Listen, New Song

New Song: Sometimes this is how I feel

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August sure is a long month, huh? Anyway, here’s the new song for this week. This one I wrote and recorded last night. It’s kinda got a country song feel to it, I think. It’s also one of those songs, where, after I started in on it, it was really easy to write. That’s not saying that it took 5 minutes, or anything like that, but the vision for the song just became clear after I wrote the first line.

Knew just where it was headed and just about how I was gonna get there.

Really though, I think it was bouncing around in my head all week. Was reading this book about taming and domesticating zebras, and found out that you just can’t get a lasso around them no matter how hard you try. Anyway, that had some effect, I think.

And then, yesterday, a line popped up into my head from Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. It’s right near the beginning, right near the start. Know it?

So that helped too. Once I started in on the song those two ideas just kept coming up.

Anyway, that’s that for today.

Listen, Rewritten Song

Rewritten Song: Some Ordinary Troubles (version 2)

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So here’s the new re-recording of “Some Ordinary Troubles.” You can see from the description of the original (read and listen here) that this was kind of a throw-away song. So I knew going into the re-record I had to do right by it. Make it into something.

I think it’s a little more of a complete song now. Definitely something I might be persuaded to sing out from time to time.

I didn’t change too much, though. It’s in the same key. It’s still kind of a blues-type tune. (Although, it’s a little more folk-song-oriented, I’ll admit that.) All the words are the same, for the most part, except for the last verse, which is new. I needed one more to kinda round-out the layout of the song.

So there ya have it. I think this new one sounds very 2011, if ya know what I mean. And the one from last year sounds very last year. If you’ve been listening that long you probably picked that up, though.

Now, please remember that I have two shows this weekend….

On Friday I’m playing a benefit for the Building Stage called “Terror and Cowboy Songs.” Only 5 bucks to get in and cheap booze. I go on at 10pm (or soon after 10pm) and play for about an hour (or more). The facebook invite has some info for ya.

Then on Saturday afternoon from 2-3pm I’ll be at the Hideout as part of the Urban Folk Circuit. Here’s the facebook event with more on the market. This one is FREE.

See ya at one, or see ya at both.

Listen, New Song

New Song: I Spent the Whole Morning

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Wrote this one yesterday. I think it’s basically almost already a fully-formed song. Probably needs some mouth harp in there somewhere. And there’re a couple phrases that I’ll probably clean up. But I’d say this one’s ready.

What do you think?

Hey, also, did you know that I have two shows this weekend?

On Friday playing a benefit for the Building Stage. It’s called “Terror and Cowboy Songs.” Only 5 bucks to get in and it seems like it’ll be pretty crazy. Come check it out. I go on at 10pm (or soon after 10pm) and play for about an hour. The facebook invite has some more info for ya.

Then on Saturday afternoon from 2-3pm I’ll be at the Hideout as part of the Urban Folk Circuit. Swing on by and have a beer and buy some DIY wares. Here’s the facebook event with more on the market. This one is FREE.

Listen, Rewritten Song

It’s Too Hard To Make You Agree (Version 2)

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And here’s the re-recorded version of the song, It’s Too Hard To Make You Agree, that I wrote and released this week, last year. You can go listen to the original here, for comparison.

I know they sound different, but I guess they’re fairly similar. Both have these guitar parts that kinda help the singing along, in a way. Now, the guitar parts are different, so they seem different, but the more I think about it, the more I think they’re exactly the same.

Anyway. I kinda dig this new one more than the original. It’s got a better feel to it. Plus it’s a little more unlike anything else I’ve been recording lately, with the finger picking and all. So that’s something.

Also, I think I was channeling, subconsciously, Bob Dylan’s “I Don’t Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) in the original version.” Go listen to that song and see for yourself. Pretty much the same, huh? So this updated version, today, is a little more my own, I guess. But, I’m sure it sounds exactly like some other song that someone else sang. Probably Ramblin’ Jack Elliott or someone like that.

Songwriting, home recording and vinyl records from Chicago folk singer and songwriter Andrew Francis.