Recordings of my own songs, usually as MP3 files, as well as discussion of progress made in recording new and old stuff and posting it here.
Written February 24, 2014, as I walked to work. A goose was flying overhead. My uncle was dying, and I was thinking about my memories of him, and about how mysterious memory is, and how we create them for each other, and what going away really means. What’s the difference between a memory, a dream, a plan, and the present moment? Sounds like the beginning of a Buddhist joke. read more...
Clara and I wrote and recorded this for the Fall Creek Elementary School Talent Show, and she lip synced it with friends Ava, Clare, Grace, Nuala, and Tivona. It's a parody of "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz - see the (child-inappropriate) video on YouTube. I think it has to do with the similarities between the two most virulent parasites of childhood: pediculosis and Top 40 radio earworms.
First track off of the 10 10! album, recorded live by my old band, God And Country, at the Risley coffeehouse at Cornell University on October 10, 1987. The song is about a time when all the Jesuses on all the crucifixes across the country shake loose and jump down. They then walk to the sea and jump in, prompting thousands of people to follow them.
I improvised this while playing guitar for my daughter while she took her bath, one rainy Sunday in 2008, having just driven home from my wife’s cousin’s wedding in Vermont. I was just singing what was going on. Then it seemed worth remembering.
It took two years to get it recorded. The rain storm recording was from last night, after I spent most of the day finishing the solo guitar and bass tracks.
I got my daughter a lap dulcimer for her birthday in… 2007 maybe? Then, of course, I fooled around with it some. One day I was playing this. Clara asked what it was called, and I said I didn’t know - had just made it up - and she could name it. We had been talking about how nice daisies were, and how roses got more respect but in some ways I preferred the daisies - friendly, gregarious, long-lasting. And so she said “It’s ‘The Rose and the Daisy!’”.
Last week her kindergarten class had a field trip to a flower shop. read more...
I recorded this quickly for my daughter’s kindergarten class to practice with. We performed it together at the All-School Program on 12 Feb 2010. Lots of kids sang along! That’s Clara and Katherine shouting the alphabet. My good recording gear wasn’t working, so this is recorded on a cheap condenser mic and a Sound Blaster card.
I have now officially given up trying not to write songs about water. Maybe it’s because they always come to me in the shower? This one started in yesterday’s shower, second verse in today’s (26 Oct 2009), and third verse kept me walking around town until it finished up, on a balcony overlooking the creek.
I decided not to write it down until it was finished, which added a sense of urgency and may have helped streamline the lyrics. read more...
Clara sang the chorus of this song to herself during her bath one Sunday after spending much of the afternoon exploring outer space. I wrote the verses. We recorded it a cappella - including all the sound effects.
Recorded May 2, 2009 in honor of Pam Weber’s birthday. Hope we can sing with you soon!
I’ve now got the first batch of songs moved over from my old music page. It’s my most recent album (now nine years old), called off line. Took me a while to work out the right way to represent songs and albums in the Drupal content management system, but now it’s all quite easy to deal with and I hope that (and my weakness for shiny new technologies) will help accelerate the process.
