it's a White Stripes-esque swamp stomper on which I'm tempted to play the flute. 

Thanks for your comments on Wears The Soap - keep 'em coming - and for your donations to Parkinson's UK.  Remember, you can donate in bulk, or just pledge a few bob after every song. 

I've also had a few requests for songs already - if you want me to write about a specific subject, drop me a line and I'll try to get them written. 

Song A Week now has a heart!

Click on the widget on the top right there and donate some cash for this ridiculous endeavour of mine!

The charity is Parkinson's UK.  I have friends and family who have been affected by this terrible disease, which can hit anybody regardless of their race, background, income or lifestyle.  You can donate a certain amount every time I complete a song, or you can just give a big wadge at the end of the year - your choice!

You can also give at http://www.justgiving.com/songaweek

In the meantime, watch this space - the first song should be uploaded tomorrow!

The Prologue...

Hello there!

My name is Peter Falconer, and I am a lazy bastard.

I am also a musician and songwriter - and to be successful as a songwriter you can't afford to be a lazy bastard.  You have to work hard, not just sit around hoping for inspiration to come along and bless you with hit after hit. 

So this year, I'm aiming to write a song a week.

52 songs in 2011 is a pretty tall order - I'm away for a month in the Summer on my honeymoon, for one thing - and with work and unforeseen inconveniences on top of that I think I'll be happy with anything over 45 songs.  I'll be posting the songs here on my blog, and also on my YouTube channel.

***UPDATE*** Did I say 45 songs?  Sod that - I'm going for the full 52.  My wonderful wife has given me permission to take some recording equipment on holiday with us (no not for that, you dirty sods), so there are no excuses.  52 songs or bust!

I'll also be posting my thoughts on songwriting in general, links to some of the songs that inspire and influence me, and would be happy to answer any questions you might have.  Any feedback - positive or negative - on the songs or anything else you read on here is most welcome, so please get in touch!

If you want to hear some of the songs I wrote before 2011, you can check out my website at www.peterfalconer.co.uk or my MySpace site at myspace.com/mrpeterfalconer.  There's also a Facebook page - become a fan and feel all warm inside!