Tag Archives: song

Listen, New Song

Goodbye, Goodbye

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In Cairo, the Spring can be great, but the Fall not so much

In Cairo, the Spring can be great, but the Fall...not so muchSo I had the idea for this new song on Tuesday last week. For one reason or another the old tune Goin’ Down to Cairo popped into my head while I was driving around in my car. Don’t know if you’ve ever heard that tune, check it out if you haven’t. This video is a pretty good approximation of how it’s always sung. You can also read about what that tune is all about over here, courtesy of the Old Town School of Folk Music. That’s where I first heard the song. People up there love it. Can’t get enough of it.

Anyway, I had that tune goin in my head and then I figured I hadn’t ever tried to write a song about the Arab Spring. Mainly, probably, because I don’t know a whole lot about it and because it ain’t really affecting me and my comfortable life. Other than for a week or so, a month or so ago, the news channels couldn’t get enough of it.

It’s pretty obvious, I think, how I went from a song about a town way down south at the tip of the bottom of Illinois to something about what’s going on over in the Middle East. And it was pretty easy, actually, to go from one to the other and back again. People in Illinois say “Kay-ro” and people in Egypt say “Ki-ro,” but they all want the same things when you get right down to it. Ain’t anything hard about that.

So that’s the song for today. Have a listen.

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Fairway 12

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Songs from Someone Else’s Perspective Week

I wrote Fairway 12 back in May of 2008. Or, really, I reworked it from the original tune, Banks of the Ohio, which you can see here. Mine’s pretty much the same, except for the parts that I changed.

Anyway, I wrote this because two of my close, affectionate friends were about to get married. So this is from their perspective. They spent their wedding night at the Fairway 12 on June 7, 2008. Actually, most of the wedding guests stayed there. Only some of us made it home without developing a foot fungus.

The Fairway 12 in Meadville, PA is the only place to have a great affair.

They do have the “best dance floor around,” though.

That’s the song for today. It’s a funny song. And it’s a true song.

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Ballad on November 5

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No Theme Week

Here’s the last song for No Theme Week. It’s a song I wrote back in November of 2008. Didn’t have anything to do with anything. Wasn’t about me or you or anybody else in particular. Wasn’t no meaning behind or about or in-front of it. Took about 30 seconds to write and around 5 minutes to sing and listen to. I played it out all over in three-quarter time, two-four time, six-eight and four-four and five-ninths. It all sounded the same to me. I put it as song number one on an album I made and didn’t distribute except to a few very affectionate friends. I haven’t sung it in a year or so. I pulled it out and I think it’s a pretty good ending to No Theme Week.

See ya Monday…bright and early.

At the end of the week, listen to a ballad about November 5.

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The Talkin’ Unwritten Blues

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Mass Media Week

This week, apparently, is turnin into talkin’ blues week. I guess it’s pretty easy to write a talkin blues song about what’s happening out in the Entertainment Mass Media World.

Anyway, this is a song I wrote back in the winter of 2008, about February or so. It’s all about the Great Writers Guild of America Strike of 2007-2008. You can read about that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007–2008_Writers_Guild_of_America_strike.

It was a pretty ridiculous thing if ya ask me.

Entertainment writers go on strike in 2007, inspiring the Talkin' Unwritten Blues.

So I wrote this song, because I heard all about it all over the news on television and radio and all that. If you missed hearing about it then you were probably locked in a dark box, or out living your own life.

A funny thing happened right after I wrote Talkin’ Unwritten and posted it up on Myspace; the Writers Strike ended. Just like that. I was kinda upset because I couldn’t really sing the song out at all. But I also took credit for ending the strike. So I guess it worked out for everyone.

What do you think, reader of my weblog?

Listen, New Song

If You Want It Baby

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New Song Week

If You Want It Baby is another last minute song. I let the day just slip away and now I’m tired. But I ain’t gonna just give in. I’m behind this week. Thursday is tomorrow already and I got nothing to post. It’s probably gonna be another late night.

But this song, for today, is done. It’s based on a melody similar to one that we play on several songs in the Barehand Jugband, most notably Sugar Puddin’, which is starting to become a really big crowd pleaser. Mainly because the girls singing it are struttin during the whole song.

Anyway. This song is like that one, but different because I wrote the words to this one and put them in a certain order.

Okay…that’s enough talkin about it.If you want it baby, come grab my joystick.