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This is an old song, by Superchunk. They make good use of a technique I like to use, namely "Write a song about a movie or book you like." This song seems to be about "An Affair to Remember" and a bunch of other stuff, too.
download "Detroit Has a Skyline"
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Paul Williams is fully awesome for 1) writing the music for the Muppet Movie,
2) writing the music and lyrics for Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas,and 3) being cool enough and lush enough to
be on Match Game. I like just about every song from the Muppet Movie, and I thought that this one would be the easiest to
learn without having to look up the chords. I think it came out pretty good.
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It's a new song, yay me. It's about creeping around with someone that you probably shouldn't.
download "Oversleeping"
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Another old song that I am rather fond of, because it's has so many parts, but still kind of
manages to be a pop song. I think I like the lyrics in the first verse best, because I wrote them before I really knew what
the song was going to be about. Copying numbers from classifieds without reading them seemed like a cool idea.
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I've decided to record 52 songs in 2006. This is the first.
I know, I know, I have to pick up the pace. But the journey of 1,000 steps begins
with one Buzzcocks cover. Or something like that. Enjoy.
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It's a new song, that might possibly make you get up and dance. I spent a lot of time on it, so I hope you like it.
download "You"
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This
is a kids' song. I mention this because people who don't know that it's
a kids' song always think I've gone batshit insane, until I remind them
it's for, y'know, the kids. Then they laugh and say "Oh. Oh! It's
funny!" I thought I'd mention it straight away to clear up any
confusion.
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Every time I go to use the word "ironic", I stop and second-guess
myself, so instead of trying to figure out whether this song is, or it
isn't, I'll just say that it is interesting that some of the happiest songs I work on are
when I'm sad, and some of the saddest are when I'm happy. This one was
a joint effort by me and some of the fine folks over at
myvirtualband.com, and if forced to summarize it in three words, I
would say "Sexy funeral march".
download "I Don't Want to See You Anymore"
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A
young man by the name of Marcus Kellis came up with the idea for a
bunch of different people to cover the entire soundtrack for The Sound of Music. I was asked to cover "Maria", which is a really cool song, and I think this cover came out pretty well.
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Everyone knows how they take their coffee: there's a certain way which
you prefer to take it. I myself like it with about 10 Splendas and a
bit of cream. Wouldn't it be weird if, all of a sudden someone you know
started taking their coffee differently? Sure it would, but this song
is about something else. Entirely.
download "The Truth About Aspartame"
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The first two lines of "Fell out of the Sky" were inspired by the episode of Joan of Arcadia
where Joan tries out for the school musical and ends up being cast as
the queen of the zombies. The rest is wholly fictional, expecially the
part about my neighbors having dangerous lawns.
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"Red Skates" is a song about looking stupid because of how you dress. I mean, how you vote.
download "Red Skates"
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"Let's Get Naked" is a funk song about strip poker. I'd never written a funk song before, but I'd never played strip poker either, so it seemed like a good fit.
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"World of Screens" is a song about the book 1984. "Leaving Las Vegas" is a song about the movie Leaving Las Vegas. I suppose they could both be about either the movie or the book, but I've never seen 1984, nor read Leaving Las Vegas, so I'm just guessing here.
download "World of Screens"
download "Leaving Las Vegas"
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"WTF" is my go at a rap song. It features samples from the following
songs: "Talk About Your Feelings" by Josh Woodward, "Going Underground"
by The Jam, "Rush" by BAD, "Orange Crush" by REM, "We Will Rock You" by
Queen, "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO, "Peter Pumpkinhead" by XTC, "Good Things"
by Sleater-Kinney, "Kickstart My Heart" by Motley Crue, "The Star
Spangled Banner" by Jimi Hendrix, "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath, "It's
Raining Men" by the Weathergirls, and "Where Is My Mind?" by The
Pixies. Lyrics came from an old post I found on a messageboard. Hope
you like.
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I wrote this song after Spalding Gray had gone missing, but before it
had been confirmed that he was dead. Whatever movies of his I saw, I
liked. It's a rather upbeat song, so beware.
download "Spalding Gray is Missing"
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"Bad Dreams" is a song I wrote about the dangerous effects of mixing insomnia with a failing relationship. Sean Barrett
took my lo-fi song and added enough instruments to make it sound like a
full band was involved. I like the contrast between the feel of the two
versions.
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Why can't relationships be easy? Is it because you fight to much? Is it
because you got involved with a wannabe astronaut? Is it because your
g-friend makes out with other dudes on your b-day? Well, if it's one of
those three reasons, I've got a song for you.
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I arranged the song "Restless, Restless" in an attempt to win $5,000
from The Howard Stern show. (I did not win.) I wrote the music for
"Time" for this kid who is a friend of a friend of mine; the kid wrote
the words, sent 'em to me, and I made the song "Time". If you end up
hating these songs, please blame the people who wrote the words. (Or
Ralph Nader.)
download "Restless Restless"
download "Time"
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I recorded these songs as part of a project called "Album a Day".
Basically, you have 24 hours to write, perform and record at least 20
minutes worth of original music. Man, it's har er than it sounds. Most
of the songs, I've realized I'm not too fond of, but these are the ones
that I think turned out not too bad.
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I never really realized it before, but I think these songs are
companions to one another. "Gonna Be Your Man" is the tale of a guy who
likes this girl from afar, and "Please Don't Call Me Ken" is a tale of
a girl who keeps getting harassed by this one guy. Maybe it's the same guy.
download "Gonna Be Your Man"
download "Please Don't Call Me Ken"
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"Don't Fix It" and "Criminal Charges" are just two nice sounding songs.
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"UPS" is a song about spies or something. I'm not too sure what's going
on here, as I wrote these lyrics on a "need to know" basis, and then
left myself out of the inner circle of knowledge. But I'm pretty sure
it's about spies.
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I like the song "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" and I wanted to write a
song that had a chorus with the phrase "rock and roll" in it, so I did.
It's pretty quiet, so turn it up.
download "Rock and Roll is Dead"
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When challenged to write a one-minute song called "The One", apparently
I record a song in my kitchen about rival gangs, one of which is called
"The Alphabet" (which is the worst fake gang name I have ever had the misfortune of making up).
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