Tune Du Jour

I may be out of mind, but I have decided to post a song a day. I have a bank account of songs – at various times I have been what you might call prolific. Other times are a little quieter, with a song popping out now and then. Chalk it up to a mixture of laziness and sense of duty to the older songs I haven’t recorded and gotten out there. Recently, the flow returned and I found myself in just the right frame of mind to write. It’s better for me to be writing than not, it’s my meditation and my therapy rolled into one and believe me, I need both. I don’t think writing a bunch of songs makes me George Gershwin, that would be for someone else who is listening to them to decide; but it keeps me off the street and I like to think it adds a little something to the mix. Some of my songs go down some sort of dark alley, some are sentimental and some are sort of funny. That’s three moods, I’m working on a fourth. I wish I was Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Randy Newman, Nick Lowe, Mose Allison, Joni Mitchell, Ray Davies, Smoky Robinson and a slew of other great writers I could name, but I’m kind of the budget version of them. Real Buddy Holly-like talent shows up early (earlier in Stevie Wonder’s case) and sometimes has a short shelf life. I’m lucky to be writing at the age I am, and feeling as creative as I ever have. Some people have thought enough of my songs in the past to record them and that’s a wonderful feeling, but the real reason I write songs is to try to express something. What that something is, I’m still sorting out..

I have a few ground rules, all of them breakable:

• A song a day. This doesn’t necessarily mean I wrote it that particular day, although it could mean that and sometimes it will. I may have written it in May of 1993 or October of 2003.
• If I post it, I probably like it. That’s kind of self explanatory — hard as it would be, I’m not out to embarrass myself. This doesn’t mean you will like it and I’m OK with that, although I hope you do and then you will want to send me flowers or take me out for pizza.
• If you steal it, the universe will punish you. I’d like to think that’s true, but sometimes the universe is unpredictable and doesn’t do what I ask it. Let it be known though, that I’m OK with you using these songs for your own purposes — say, a video of your cat on Youtube or an email to a friend. If you have a way to make money with my tunes, please share that with me. It’s called a license and we’ll find a lawyer to help with the details. You probably know right from wrong and I’m trusting you on this. Plus I own the copyright. copyright |ˈkäpēˌrīt|noun the exclusive legal right, given to an originator or an assignee to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material, and to authorize others to do the same.verb [ trans. ]secure copyright for (such material). (After writing this, I had it pointed out to me that you can only stream these songs, which makes all of the above kind of silly. If you need to upload for some reason, let me know and I will gladly send you a copy.)
• I will try to write a little bit about each tune if I have time. I’m definitely more of a songwriter than a blogger, but I may at times have something to share about each tune. Sometimes I have no idea what the song means, I’m more rhyme than reason and maybe they are waiting for you to explain them to me. I hope that happens. I sometimes write with Michael Feldman, who is a lyric writing machine — a funny guy with a lot to say and the tools to boot — when he is involved on the lyric end, I may also have trouble explaining.
• If I’m away from my desk, at the very least there will be a song. My hands are shaking as I write this, it’s quite a commitment to make, but I’ll do my best. Some of these songs are demos, and some are ragged. Some will be very ragged and some quite well dressed as they leave my modern Pro Tools studio. I hope you enjoy them and share this blog (I’m a blogger, Ma!) with your friends if you do.
• From time to time, there will be something to look at. I like to doodle and draw cartoons and accasionally they cause a chuckle or groan from my family and very tolerant friends. So, what the heck, why not inflict them on you?