Tuesday, March 27, 2007

You Find It...Garage Rock Masterpiece?



You Find It.mp3

Well...for the sake of continued vitality, and realizing that I must write to push through to even better songs, I offer my finest piece of butt-rockin', garage-tainted, bad drummin', white-stripes-rip-off tuneage.

I think I may also ripped Nirvana and Soundgarden as well. Name that influence!

I post because I want no one to ever feel shame at any song they ever post. Surely after posting "Don't Be Hatin'" and this song we'll all know it's ok to try ANYTHING. I'm busting out my kazoo for the next tune.


I think this is a classic women seeks revenge on cheating man blues song. Is that classic? Is this classic?

:)

You Find It
words and music by Steven Wesley Guiles

You find it, you find it
You find it oh so lovely.
You find it, you find it
You find it oh so lovely, don't you darlin'?

I'm not happy, that makes you glad (you find it, you find it)
Twist that knife, yeah it hurts real bad (you grind it, you grind it)
Hell hath no fury like a woman born,
to a cheatin' man, here comes the storm



repeat ad nausea (misspelling intentional)

Friday, March 23, 2007

It's About Time...



It's About Time.WMA [portable recorder demo]

This post title is appropriate for more than one reason. It's been too long since I posted a new one. This one came rather quickly, verses first then chorus. I was having trouble, struggling with writing. Nothing sounded right or good. Lyrics were a problem. A couple weeks ago I realized that so many musicians/artist have such easy/simple songs. So I just started singing repeating themes over and over. So much so that this song repeats the same three chords the entire song. We'll see if it works I guess.
[disclaimer: this is a very quick recording using my tiny olympus digital recorder. I'll post a more "proper" recording later... oh, and I'm sick. So there.]
It's About Time
words and music by John Natiw

VERSE
It ain't all about the money
Or the power and the fame
It ain't all about those fancy clothes and diamond rings
No, you don't need to play that game

It ain't all about the contacts
Or where you're seen on Friday night
It ain't all in who you know... or who knows you
There's more to you than neon light


CHORUS
It's about time
It's about time


VERSE
It ain't all about the image
Or the way you cut your hair
It ain't all about the makeup... and beauty queens
'Cause you can look good anywhere

It ain't all about the stories
That some people love to sell
It ain't all about the tv shows and magazines
Some silly game of show and tell

CHORUS
It's about time
It's about time
It ain't about how high you climb
Your credit line
Or the bottom line
It's about time


VERSE
[just me babbling at this point]

CHORUS
It's about time
It's about time
It ain't about the dollar signs
The overtime
Or being first in line

It ain't about how fast you go
The fashion shows
Or what you think you know

It ain't about no master plan
The upper hand
Or makin' one last stand

It's about time
It's about time
And I don't mind

It's about time
And I feel fine

Thanks for listening,
J

Saturday, March 10, 2007

It's Alive!! Don't Give Up



So, one of those songs that wrote itself came to me the other day while my daughter was bouncing on a big ball in the studio next to me. I started by singing "Don't fall down". It evolved into "Don't give up" (I was thinking of a wonderful lady at work who has cancer and is currently going through treatment). The lyrics came out pretty much as they are, with a few half-time adjustments (the bridge and the chorus were written after).

when I started I really only had one long verse, which I really, really liked, even though it felt like cheating (because it seemed like something I'd stolen).

I revisited it a few days later and thought, What would John Natiw say?.
"Where's the chorus?" he might ask.
So I wrote a chorus.
"Is there a bridge?"
So I wrote a bridge.

This is a rough demo that I'm definitely going to develop into something more (production wise).

Don't Give Up.mp3

Here are the lyrics:

Don’t give up
Don’t give up
You might hit a wall but that’s to be expected
Don’t give up

Don’t run out
Don’t run out
You might have to face that monster in your closet
But don’t run out

Don’t forget
Don’t forget
Don’t forget that there are people who will help you
Please don’t forget (1 measure into chorus)

When you cannot find a friend
When you feel there’s no hope and
When you see no light at the end of the tunnel
End of the tunnel

I hope this finds you


Don’t let go
Don’t let go
You may find strength in unexpected places
Don’t let go

Give your heart
Give your heart
You might find out that you’ll get it back again if you
Give your heart (1 measure into chorus

When you cannot find a friend
When you feel there’s no hope and
When you see no light at the end of the tunnel
End of the tunnel
End of the tunnel

Bridge
Clouds will come, wind and rain
Sorrow and pain, yeah that’s for sure
Strong winds blow, that’s when you’ll know
That’s when you’ll know from where you’ve come

I hope this finds you
I hope this finds you
A hope that finds you
This hope that finds you
I hope it finds you

New Wilco Song




Here's another songwriter that I really, really dig, Jeff Tweedy.
Wilco is a great band and they have a new CD coming out.

Here's Jeff live with another song (not necessarily on the new album).


Here's a new song from that album. It has a little country twang to it (as did the whole last album).

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Speaking Of Songs




Anyone here the new U2 song?
Just wondering. They were a huge influence on me that will probably always slip through somewhere in my writing. Something about those first years when you latch onto a band and they become your own. U2 was one of those bands for me.

I liked the new song. I only heard the end of it, but I knew it was them as soon as I heard it.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

I'll Take A Fifth and Thirty Useful Tips For $100, Alex



Here's a short explanation on the Circle of Fifths. Even if it STILL doesn't make sense when you're done reading it, you'll come away with at least two or three new chord progressions to stick in your quiver.

After reading that I started reading the blog I found it in. Great ideas here! This guy has a blog chock full o' ideas. I found myself just reading straight down the page and getting more and more inspiration.

He posted an article about playing live here.

That lead me to the site it was hosted on, Muse's Muse.

I feel like Alice In Wonderland here, but THAT lead me to THIS site, which was highly suspect because of the random pop-up ads, but I stayed and surfed anyways and found a list of programs for creating loops. (I've been messing with a pretty fun online loopmaking program called Splice that I really enjoy, but that's another rabbit hole to wander down at another date.)

Which naturally lead me to I Am The Mighty Jungulator, a band AND an educational software for looping music used in schools in the UK. Yeah. I took the blue pill.


Too many links? Sucker, you ain't seen nothin' yet. I need to write/finish a song now. As is obvious, the computer used its evil tentacles of coolness to wrap me up and suck me in.

(Read Jeff's Songwriting Blog if you do anything, but if you feel like chasing the rabbit, start with the first link and work your way down...)