Challenge for October?

Anyone with ideas for October?
I know we had several ideas in the past, but I can't for the life of me recall what they were.

Broad theme? More specific?

A song about a dog?
A song about cats?

Cats and dogs?
Pumpkins? Halloween?
The color orange?


Color theme? Primary colors only?
Let's here some ideas and take a vote.

Eggs & Sausage...

Just watch this.

An Idea... That's Getting Closer

About a week ago, I posted An Idea Whose Time... Has Not Yet Come. Since then, I've been plunking around with it trying to find out what it wants to be when it grows up. A few days ago an additional part reared its head. I'm just posting the thing here to track the evolution of this song. Whatever it becomes. NOTE: this is a work tape recording, not a "studio take".

07_0925_idea.WMA (2:07)

Carry on.
J

SoundClick.com

Hey all,
Just a heads up about a pretty cool/useful/entertaining site I came across the other day.

SoundClick.com

If you're looking for a place (other than Songwriting Apples, of course) to host your mp3's, videos and maybe even keep a blog, then this site may be right in your wheelhouse. I plan on trying this site out for myself. I'll keep you posted.
Late,
J

May the Nations Praise You (Psalm 67)

>>EDITED POST MATERIAL<<
Well, here's a revision based on a few ideas from fellow Apple contributor, Doc Gene.
I like it a lot better now! Thanks for the ideas Gene. I took it a few steps further...

Here are the revised lyrics, though not incredibly different, I changed many of the verses by removing one syllable/word to make the line match up with the original first verse melody. Here's the revised lyric and a newer recording:

May the Nations Praise You (Psalm 67)
Steven Wesley Guiles
revised on 9/24/09 with some ideas from Gene


Bolded parts were modified from the original lyric.
(syllables/number of notes sung)
May God show mercy and bless us (8/9)
His face shine with favor upon us (9/10)
Your ways shall be known throughout the earth (9/9)
Your power among your people to save us (11/12)

May the nations praise you, O God (8/10)
May the nations praise you, O Lord (8/10)

How glad the nations will be (7/9)
Singing for joy because you govern them with justice (13/13)
You guide the nations of the earth (8/9)

May the nations praise you, O God (8/10)
May the nations praise you, O Lord (8/10)
May the nations praise you, O God (8/10)
May the nations praise you, O Lord (8/10)

The earth will yield it's harvest (7/8)
And God, our God, he will richly bless us (10/10)
The people of the whole world (7/8)
Will know his works and fear him (7/8)
The ends of the earth will fear him. (8/9)

May the nations praise you, O God (8/10)
May the nations praise you, O Lord (8/10)
May the nations praise you, O God (8/10)
May the nations praise you, O Lord (8/10)

One of my greatest inspirations is the Bible, in particular, the book of Psalms, basically the early songs of the Jewish people for congregational worship. I've always associated with King David in his desire to be close to God regardless of what others think, even to the point of foolishness (and nudity). :)

So, I'm going to let my leaves fall where they may, and place one of this song of worship here.

It's almost a direct quotation of Psalm 67 (New Living Translation). I was pleasantly surprised at how well it fell into the melodic pattern I'd come up with.

After looking at the lyrics, I think it might flow smoother to remove a few syllables in the second line (get rid of everywhere in the 4th line). Thoughts?

May the Nations Praise You.mp3 (version two)

May the Nations Praise You.mp3 (original)

May the Nations Praise You (Psalm 67)
Steven Wesley Guiles

May God be merciful and bless us
May his face shine with favor upon us

May your ways be known throughout the earth
Your saving power among your people everywhere

May the nations praise you, O God
May the nations praise you, O Lord

How glad the nations will be
Singing for joy because you govern them with justice
You guide the nations of the earth

May the nations praise you, O God
May the nations praise you, O Lord
May the nations praise you, O God
May the nations praise you, O Lord

The earth will yield it's harvest
And God, our God, he will richly bless us
And the people of the whole world
Will know his works and fear him
The ends of the earth will fear him.

May the nations praise you, O God
May the nations praise you, O Lord
May the nations praise you, O God
May the nations praise you, O Lord

photo by spoon.

Advice from One of the Best

Tunesmith. net is a site I've mentioned in previous posts here. I've been doing quite a bit of reading over there of late and I'd like to share a few nuggets of wisdom that I've found with you. The first is a wonderful interview transcript with Chris Wallin, a successful Nashville songwriter who posts occasionally over on that forum. It's been a real treasure find to be able to read stuff posted in a songwriting forum by one of the best. Keep in mind that this information is from the "Nashville" perspective of songwriting. But, as far as I can tell, this is just solid information for any aspiring songwriter.

Transcript of NSAI's Pro Online Chat with Chris Wallin on June 7th, 2006

If time is tight, here are a few quotes from the interview:

Q: Do great ideas for you happen and "finish themselves" quick or not? How long does it take?
Chris: My writing never comes quick. I always have to build lines. When they do come faster then normal I always beat them to death to make sure I wasn't hasty.

Q: What is your single most important piece of advice?
Chris: In general, find out what it is that you do well and do that till you drop...no matter what it is. Whether it is editing, the idea person, melody, and so on and never write for the radio because radio is two years behind. If you can sing, save your $$ and do your own demos. But PLEASE be honest with yourself. If you can't do the song justice, get someone who can. It’s only your song that suffers if you don’t.

Q: Is it all about networking?
Chris: The networking helps but the best way to have good networking is to have great songs. The reason people will help you is because they like your songs. A plugger friend of mine has helped me out a lot. I thanked him one day for helping me. He said "Chris if you didn't write what I thought were great songs I couldn't afford to help you."

Ok. Now a few other quotes from Chris that I dug up in different threads on Tunesmith.

This one is his reaction to hearing When I Get Where I'm Going for the first time. I include this because I've had this exact same reaction to a couple of Chris' tunes.

This is one of those songs I heard and cried like a baby and then I called up Rivers Rutherford and said "YOU B*STERD!!!!" I have lost alot of family members in the last two years . This song hit me where I live. It also reminded me how powerful a song can be and inspired me to keep writing the songs that heal me.

This one is a small snippet from a longer post of his. This line really stood out to me and seemed to represent what we are about here at Songwriting Apples.

People look at Jeffrey Steele and Craig Wiseman and others and wonder "what do they do I don't do? I'll tell you.... they write 100-120 songs a year. They work their tails off all the time. They moved to Nashville years ago and sacrificed EVERYTHING to put themselves in the "right place at the right time".

I thought this "p.s." for one of his posts was very interesting...

p.s. There are songwriters here that will have deals one day . Probably not who you think. I wish all of you the best. Please don't stop learning. I learn something new everyday. If your dreams are flowers then hard work and knowledge are the sun and rain.

Concerning the process...

Sometimes I have Hook Sessions with people I write alot with. Just think of hooks and Ideas for songs all day and write them down. There will be alot of food at your next songwriting buffet.<---- ok so that was a little wierd. Anyway sometimes a song breaks out and you start writing. What a Concept.

And, finally, I don't think this is his, but he used it and it's relevant...

Just because you eat(listen to songs) doesnt mean you can cook(write).

Hope these quotes and the interview are useful and inspirational.

Write on,
J

An Idea Whose Time... Has Not Yet Come.

Don't normally do this, but here is an idea I've been working on for a few days. I doubt it'll turn itself into a song by the end of the month, so I'm basically just trying to save face by posting this. This is an instrumental idea (not really a song) at the moment. Some of my tunes start just like this. A single idea. If I play it and listen to it enough I'll come up with some other stuff to go with it. Maybe I'll keep coming back to this post and update any progress that is made with this. Talk about "transparency in the writing process"!

Anyway, give it a listen. It's just the same thing done three times. When I can't come up with a change, melody or lyrics I'll usually make it into a CD and listen to it over and over in my truck until something comes to me. Then it's back into the studio. By the way, I thought enough of this idea to actually record it in the studio. It's just a single mic recording, but a vast improvement over the work tape recordings I usually do. The Martin sounds so good when it's recorded like this. I can't wait to hear what it sounds like in a real studio!

07_0919_idea.mp3

But WAIT... there's MORE! I was sitting around after posting this tonight listening to the work tapes for this song and pondering the "creative process". I really enjoy listening to/reading about people's creative process. Steve's video where he documented the making of a song is a great example of this. In that spirit, I present the work tapes for this idea. Probably not many people will have the patience (it's pretty brutal listening if you're not totally into this sort of thing) to check them all out. But consider them posted here for posterity's sake. These recordings ARE made on my little portable Olympus Digital Recorder. And, as near as I can recall, were made last week over a two or three day period.

Work Tape 1 (3:42) - You can hear the basic idea here as well as a whole lot of hacking away on the Martin which, in the interest of my creative reputation, we'll call "running down the idea". It's funny listening to this now because I can hear bits and pieces that actually made it into the mp3 recording. And, yes, that's my furnace kicking on at about 1:09. Hey, it was cold here in Michigan that day!

Work Tape 2 (1:20) - Mercifully shorter. The C/B/Am transition is becoming more apparent. Also working on the Am ending (which wouldn't feel right until the studio take). Also the hammer on the last Am chord would be kept in the studio take as well.

Work Tape 3 (2:01) - Starts out almost identical to the studio take. Still didn't have the last Am chord worked out (as is painfully obvious from about :57 - 1:30.. ouch!). And, like the last take (and eventually the studio take), I hammer the Am at the end. Only on the studio take would I hammer three strings instead of one.

So there it is. My soul laid bare. Do with it what you will.

And, for the record, if I don't come up with anything by the end of the month, this "idea" will suddenly become a "song".
Out.
J

100 Posts and Still Going Strong!

Back on December 21, 2006 we here at Songwriting Apples made what is now known as our infamous First Post (catchy title, we know). Today we make our 100th post. What began as an almost silly thing for a few friends to play around with has become a somewhat serious way for our members to improve in the area of songwriting. We've done a lot to improve the site since we started out. Steve and I had no idea that this site would become as much fun and productive as it has. And, to be truthful, I don't think either of us has any idea what it holds in store for the next 100 posts.

One thing we're sure of is that we've helped a few very creative souls push themselves a little further than they might have gone without the extra motivation (ourselves included!). If you doubt this, be sure to check out a few of the 37 songs that have been posted here.

We'd like to pause for just a moment to say thanks to the good apples who have contributed to this site during the first 100 posts. Liza, Eric, Gene... Your writing, photos, videos, websites, humor, words and songs have made this a great place to spend a little free time now and then. One of my favorite things is to click over to the Songwriting Apples site and find that one of you has posted something new. I know Steve has said this before and I'll say it too, this place is a great motivation!

So come on in, write a bit, sit back and listen... whatever feels right.

John Natiw & Steven Wesley Guiles
Co-Founders and Editors
Songwriting Apples.com

The Apple Don't Far Fall From The Tree

I get an industry email out here in Southern California from a lady that helps place indie band's songs in TV and movie. A couple of times a month she has a question and answer email from people on the list.

This little bit dealt with apples...so I couldn't pass it up:

The artist's biggest problem is understanding that just because they wrote a song, that does not mean it's great. They have to get to the point of "is this the best I can do with this, and is it good enough, or should I toss it and start over?" It's like picking apples, not every apple on the tree is going to be great. Strange analogy, but the best I could come up with this early in the morning.
{Editor's Note--(this is the editor of the email letter, not Steve or John): That's a great analogy! I couldn't agree more. And lots of those apples may be fine to eat but how many are super large, juicy and amazing? Artists always think the last song they wrote is their best. Most often that is NOT the case. In fact, many artist's first albums are their best as they had their whole lives to write it and pick songs from for it. The second one is usually harder to come by as it has to be written in a year or two. Some apples look good on the outside but you bite in and get a worm. A good apple is like a good song. It takes a lot of time to grow them right, pay attention to them, nurture them, develop them (the trees, not the apples themselves). Think you get my drift.}

So the inability to know what's bad, good, or great (which is ignorance) is the downfall of most artists. And the refusal of constructive criticism.


I couldn't agree more with some of this. My latest song is usually my best (lol). I love them all like my children. Or, in this case, my apples.

Photo by Stephen Butler.

Simple Math (Numbers Challenge Song Entry #2)

There's no prize. There's no glory.
But there IS a new song with a numeric theme in my collection that I don't hate.

I wrote this one with the low E dropped to a D.
My favorite chord is during the instrumental break I play my finger straight across all the strings at the fifth fret and then add my ring finger to the 7th fret of the G string and my pinkie (pinky?) to the 7th fret of the high E. It makes a nice little chord that I've never played before.

Yeah for me!

Here it is in all it's ragged glory. (If you hear or see a better title I'm open to it. I'm not so attached to it that it couldn't change).

Simple Math.mp3

Simple Math
c2007 Steven Wesley Guiles

One is a number that I'm thinking of
addin' on to
Two is a number indivisible
me plus you
Three now that's progress we've added one more
Are we a company yet?
Four that's where I had to lock the door
before we had one more to regret

(alternate last line-- I don't think I'll look back with regret)

Who knew simple math would be so hard to do?
Sub-tract add on until they say you're through
Count cruel numbers until your face turns blue
I always thought...that one plus one was two


One was the loneliest I'd ever been
till you moved in
Two now I think maybe we added wrong
let's do those numbers up again
Three was a trainwreck crashin' into me
Let's hope we can get it back on track
Four four four is walkin out my door
and never comin' back
(alternate last line—Excuse me while go and get her back)


Who knew simple math would be so hard to do?
Sub-tract add on until they say we're through
Count cruel numbers until your face turns blue
I always thought...that one plus one was two

One plus one was two
One plus one was two
Aaaaaaoooooooohh

Dante's 9 Circles of Hell

Here is my throwdown to the number challenge. I have had a loose collection of lines for a few years hanging around in a dusty old file in this computer. It seemed like it had potential and so I dusted it off, polished it off and then applied a simple chord progression to it. Instead of writing the melody down, I just played it and then recorded it and it is not all that bad. There are so many themes here that I have 'borrowed' from the old blues men. Just a good man feeling bad. What more can I say.

Dante's 9 Circles of Hell.mp3

Dante's 9 Circles of Hell
words and music by Gene Gorski

Suffered the past 9 hours trying to reboot my head
Lost the past 9 days, friends and family think I'm dead
Wasted the past 9 years hanging on your venomous lies
Gave you 9000 dollars baby, turns out that was unwise
In return you gave me a trip through Dante's 9 circles of Hell

Temptation in high heels and lust gift wrapped in lace
Painted woman with beauty locked up inside your suitcase
Didn't know till too late you ain't the real deal
You loved me like a tiger hungry for a meal
How was I to know you were a hell hound on my trail

Suffered the past 9 hours trying to reboot my head
Lost the past 9 days, friends and family think I'm dead
Wasted the past 9 years hanging on your venomous lies
Gave you 9000 dollars baby, turns out that was unwise
In return you gave me a trip through Dante's 9 circles of Hell

Burning in the fires of hell, with no ticket to get me home
Like some tourist stranded at night on the streets of Rome
Walked out with all my money, for kicks you kept my soul
But I don't gotta worry about ever being cold
Since you sent me through Dante's 9 circles of hell

Suffered the past 9 hours trying to reboot my head
Lost the past 9 days, friends and family think I'm dead
Wasted the past 9 years hanging on your venomous lies
Gave you 9000 dollars baby, turns out that was unwise
In return you gave me a trip through Dante's 9 circles of Hell

Just remember girl, he didn't call 'em circles for nothing
Be catchin' you next time through
Remeber my name, it's Norman

Suffered the past 9 hours trying to reboot my head
Lost the past 9 days, friends and family think I'm dead
Wasted the past 9 years hanging on your venomous lies
Gave you 9000 dollars baby, turns out that was unwise
In return you gave me a trip through Dante's 9 circles of Hell

(the kiss goodbye)

A Series of Fortunate Events... And a Bit of Deception... Leads to a Good Songwriting Lesson

Ok, stay with me on this. Here's how it went down.

Yesterday - I hear a Kenny Chesney song on the radio, Don't Blink (see video above). Now, I'm not a big Chesney fan, but right away I dig this tune. Especially the lyrics. They just fall right to me or something. I've always heard of how we as songwriters should endeavor to say something simple in different ways. Don't Blink is a genius example of this (IMO). Think about it. You could say Time Flies, Time Goes On, Don't Let Time Pass You By or any number of things. But Don't Blink. Freaking genius. Many of my tunes revolve around time, life and experience {cough}Tiny Footprints, {cough}for example{cough}, so when I heard that chorus, I literally said "Daggum... That is so good". Dug this tune so much so that today I go looking for the writer.

Today - I do a Google search for the writer of Don't Blink. I come across a songwriter forum called Tunesmith.net. There's a thread there that has this song as it's subject (although he doesn't call the song Don't Blink in the subject line). The post was made back in March of this year, before the release of the song (later in the thread, "Lester" tells us it was actually the day that Chesney cut the song in the studio). But anyway, in the beginning of the thread "Lester" comes off as a new songwriter looking for some feedback. In actuality, it's Chris Wallin, the very successful Nashville songwriter (and co-writer of Don't Blink) posting as a newbie. Anyway, I was pretty amazed about the whole thing.

The Thread

You really need to read the whole thread to get the gist of it. This thread incited a variety of very intense reactions from various folks. As I understand it, one of the lessons of his post was that we should not be too quick to take random critiques of our songs to heart. People will apparently even rip multi-million selling songs if they don't know what it is. The thing is, to be true to the vision (while employing general guidelines of sound songwriting). Another lesson that seemed to be given is that if you don't know how to write great songs, don't be quite so quick to criticise another's work. One particularly vocal poster basically wrote that everyone there didn't know squat and that this thread simply illustrated the fact. There are some posts in that thread that I definitely don't agree with, but I'd be interested to hear what you all have to say about it. At first, it made me somewhat angry, but, with some further thought, there were some good lessons to be learned from the whole thing.

Take care... and Don't Blink.
J

p.s. And Chris, if you're reading this (what? I'm sure he has nothing better to do!), that was a dirty rotten underhanded trick. But a great lesson. Thanks, man.

God Remembered My Name

This title came to me on thursday last week and had some quiet time over the weekend and in about an hour the lyrics appeared. I write using a program called Masterwriter and they have some good deals going on right now for co-writers, so if anyone wants to take advantage of that let me know as we are all collaborating here. So anyway, it has been a stressful week. My 22 year old nephew was killed over a year ago and his trial is currently ongoing in State College, Pennsylvania. My wife is with the family at the trial and I am home with the kids. I have had some time to ponder all these events and miss the heck out of my wife. The song is pretty obvious, a look back at mistakes that I have made and the one who was there all the time waiting for me. I can't say that I am a great Christian or anything like that, but I do feel that there is a higher power that watches over all. I truly need to feel that way with every thing going on. This is for Michael and also for J.

God Remembered My Name.mp3

God Remembered My Name
words and music by Gene Gorski

I've been to the bottom of every dead end
And vandalized the halls of my life
Scrawling my name without purpose
Never scratching deeper than the surface
Of what my life could be

Easy way outs and fatal doubts
paved the roads I've traveled
Alibis and convenient lies
Were the chains that kept me shackled
In the end I got myself to blame
Cuz through it all God remembered my name

I've been driven through my valley of darkness
In a cancer eaten Coupe De Ville
With the pedal stuck to the metal
Fueled by questions I couldn’t settle
In the pieces of my mind

Easy way outs and fatal doubts
paved the roads I've traveled
Alibis and convenient lies
Were the chains that kept me shackled
In the end I got myself to blame
Cuz through it all God remembered my name

I read all the books to seek out the truth
That stood before me all the time
I climbed the mountains for the answer
That was always at my feet

Easy way outs and fatal doubts
paved the roads I've traveled
Alibis and convenient lies
Were the chains that kept me shackled
In the end I got myself to blame
Cuz through it all God remembered my name

SongwritingApples.com!

Well, we finally did it. We went out and got us a domain name. Steve and I have been brainstorming about how to make this site a bit more useful, accessible, interesting and even fun. One of the first things that crossed our mind was registering out own domain name. Thus, www.SongwritingApples.com is born. Bookmark it and come back soon! We also registered another domain name, www.AppleOrchardSongs.com for the future. We aren't exactly sure what we may do with this one, but we've kicked around a couple ideas. We'll be sure to keep you posted! If you have any questions about Songwriting Apples check out the FIRST POST, which contains lots of useful info about the site as well as instructions on getting involved.

In line with the above improvements, we've also created a new e-mail address account with google. You can now reach us at: songwritingapples@gmail.com.

That's it for now. We're still working hard on more improvements for the site. Oh, and we're trying to write some killer tunes too!
John

Deathbed Confessions

This song sprung from a book that was titled Last Words of Saints and Sinners. I wish that I could tell you that there was a little more behind it, but that was about it. I tend to channel my writing a lot and this was written in about 45 minutes.

It speaks to the pursuit of heaven through mere mortals. Thinking that we can buy our way to heaven and then the thought that we are far more important than we really are.

Deathbed Confessions.mp3

Deathbed Confessions
words and music by Gene Gorski

Last words spoken from the lips of saints and sinners
Third eye glancing through the gates of heaven or hell
Tunnel so long with the light that shines and shimmers
To answer the tolling bell

Deathbed confessions
To unanswered questions
My life’s playing like a Saturday matinee
Hypnotic regression
Or celestial wrestling
To see who gets my soul come judgement day

Salvation calls sinners floating in their fear
Wrapping up their soul in a sanctified veneer
Buying that first class ticket to the last frontier
Hear that tolling bell

Deathbed confessions
To unanswered questions
My life’s playing like a Saturday matinee
Hypnotic regression
Or celestial wrestling
To see who gets my soul come judgement day

Fates can only laugh, "What fools these mortals be"
My soul is prized by no one other than me
Henchman play your role, send me to eternity
The bell is tolling for me

My spirit is ready to be set free
Free to wander through this eternity
Eternally seeking my immortality
What fools these mortals be

The bell is tolling for me