Aidy - Songwriting Thread

[VEGANGELICA]

Originally Posted by Aidy

After I wrote it I did actually realise that 3 miles should take longer to walk, but then thought "oh well, no one'll" notice. How wrong I was ;-)
Cambridge is a great city to walk thru, although I drive to work.

Maybe you're just a fast walker! A speed walker. Actually, a world-record speed walker, Aidy, because 12 miles per hour is about the fastest any human can walk! When I listen to your song, I will now be imagining this person zooming down the sidewalks.

Speed of the Fastest Human, Walking

(I converted m/s to miles/hour to discover this! I fear I *am* the "no one" who will notice these sorts of things in lyrics! )

[Aidy]

Well, I love the fact that you've noticed and that you've gone to the effort of converting in order to make sense of the whole thing :-)

This weeks song is about Mario Kart, I wrote it for my friend Hodge who actually now has the world's fastest ever lap time on The Rainbow Road, so this song is actually built for speed ;-)

HODGE PLAYS MARIO KART

Hodge Plays Mario Kart!
On the S N E S

He doesn't like to leave his flat
He doesn't like to socialize, talk, chat
He just sits alone in a darkened room
With the curtains draw, to a beeping tune
He likes to rattle round the Rainbow Road
Bowser, Amber, Accelerate, Go!

He likes to get his special start

He doesn't like the other games
He doesn't ever want to upgrade
He walks his dog on a bit of string
He drinks Skol, and he loves to binge
On Tommy Tucker's Donner Kebabs

He likes to get his special start

You can hear it here

[VEGANGELICA]

Originally Posted by Aidy

Thought I'd have a go at writing a happy song that makes some kind of logical sense, as a song writing exercise, and I came up with the possibly bland notion of someone walking home from work and enjoying the experience so much he "smiles" I'm not that enamoured with this one, but here you go:

SMILE

"Smile" was actually quite a pleasant song, Aidy! I forgot completely to think of the person zipping along at world record speed, since the song is so relaxing and kind of mesmerizing in its repetitiveness.

You wrote about the song at your website: "I'm also attempting bland pop songs with no naughty words. Here's one I knocked up this week." Ha ha! I did think this one was a little bland, one reason perhaps being that it had no bridge (it just had the chorus and verses), so it didn't have a change within it to break up the song. (Still, it was a very nice song...I enjoyed it.)

Hmmm...*have* you up to now been doing non-bland pop songs with naughty words? Which ones are those? I'll have to make sure to listen to those...

I did very much like the instrumental section near the end before the repeated chorus. You create a nice, resonant feeling with your songs...but they aren't cluttered with too many different melodic lines, if that makes sense. They stay interesting because there are enough changes and overlapping in the instrumentals, but the songs still have a light feel to them.

I also noticed your "accent" more clearly for the first time, which of course wouldn't be an accent to you but is to me. Sometime I should create a song in a fake British accent just for fun, because it does sound neat, *I* think. Usually I can't hear the accent when people from England sing songs...but I could hear it in yours. I think you did some gutteral stops, such as in "dilapida'ed" and "li'ul" (for "little"). And I think you said "wi" instead of "with." Interesting. Is that a typical accent for your location? I'd like to hear you sing a song with a fake American accent.

I'll listen to your next one now!

"Hodge Plays Mario Kart" -- now, the previous song was unintentionally about a world-record walker and this is about your world-record Mario Kart player friend! I like the liveliness of the song and the yihees and yipees! Nice driving beat.

It sounds as if you are often using some audio effect that kind of mechanizes your voice a little in your songs. Which audio effect are you using? Is it chorus with reverb plus something else? What is the something else? Are you just cutting out some frequencies?

Again, I like the variety of sounds you use in your songs, which help the songs sound different from each other.

Say, if haven't watched Schmidti's "Hippy Bike" song, you might enjoy that! It's also a song about a funny, odd topic.

Aidy, have you done a serious song with clean vocals...that is, very few effects, just a little reverb? You seem to like a more alternative sound rather than, say, singing like Celine Dion (*not* my favorite singer). But have you tried doing say, an R&B song or a soul song, just for fun? What about a classical sounding song?

Maybe that would feel too constraining, since I imagine you just want to do songs that sound like *your* songs and not intentionally like anybody else's.

[Aidy]

Yeah, I know what you mean about the lack of a bridge, I struggled to come up with anything and due to the deadlines I've imposed on myself, it went out the door without one, although saying that, without the deadline it probably wouldn't have even got this far ;-)

If you want to hear one of the songs with more naughty words check out Charlie Brown or 10 Trafalgar Rd, which you can see here: YouTube - AidyMusic's Channel the video actually got on TV in the UK.

I think a fake British accent would go well with your songs, you remind me a little bit of a guy I know called Steve Bradshaw who used to play in a band called Warmed Up Cold, I've just forwarded him a link to your MySpace in fact, he does a lot of folky stuff.

I think my accent is fairly typical for where I'm, just on the outskirts of London, but I'll let you know if I branch out into RnB or attempting an American accent :-)

Vocal effects wise, I just play around with random effects until I find something I like, in general I have EQ, Compression, reverb. Sometimes I twiddle the EQ so my voice has that telepone effect, like in the Mario Kart song and I also normally double up my vocals too.

How about you? What kind of recording set up are you using, seems like you're a bit of a multi-instrumentalist?

[VEGANGELICA]

Originally Posted by Aidy

Yeah, I know what you mean about the lack of a bridge, I struggled to come up with anything and due to the deadlines I've imposed on myself, it went out the door without one, although saying that, without the deadline it probably wouldn't have even got this far ;-)

I hate deadlines, but they do work! The song is still very nice even without a bridge, Aidy. I like the fact that almost every song of yours I've heard sounds quirky and musically lush.

If you want to hear one of the songs with more naughty words check out Charlie Brown or 10 Trafalgar Rd, which you can see here: YouTube - AidyMusic's Channel the video actually got on TV in the UK.

That must have been a lot of fun to see your video on the TV!!

I had difficulty hearing the "naughty" words in 10 Trafalgar Rd...or perhaps I was distracted by the amusing pictures of toilet-bowel cleaning and nose-hair clipping ...but I could definitely see your affinity for what we prudes call the "f-word" in Charlie Brown!

I think a fake British accent would go well with your songs, you remind me a little bit of a guy I know called Steve Bradshaw who used to play in a band called Warmed Up Cold, I've just forwarded him a link to your MySpace in fact, he does a lot of folky stuff.

I don't know...I think me singing in a fake British accent would just sound funny (but that would be the point). I listened to Steve Bradshaw's 4 songs on *his* myspace. He does indeed create very folksy sounding music. What drew my attention the most was his very low voice. Also, the pictures of the birds (starlings?) he must have successful raised! I like birds.

I think my accent is fairly typical for where I'm, just on the outskirts of London, but I'll let you know if I branch out into RnB or attempting an American accent :-)

I'll listen for a Texas drawl or a Midwestern...whatever it is we've got...in one of your future songs. One reason it is fun for me to correspond with someone writing a song a week is that I never know when you'll get desperate for inspiration and may actually use some idea I suggest!

Vocal effects wise, I just play around with random effects until I find something I like, in general I have EQ, Compression, reverb. Sometimes I twiddle the EQ so my voice has that telepone effect, like in the Mario Kart song and I also normally double up my vocals too.

Ahh...I haven't twiddled with EQ yet. I will have to try that. Thanks for describing what you are doing. I'm new to using audio effects, so this is helpful.

How about you? What kind of recording set up are you using, seems like you're a bit of a multi-instrumentalist?

I've recently upgraded to a new sound recording program (Sony Acid Pro 7) and figured out how to import older songs I recorded last year so that I can rerecord some tracks (mostly vocals, as the priority). There was a glitch in some audio effects that I finally realized caused the new program to malfunction and crash, but I solved that problem by avoiding that effect. I was relieved...I thought the whole program was crap.

Let's see...I'm using a Tascam US-1641 audio interface, which I like because it has more than 8 inputs, so I can mic my drums with six microphones (or more, if I wished). Now I'll be all set to record them well with only my lack of proficiency and imagination as the things holding me back!

Oh, yes, I guess I am a multi-instrumentalist, though that doesn't mean I play the instruments with great skill! The only instrument I feel very comfortable with is the violin, since I've been playing that since I was 8. And I play the clarinet but am out of practice. My favorite instrument is the electric guitar, which I started playing 1 1/2 years ago. Mmm. Happy day it is when I play! Again, I don't necessarily play well (I read an "Electric Guitar for Dummies" book and watched a few youtube videos as my training)...but I love playing and experimenting to find different chords.

What are you doing for the drums for your weekly songs, Aidy? I see when you perform you have a drum player, but what about for your solo songs?

[Aidy]

Well, for recording all the drums are done mainly in Reason, or I'll borrow a drummer if I'm venturing into a studio :-)

Live I'm kind of like a revolving door band, and I surround myself with random musician friends, when I need to do the whole band thing, otherwise it's just me and my acoustic guitar.

And here's todays song :-)

Simple Song
I've got these trainers with a tick
They're nearly 10 years old
I only wear them when it's raining outside
They're the only ones without holes
Next to them there's a vacuum with nearly
15 days worth of filth
It's my housemates turn to empty that thing
But I'll just do it myself
In the lounge there's a big TV
I don't like it that much
It's the death of all conversation
The unsociable touch

I spend most of my time in the front room of this house
I've got this little wooden man and he's carrying a wooden cow

Next to my bed there's a clock
And it makes my girlfriend shout
It beeps every hour on the hour
So I had to take the batteries out
Under that there's a big pile of books
And I'd read them if I could
But after spending all day on computer screens
My eyes don't work so good

I spend most of my time in the front room of this house
I've got this picture of Oasis and they're sitting on a comfortable couch

There's an indoor pond downstairs
That I don't understand
It was left there by an architect
With some grandiose plan
At the bottom of the stairs theres a mirror
In circle on the wall
It was left there by the architect
And it looks pretty cool

You can listen to it here

And if you want to see a cheap video featuring the items I'm singing about you can see that here

[Aidy]

Experimenting with more "universal lyrics" at the moment, writing about heartbreak and deep feelings is fairly difficult when you don't really feel that way, and songs of this nature normally make me cringe, but like they say, it's good to leave your comfort zone once in a while ;-) Oh yeah, I also wanted to have a third verse where everything kind of resolves itself!

Pain in my heart
She stood up, I sat down
I said what's wrong with you now?
Cos you're not saying anything, and I don't know what to do
So she started to speak
She said are you the devil?
I said what?
Cos you don't feel anything
You don't seem to feel anything

And I've got this pain in my heart
I've got this pain in my heart

She stood proud, I stood low
I don't want you to go
Cos I feel everything, and I know that's news to you
I've got feelings and stuff
I've got a heartbeat and blood
That pumps through my veins
Doesn't that make us the same?

She said let me explain
Blood don't make us the same
If you feel it inside, then you've got to confide
In my heart and in my soul
Not because you've been told
But because you love me
And because you need me

You can have a listen to it here

[Aidy]

Having myself a little rest, and back to my comfort zone of obscure lyrics and naughty words.

Magazines
You're backed into a corner
About to hit the floor
The life you want, you've half forgot
But you always wanted more
And now you're feeling lonely
And you're working everyday
Everybody wants to **** you
But no one wants to stay

I'll love you like a sister
If that's all that you want
But everybody's happy
And I want one more song
And now you're feeling lonely
Yeah, you're lonely like before
But now you know what love it
It's in that magazine you baught

You're still feeling lonely
And the pain won't go away
It's time for you to end it
In that old familiar way

You can have a listen to it here

[VEGANGELICA]

Originally Posted by Aidy

Having myself a little rest, and back to my comfort zone of obscure lyrics and naughty words.

Magazines
You're backed into a corner
About to hit the floor
The life you want, you've half forgot
But you always wanted more
And now you're feeling lonely
And you're working everyday
Everybody wants to **** you
But no one wants to stay

I'll love you like a sister
If that's all that you want
But everybody's happy
And I want one more song
And now you're feeling lonely
Yeah, you're lonely like before
But now you know what love it
It's in that magazine you baught

You're still feeling lonely
And the pain won't go away
It's time for you to end it
In that old familiar way

You can have a listen to it here

Aidy,

I liked the naughty lyrics up to the point where the bold ends, when I felt the loneliness part took over and the descent to suicide seemed more trite than I expected.

I enjoyed the acoustic guitar in the song, which was mellower than many of yours. Given the suicide, I felt the song's ending was fitting, since it just stopped with the last word.

A tiny correction in your lyrics: the spelling of "baught" should be "bought," unless you Brits spell even more oddly than I thought you did!

By the way, congratulations on being halfway through your project's year. My vote is also that obsession-compulsion may be at work. However, I prefer to call it a "great attention span" whenever I so choose to label myself.

Oh, and I made a guess about Gimpy's dancing!! I hope I win the big bucks.

[Aidy]

We don't spell it any differently in the UK, it's just poor spelling on my part ;-)

I actually didn't realise it was about a suicide until you just mentioned it, the song was made up of scratch lyrics, but it "time for you to end it" does make it sound like that. That's really quite bleak!

Thanks for the congrats, sorry you didn't win, maybe next time!