Schmidti

Hi, Erica!
Thanks a lot you for your very nice answer! Sorry, my reply took a little time, I had to sort my vocabulary first, but now, I have it :-)
I'm so happy to hear such a nice feedback from you and I can tell you, there is no better motivation to make music than such a cute response like yours!
Of, course, I like rhyming in German and think it works really good and I also like the combination of German and English lyrics, so I think that the verses rock better in German, but the chorus in English gives the song the feeling like riding a Harley on the highway figuratively for the Hippie-Bike :-).
Well, you are right, the "mehr" isn't really necessary and it doesn't rhyme, but I wanted to point up that thenceforth, the silence was past, and without the "mehr", the sentence would be a bit incompletely!
But I find it really fascinating with which effort and detail you analyze my song and even the German although it's an foreign language for you, really thank you very much and it is really a benefit for my soul to read your commentary!
Yes, I love it creating something, to "tinker", experimentate with music, with text, with video and also with other things like the Hippie-Bike :-) and with this song, I wanted to show a feeling of freedom, of the lust for life and, like you already said, of individuality!
And wearing the helmet is just necessary for my protection, because I don't really trust me, if I've fastened all the cables etc. correctly... :-)

So and now the complete translation of the text, perhaps, you can correct it a bit, there will be many mistakes, but I did my very best:


Ein Damenfahrrad aus der Garage geholt
I've fetched a ladie's bike from the garage

mit 5-Gang-Getriebe wird generalüberholt
with a five-speed transmission gets restored generally

Die Farbe ist öde, es wird neu lackiert
the color is boring, it's getting varnished

und die Lenkung justiert
and the steering gets adjusted

und die Schaltung repariert
and the transmission gets repaired

Was ich an Farbe übrig hatte machte ich jetzt hin,
I painted every color that I founded at home,

das war sehr viel, nämlich rot und grün,
that was "very much", namely red and green

passend dazu klebte ich Blinklichter ran,
in the fitting color, I glued blinking lights

damit es in der Nacht schön blinken kann
so that my bike can lovely blink in the night



Ref: And I ride, ride my Hippie-Bike…
… it rolls and rolls
and nobody
can stop me



Mein Dynamo reichte nicht für meine Lichterkette aus
My dynamo didn't provide enough current for my chain of lights

also kaufte ich nen Akkupack und schmiss den Klump Dynamo raus,
so I bought a battery pack and fired the sleazy dynamo

dieser wiegt drei Kilo, ist ein ganz schönes Gewicht,
the battery has a weight of 3 kilos, not very light,

aber Hauptsache, ich hab in der Nacht genug Licht!
but the main issue is that I have enough light in the night!


Um die Lichter zu bedienen macht ich Schalter vorne ran,
To operate the lights, I have put switcher in the front

damit ich alles von vorne Steuern kann,
so that I can control everything from ahead,

es ist so ruhig, ein Radio raufgebockt
but it is so quiet, so I've plant a radio

und mein Hippie-Bike – es rockt und rockt
and my Hippie- it rocks and rocks


Ref


Eine Alarmanlage mit 130 Dezibel
An alarm system with 130 decibel

macht jetzt mein Hippie-Bike diebstahlsicher,
is now making my bike thief-proof

der Radio war so leis, noch ein paar Boxen dazu,
the radio was to quiet, so I added a couple of boxes

ein MP3-Player ran, jetzt gibt es wirklich keine Ruh mehr
and an MP3-Player, so that the bike really won't keep quiet anymore

Jetzt kann ich mit Vollgas und Superstimmung durch die Stadt fahrn,
Now I can drive through the city at full throttle and an super mood

und jeder dreht sich um und schaut mich blöd an,
and everybody turns and is looking at me stupidly

den kein Schwein fährt mit sowas rum,
because there isn't any soul who is cruising with such a thing

also ras ich durch die Stadt und jeder schaut dumm
so I dash through the city and everybody looks nonplussed

Ref


many greetings
Schmidti

VEGANGELICA

I'm happy I motivate you, Schmidti! I'm also pleased to hear my comments benefitted you. Thanks for telling me!

I chuckled when you wrote that you're fascinated with the effort and detail I put into analyzing your German song, because I think I'm somewhat notorious at MusicBanter for writing long, analytical posts about people's lyrics. Occasionally, I find people who perhaps think the same way as I or at least appreciate my scrutiny of their work!

It looked like you were balancing quite well, and I didn't see any shots of the bike exploding like a hand granade, so I think you must have gotten all those cables firmly attached!

I'll add my suggested changes in bold:

Schmidti, how long does it take you to think up and then create each song, for example this one? Do you usually start with the lyrics with a basic tune in mind, then layer on the musical tracks as you go and inspiration strikes...or do you have most of the instrumental tracks in your head when you begin recording?

~ Erica

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pinballwizard55

great guitar technique.

DeathBreath

I love the Winter. When I'm in a cold place...

Schmidti

Thank you, you two! I think you were refering to "another spring"!

@Erica:

Thank you for your correction!
Well, I would say, it takes about a half year to create such a song + video!
The course of action in my songs is relatively chaotic, I think, I can’t really say “there was first the text” or “there was first the song”, its kind of a process:

At first I either have a topic like the “hippie bike” and than I think about a rough melody which fits or I have a rough melody which came in my mind and I’m searching a topic for it.

Then, I get behind the piano and play a few chords and try and make something like a one-man-jam-session by writing down a few lines of text, playing and singing fitting to it, than again modifying the melody and adapt the text again, etc…
After a few hours I usually have one verse and the chorus with text and melody. Now, I get to my desk and try to rhyme more verses or maybe correct the written ones.
Thereupon, I test the text by singing the song with the piano, do some corrections again and than record a raw version of it with only a few instruments so that I’m able to listen to it. By listening to it, there appear new ideas for making the song more interesting like a bridge or at the Hippie-bike-song the ending with the acceleration and when I think, I have everything, I write a little plan of the song (e.g. 4 bars intro, verse, refrain, 8 bars solo, …) and then begin recording it track by track, normally beginning with a “master”-instrument like the piano or guitar followed by the others.
And this is the part of the song-development which takes the most time, because you always get new ideas what to play with the respective instrument or try a bit with effects and correct tracks, and then find out that the arrangement is totally overloaded and delete tracks again… but I do not really know, what I’m doing, I just do!

Well, afterwards, after many long nights, the song is “ready” (of course, a song is like a picture, it is never ready) and now I begin with the video and this is the second part which takes much time, so I take my digital camera and walk through the nature searching for adequate themes, anytime have a hard disk full with material, search the best pictures and cut the film trying to be synchronic to the music!

And then, I have the great feeling of having created one self-made, individual song!

This was my song-making procedure, well I think, if I would do nothing else like writing songs, I could do all this in two weeks, but I’m studying electrical engineering and play in bands and gospel choir or just enjoy the nice weather or make party, so that the time until the song is ready extracts quite a lot!


~Schmidti

VEGANGELICA

Thanks, Schmidti, for answering my question and describing your song and video-making process, as well as telling how long it takes, given your busy schedule. I was curious to compare your process to my own, which turns out to be similar and similarly slow!

Now that I know you are studying electrical engineering, it makes sense to me that you were able to wire together that bike. Since biology is *my* thing (and electrical engineering is not), if it had been *me* writing your "Hippie Bike" song, it would have gone something like this:

"Okay, I got this old bike out of the garage.
Hmm. Looks like it needs some rebuilding.
So I take it to the bike shop
and pay them some money,
and pick it up a week later,
and now look at me ride!"


Your version is much better!

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Sljslj

I'm not one to write paragraphs upon paragraphs of text... I like to keep it simple.
So I'll just say that was some fantastic ****. Keep writing man. Also, you should check out my newest lyric in my thread. The song I'm referring to is called "Her Final Words" and I think you would like it.

Schmidti

:-) Erica, I think even if you wrote a text of bringing a bike to the bike shop, you could write at least 30 lines with first-class poetical content!
Ah, biology is also very interesting, I think, I had advanced course biology in the secondary school and I loved it!
So, you could write a song about the protein-bio-synthesis or about a bark-beetle noshing through the forest :-)

VEGANGELICA

Ha ha! I probably could! But stop at 30 lines? I don't know...

I agree that biology is fascinating!! Biology is like living engineering with only genetic variation and survival as the "engineers." I view living beings as intricate machines, though why they (we) have a sense of mind and awareness rather than being more like computers (which I assume have little awareness, as we think of it), is a mystery to me.

Heh heh...I have written a song/poem about enzyme reactions! Bark-beetles noshing though a forest? Mmm...maybe a song about invasive species? That might be fun!

So, what are *you* working on now that your bike song is over? What's in the works, Schmidti?

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Schmidti

Hi, Erica!

I've several ideas and songs in the works: one about luck, about motivation, about fast food and- to come to the biology - one about our root vole in the garden :-)

But it will take its time, hope, you can wait it :-)

until then!

Schmidti