Chicago Song, Listen, Rewritten Song

Mister Mayor Says (I’m Guided By The Love Of Gold) (Version 2)

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Ok, folks. Here’s the second installment of “Repost Thursday.” You can check out the first one I did (a couple weeks ago) here. In that, I re-recorded the version of “Unworried Mind” that I first recorded the week of December 7 back in 2009. I hadn’t come up with the snappy name of Repost Thursday. I just did that yesterday. I think it’s got a nice ring to it. Or, at least some kind of ring to it, anyway.

Well, for this round I re-recorded my song “Mister Mayor Says” that I first released one year ago this week. (Listen to the original version here.) I wasn’t actually going to re-record it because this was a track on my record “It’s Chicago!” that I just put out in August. (You have a copy, right? No? Well, you’re in luck. You can go here to download the mp3s for a minimal fee. [You can also buy it on iTunes or Amazon, if you wish.] By purchasing the electronic files only you save trees and save on plastic production. If you need a real live hard-copy, though, I have those too.

That was a long aside, huh?

So, anyway, I was gonna not re-record this one and just use the album version, but then I figured that’d be an easy way out. Plus, the album version and the version I recorded in December 2009 are pretty much the same.

So I went ahead and mixed it all up.

This version is in 3/4 time. Has some mouth harp. The singing is quite different. The words are all pretty much the same, though.

If you didn’t know already, here’s the newspaper article that inspired this song. And here’s a picture of the beautiful Mayor Daley. He will be sorely missed.

image

And, that’s that. I kinda like this version. I may even try playing this one out. I’d stopped performing it cause the Mayor’s quittin soon and I don’t like shooting fish after their already caught. Plus its got some references to things that happened a couple years ago (like Chicago not getting the Olympics).

Anyway…be sure to check back tomorrow for the old version.

Listen, Talkin' Headline Blues

The Talkin’ Headline Blues #7

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Here’s the first installment of “Talkin’ Headline Tuesday.” The first of many. I’ll be doing one of these every week from here on out. So whatever’s in the news on Monday I’ll write into a song, record it Monday night, and post it here on Tuesday.

Simple enough, huh?

I won’t do a whole lot of writing about the songs, unless there’s something particularly interesting going on in the news (which there almost never is). If you want some background on where this song initially came from, or background on the talkin’ blues, you can check out these posts that I made a while back. There’s a few pages of songs and writing. Go ahead, have a read and take a listen.

That’s it. Come back on Thursday, though, cause I’ll be posting a re-recorded version of the song I wrote new and posted one year ago this week. It’s gonna be exciting. Very, very exciting. I’m excited.

Listen, New Song

New Song: Winter

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Okay. This song is a bit different and a bit the same as most that I write. First off, it’s in a minor key. And I wrote it with an understanding of what it was about, but wrote it in sort of a metaphor. That usually doesn’t work too well, but I think it goes pretty much okay in this case. Can you think what the song’s about?

I’ll give you a hint.

Or just tell ya. There’s enough surprises comin your way this week, so I won’t keep ya guessing.

It’s inspired by this newspaper article I read last Thursday. (So, that’s also how it’s similar to other songs I’ve written. It’s a topical piece.) Here’s a link to the article so you can read for yourself. Pretty interesting stuff, no?

Not only is it true that you should get under a desk, put your head between your legs, and kiss your ass goodbye, but, you should stay right at home and kiss your lovin babe goodbye too. And just keep on kissin until it’s safe to come outside.

So, see…this isn’t some sad, melancholy, depressing song. It’s about the lovin season of winter. When everyone should be holdin everyone else tight and warm.

So here’s to holdin tight and warm. Good luck on the holidays.

Listen, New Song

New Song: If I didn’t still have you

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Here’s a song about the weather. Go figure. It’s winter in the Midwest, so what else am I gonna write about?

I jotted this one down on Saturday over the weekend when I was practicing some other new songs from the past couple weeks.

I think I was actually going through the song “13 Women” that the Barehand Jugband does because I butchered it at our show on Thursday night and wanted to be sure I had it down for our show tonight at Double Door. (You’ve already got your tickets, right?)

Anyway, I was up-the-neck, so I just was kinda fooling around.

The words of this one kinda fool around too. They’re basically what I initially wrote, save for a few spot changes; and I dropped an entire verse that just was’t going anywhere fast.

So have a listen. And remember to come back on Thursday when I’ll post a re-recorded version of the new song I released one year ago this week.

Listen, Rewritten Song

Rewritten Song: Unworried Mind (version 2)

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Here’s a little preview of what’s in store for 2011.

This is a song that I wrote and then published (via the internet) one year ago this week. It was my new song for the week of December 7, 2009. I’m not sure when I wrote it. I think it was the weekend before the 7th when I was out on the streets struttin around. Listen to the original recording here.

Anyway…this song is a year old. Just a baby, in some sense. For a song, though, an old maid. I’m revisiting it, though, and I think it’s one of the better songs I’ve written. It’s one of those you gotta listen to real close.

So the “preview” is…I’ll be posting, every Thursday, the song that I wrote and posted for New Song Monday one year ago the very same week.

It’s pretty interesting, this song. I let it sit for pretty much an entire year. Never played it out live. Thought about putting it on my record in August, but not too hard. And then, here it is, and I’m totally diggin it now.

Maybe it’s a winter song. It’s only good when it’s so cold outside and there’s ice everywhere. Who knows…

So that’s that. From here on out you get songs every Thursday from exactly one year ago. I haven’t come up with a pithy name yet for the day. Any ideas?

Also, starting in 2011 I’ll be posting a new “Talkin’ Headline Blues” song/version every Tuesday. I’ll name it “Talkin’ Headline Tuesdays,” because it’s catchy. But you gotta wait on that.

If you can’t wait, though, I have several shows coming up. Here goes:

Thursday, December 9 at the Grafton as part of the Barehand Jugband. It’s a Holiday Party/Toy Drive. Starts at 8:30pm.

Sunday, December 12 at the Elbo Room during the Urban Folk Market. This is a solo show. I’ll (probably) play this song. I go on at 3pm and play for 45 minutes. Jonas from the jugband also plays at this event at 5pm. You can buy Christmas gifts for your lovin babe at this (including both my CDs, which are great and CHEAP stocking stuffers).

Monday, December 13 at Double Door with the jugband at 9pm. This is a bigtime show with the Hoyle Brothers and the Lawrence Peters Outfit. We need to pack the place and get sweaty with dancin. So come on out. You can buy tickets (which are going fast!) here. You can tell your neighbor here.

Then, there’s a SECRET show on Friday, December 17. It may be another Happy Hour jugband show at the Hideout. It may not be. You should come to the Double Door and I’ll tell you for sure.

So, I’ll see ya around.

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