In 2011, Peter Falconer - musician, songwriter and lazy bastard - will be writing and recording a song a week for the whole year to raise money for Parkinson's UK!
So that's it - 52 songs in a year. I'm crying my bloody eyes out as I'm typing this, for goodness' sake. Exhausted.
In the next couple of days, I'm going to do a blog post thanking everybody properly, because if I try to do it now I'll end up missing people out and spelling names wrong.
So for now, let me just say thank you so much to everybody who's been following - everybody who's listened to a song, who's made a donation, given the Facebook page a thumbs up, re-tweeted a tweet, left a comment...
Now I'm going to go and celebrate the end of this bizarre and wonderful year with my wife, who's had to put up with more crap from me than I care to imagine!
So this is it, the penultimate song. Recorded the music yesterday evening - it's one of my favourite beats, but I don't think I've used it so far, have I? Pride In Mathematics is a similar thing, but not quite the same. Rushing has led to me totally ballsing up the compression on the lead vocals, I'm afraid - bit pumpy.
Now, lyrical content. "When all around has fallen" was the line that popped into my head first, so I started writing about a post-apocalyptic world in which society has completely collapsed, and people desperately cling on to the little things that make them human. But I got bored with that, and it kind of morphed into a comment on an argument my brother and I had while I was up north for Christmas. It got quite vicious. And the subject of the argument? Quite simply, it's because my favourite JamesBond actor is... TimothyDalton.
Unfairly maligned
What a bloody stupid thing to argue about. So the song's about people fighting over stupid things that really don't matter. I wanted to get a Dalton reference into the song, but it just wasn't fitting right... so I changed it to one of my other many unpopular opinions; viz. William Hartnell is my favourite Doctor Who. I'm not even into Doctor Who, really - but by Jove, I'll defend Hartnell to the death if I have to, which luckily I almost certainly won't. Of course, I could have changed that particular line to something more sensible, but I've done 51 songs this year - I'm not feeling very sensible at the moment!
Right, enough of this - I've got Song 52 to do before the clock strikes 12 and my computer turns into a pumpkin.
4 hours, this one took - writing, recording and mixing. Either I'm getting faster or I'm caring less and less about performance quality.
The chorus was something I had in my head upon waking back in July (the original recording of me mumbling it into my phone at 7am is amusing), but it was only this evening I came across it again. The rest of it's loosely inspired by the story of Harold Camping, the American radio preacher who wrongly predicted the end of the world earlier this year.
As I'm sure you'll understand, I'm very short on time now - so as I've not been able to trawl the net for suitable video footage, I've knocked up a quick drawing of Mr Camping. Looking at it now, I seem to have drawn an elongated George W Bush. Hell, I'm a musician, not Bob Ross...
"Hey, why don't you give the friggin' Mayans shit for once?"
The song's about a dame who ain't no good, no-how, and I was hoping to put together some sort of femme fatale montage, but I don't have time - so instead you've got a photo of Kim Novak. That'll do, right?
Second song to be recorded today, and I'm shattered. Just need to get as many done as I can before succumbing to this cold and/or going up North. No more time today, and tomorrow's stuffed, but hopefully I'll get one one more done by Friday night.
Tick tock tick tock tick tock...
In the meantime, enjoy this one - and don't forget to donate at either http://www.justgiving.com/songaweek or by texting "SONG52" plus "£amount" to 70070!
I wanted to give the Christmas song more time to breathe but there's no time for that! Ah yes, the sound of the annual Christmas cold creeping in - "Say By Dabe", I should have called this one!
We're heading up north to see my folks for Christmas soon, and while I can record up there (see Song 41 for the results of that), I'd rather spend the time lounging in front of the fire eating chocolate oranges
So here's song 48, inspired by the website of a "sales expert" who trains cold callers. It's one of the most nauseatingly smug sites I've ever seen - one look at it and you can feel the vomit rising - and that's even before you start pondering on the rather depressing notion that we now live in a society where a Cold Calling Trainer is even a necessary job.
"Song a week? YOU are weak!"
My first job was selling kitchens over the phone. It's impossible - people are either in the market for a kitchen or they're not; you can't persuade someone to drop a couple of grand on a new one, even if they have been "specially selected by our computer to receive a £500 gift voucher towards the cost..." Turnover at that place was incredible. I lasted three weeks, before I was replaced by a guy called Brad Cheesebrough.
But enough of that - got to get on with Song 49 now. Please keep your donations coming in by visiting http://www.justgiving.com/songaweek - and now you can donate by texting the code "SONG52" and the amount you want to donate ("£X") to 70070!
So, getting in early, this is my Christmas song for the year, inspired by my mother and uncle's good-natured attempts to annoy each other by furnishing the other's children/grandchildren with the noisiest presents they could possibly find. The alternative title for this one is "Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Loud," and I believe it represents what for many people is the true sound of Christmas - an almighty racket, braying your head in from the moment the kids wake up to find their stockings full, right through Boxing Day, and only stopping when you finally rip the batteries out of every electronic device except the TV remote control.
Featuring the lovely Jess as "Exasperated Mother"
Remember these little bastards?
Seven songs to go? How have I still got seven songs still to go?!
[EDIT: Oh no, hang on - it's only five. Ach, my brain!]
Currently up north visiting the folks, and I've managed to record Song 41 and write most of Song 42 while I'm up here. Hopefully I'll make a start on recording 42 tomorrow before we come back down south, and I'll get at least one of them online by Tuesday.
In 41, you'll hear me getting so sick of the sound of my own voice, I bluntly cut a good 20 odd seconds out of the song just to get to the end quicker. Also lots of suspended seconds, which I love (I'll try and write about that next time - remind me). 42 may feature a complete waste of a beautiful Martin Dreadnought guitar, but we'll see.
I'm off on (belated) honeymoon to the States on Monday - four weeks around the North, South and West - but this means I've been cramming a hell of a lot in at the moment to pay for it! But Song A Week will still be continuing. Here's what's coming up in the next few weeks:
Thoughts on the second and third Secrets of the Pop Song BBC programme - read my thoughts on part one here
Various wibblings about musical things I come across in the US of A
And of course, Songs 29 onwards. Yes, courtesy of VocaLive I'll be able to record while we're out there. (I have a very understanding wife - it was actually Jess's suggestion!)
Ta-ra! Mind the roads!
But in the meantime, as we'll be going to Graceland at some point, here's a track I recorded a few years ago of which I'm very fond - it's an odd little thing, but I'd love to know what you think. I think it's kind of a prelude to Song 26: Escape on Amenartas.
And finally, do try and come along to the gig tomorrow night (Friday 22nd July) at The Star Inn, Guildford. We'll be playing a few new tracks from the Song A Week project, and will be supported by Steve The Drummer's band Earthtide - 70s inspired metal with stoner grooves. They are not to be missed - a truly excellent band, with excellent musicianship and superb heavy-as-Rick-Waller guitar riffs that lift them above most other metal bands on the circuit. £2 in; doors about 8.30.
Following the Graceland-esque style of the melody/lyric in song 20, I just wanted to post a link to a tremendous interview with Paul Simon (thanks to Steve Piggott for putting me on to this):
It's the first of seven videos, so take the time to go through them. In the interview, he briefly describes how he got started in the industry, but the bulk is taken up with him talking in great detail about his songwriting process. I'm delighted to say that it's very similar to how I write songs - though as of yet I haven't written anything as good as Bridge Over Troubled Water. It's very organic, often starting with a simple chord progression and lyrical phrase, and then seeing what images present themselves. The song is allowed to grow in its own way, though occasionally it needs a little pruning (if, say, a rhyme/image/chord change comes up that's just too obvious). I particularly like his comments about keeping the audience interested by avoiding clichés but also making sure they're comfortable and aren't struggling to find, say, a beat they can tap their foot to.
Paul Simon will also be playing the title role in
"The Mel Brooks Story" on Hallmark
There's a lot of Paul Simon's output that's not to everybody's taste - not even to mine - but he really has written some tremendous tracks - Cecilia, Still Crazy After All These Years, Bridge Over Troubled Water, 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover (how many times has Sting ripped the verse of this song off?), You Can Call Me Al, Hazy Shade of Winter... If you haven't heard the Graceland album yet, you really should check it out - some wonderful melodies, and fascinating lyrics. Also responsible for some of the worst drum sounds on record, but let's not worry about that.
Before I move away from the Paul Simon thing, I'd just like to point out something on the Bridge Over Troubled Water album cover.
If you cover Paul Simon's face, it looks like Art Garfunkel is sporting an enormous handlebar moustache. Call me childish, but it never ceases to amuse me.
WEBSITE UPDATE
On the Just The Songs page,for ease of browsing,the song titles are accompanied by an approximate description of their genres .
Not only does track 14 have the longest title so far, but it's also got a sweary in it!
So far we've got 29% of our donation target, but we're already 30% into the year. I'm not having this! Somebody donate a tenner so we're keeping up! The widget's on the right, or go to justgiving.com/songaweek.
So this one popped into my head as a chorus on waking up one morning (this very very very rarely happens!), and I originally thought it was going to be a Johnny Cash-type track. Mr Alex Creese was over for a Fat Pigeon recording session, and brought his 12-string with him. I thought it would be nice to take advantage of a new instrument and quickly bashed out the chords for the verse & chorus. Because these chords were quite simple, it meant the Mid 8 and outro flowed quite easily (suddenly throwing in a load of complicated jazz chords would have sounded totally incongruous - nothing at all to do with it being totally beyond my guitar skills!)
After adding the rest of the instruments to the track I found myself in a similar position to last week, in that I was struggling to find a topic for the lyric. The original words that had popped into my head for the chorus were:
He's a broken man with a broken heart
and a lot to learn about piggy in the middle
He's a broken man with a broken dream
and a lot to learn about fire in the hole
The whole broken man business and the melody leaned very Cash-wards, but I'm afraid to confess I don't actually like Johnny Cash, and the prospect of stringing out a three minute song of Working Class Americana Misery didn't really inspire me.
Miserable ≠ Deep
But then I had a problem with a plumber, and the subject of my rage presented itself as the subject of my song. And I've got much more time for rage as inspiration than misery. As with Jess's scarf, the Gods served up a suitable topic on a plate. Quite simply, the bloke said he'd be around in 10 minutes to sort out the central heating. Four days later we were still waiting. Hardly a disaster of Vesuvian proportions, I know, but enough to have me stomping my feet in middle class indignation.
So there you go - most of the song's about a plumber. Well, the chorus isn't really, but I liked the hook so I added some Statler Brothers style harmonies on the top and left it in. Hope you like it!
Cracking night at the Slug & Lettuce in Guildford last night - really good atmosphere, with some great musicians and a friendly vibe* all round.
With last weekend being out of action, and this week being horrendously crammed (last week of term at the college at which I teach), I have fallen way behind with SAW2011, but I do have a couple of things in the pipeline so I hope to be nicely caught up by the end of next week. Odd little number in 6/4 should be making itself heard soon...
Also, I'm looking at getting some CDs printed up, and the ReverbNation site properly working. Watch this space!
*I'm really not fond of this word, but it seems to have fallen out of my fingers. Give it a fortnight and I'll start talking about giving my music a new "Flava"
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.
I'm afraid, folks, that the next update will most likely be even more delayed than usual, due to the fact that my main Song a Week recording day is Sunday, which happens to be my 1st Wedding Anniversary!
Me n Jess, bossin' the Charleston innit!
So apologies for that, but I'm sure you'll forgive me this once...
Also, I've been playing with a Bamboo tablet - song 11 saw the debut of my shoddy artistic "skills", and instead of taking the risk of infringing somebody's copyright, I'll be drawing my own pictures for the YouTube vids in future. How thrilling!
You'd better never bother with me ol' Bamboo...
While we're on the topic of art, here are a couple of art sites and webcomics I rather like:
Paper Sails - blog and main site of my friend Roland MacDonald. Tremendous artist. Perry Bible Fellowship - hilarious, like a sick James Thurber Hyperbole and a Half - hilariously illustrated anecdotes of everyday life and childhood memories Oglaf - DEFINITELY FOR ADULTS ONLYbut beautifully drawn
Enjoy! I'll be back online soon with Song 12 and more musical wibblings.
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.
Now it's time for you to do something - DONATE to PARKINSON'S UK by clicking on the Justgiving widget on the top right, or visit http://www.justgiving.com/songaweek
I'll be honest with you, I'm disappointed with just about everything on this track. First proper stinker of the year. Started off as an excuse to get that backwards Bo Diddley thing in, but the words are poor; the vocals were a rushed one-take job this morning... poor all round, really. But I needed to get a song up today as we're already in week 10, so I couldn't afford to be too proud. I promised 52 songs - I never said they were all going to be good!
Onwards and upwards, though - once I've got TOMORROW'S GIGout the way, I'll be starting on the new track with a clear head.
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!"
For those of you about to drill, here's a song about Bruce Willis in Outer Space;
Special thanks to Alex Creese for providing the solo.
You like it? You don't like it? Either way, thanks for listening - but please drop a couple of quid in the Parkinson's UK tin, either by clicking on the widget on the top right, or by visiting Justgiving.com/songaweek.
Local stoner rock band Earthtide are well worth a look. A trio of excellent musicians, playing music somewhere between Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, in amongst the set is a song about Jaws called Bigger Boat. Superb song, and it was suggested by some fool that they do a song about Armageddon next. Despite never having seen the damn film, I volunteered to write it for them. This meant watching it. Hell's teeth. I'm a fan of Bruce Willis, and Steve Buscemi's never played a bad role as far as I know... but this ye-har, gung-ho, slack-jawed, GO AMERICA! nonsense peddled by Jerry Bruckheimer gets right on my tit ends. I really am suffering for my art here, guys. Just hope nobody asks me to write a song about Gigli or Catwoman. Still, it passed a couple of hours.
In writing the song itself, I had to come up with a riff that sounded Earthtide-ish, but at the same time different enough to warrant a place in their set. If it sounded exactly like another one of their songs, why would they bother playing it? I think the verse and solo riffs sound pretty authentic, but the change comes in the chorus, which is much more American and Foo Fightersy than the rest of their set - which kind of fits in with the All American Action Movie premise, I guess. The words are made up almost entirely from lines in the film, though I couldn't quite get the line "I have repeatedly asked you to call me dad" in there. And the line "My daughter can't act" might have been my own...
Anyways, the band themselves seem to be pleased with it - let me know what youse think, and SPREAD THE WORD! The donations have stalled again, and we need to get this site passed around widely as possible if we're going to meet this target.
I'll be shouting it from the rooftops at the gig on Weds 9th March at The Water Rats, King's Cross (get there for 7.45!)
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.
