WEEK 101: That's OK, It's Christmas

Hey guys!

This is a very special entry, as it is my AWARD WINNING song for the latest NYC 48 Hour Film Festival project! This song went over the end credits of my team's movie "Ham For The Holidays" (which I also scored.) It's an Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas song parody. I won "Best Original Song" last night at the awards ceremony!

The movie was about your typical robot Armageddon sci-fi stuff, which the lyrics reflect.

A bit about the recording: This took me like, 45 minutes. Really happened fast, everything fell into place easily! The Chipmunks voices were hard to figure out because I don't have a program that just DOES that, so I had to mess around with a few things. I put in a super high pitched one, a middle one, and a lower one, to represent Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.

I really love the ROBOT SCARY intro, and how it comes back at the end. I also like the nice tremolo guitar that comes in on the 2nd verse, and the soft drums and bass that aren't making a fuss (I usually over-arrange that stuff.) I improvised the La-Las at the end. Also those are real sleigh bells for extra percussion.

Lyrics:

Robots killed the president
Razor trolls will steal your skin
Cyber armadillos win
But that's OK, it's Christmas

Watch out for the cyber hounds
Skeletons team up with clowns
Every cat is dead by now
But that's OK, it's Christmas

La la la la, la la la la, la la la la, la la la la

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I'll put more stuff from the score up next!

-Jordan

WEEK 100: Settle Down (Live, first show, 2002)

Oh my goodly goodness!

This is the 100th post! Not exactly the 100th week, because I don't in fact update this every single week, but the 100th post!!! The 100th MP3!!! THE 100TH CELEBRATION OF MEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee(eeeeeee.)

Well anyway, it took me a while to figure out what song should go here, but this one hits all the right notes with me. You might say it strikes a CHORD. You MIGHT SAY...

So this is from my very first show. August 18th, 2002, Sidewalk Cafe, and my God, this was like 12 years ago. Wow. Well the reason I chose this MP3 is because this was kind of the moment for me on stage that I felt like I found my voice, and that it was working, and that people were enjoying it. 

This was the last song of the night, and a lot of the other songs were pretty rough. A lot of mistakes, a lot of reject songs that no one has heard since, a lot of bad rhythm and awkwardness. But this song is so simple, there's just no way I could have screwed it up. So I am both extra relaxed in this recording but also full of happiness and confidence at completing my very first show, which I had been unbelievably nervous about for like several weeks leading up to it.

This MP3 also has one of my all time favorite off-the-cuff stage moment. The wonderful sound person woman there at the time threw on a giant dose of reverb during my very bad whistle solo. But she accidentally left it on as I sang the next line. She turned it off super fast and me and the audience kind of laugh at the weirdness of it. But then I improvised a lyric change - "we should go someplace where there isn't...so much reverb" (instead of "where there isn't so much stress."), and MAN...The big laugh and applause from the audience just made my night. I knew I wanted to keep playing shows. Not to mention the laughs at other lines, and the laugh after "THE CALM, CALM SEA" part! 

So yeah, this is a special one for me, on several levels. Hope you enjoy it both musically and also as an interesting historical document. 

OH...I didn't even talk about the song I guess? I explain it at the start of the MP3, but it's basically from the POV of a guy who's girlfriend is screaming at him, and he's trying to calm her down. The joke of the song is that there's an implication that the guy is a jerk and she's completely justified in yelling at him, but he's painting her as a raving lunatic. 

Is that funny? I think so. Check out the lyrics, then download the song!


And would you like to settle down for a while?
And would you like to settle down for a while?

You act like all those other people that I hate
Not enough like who I like
Normal people don't pretend to get mad all the time
Normal people don't like to fight

chorus

Tomorrow maybe you'll realize how crazy you were
Today well come to think of it
Yesterday you acted just the same or even worse
and Now you're acting ignorant

chorus

And would you like to take a breath
and nod your head
like you were on a ship at sea
THE CALM, CALM SEA!!!!!

::whistle solo::

We should go someplace where there isn't so much stress
It would be nothing like this
We should go and then your hair won't be in such a mess
Or my hands on your wrists

And would you like to settle down for a while?


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Or listen to it here!





Thanks guys! See you soon,

Jordan

WEEK 99: Fool With Bookbag On (Demo)

Hey kids!

I'm never sure if the title of this should be "Fool With Bookbag On" or "Fool With A Bookbag On"

ANYWAY...This is one of my favorite (unheard) songs of mine, a very sad (funny though, to me) song about a kid waiting to be picked up from elementary school and thinking (correctly?) that no one is ever coming. This was a pretty common fear after school back in the day for me, and I think for others as well. 

I'm considering putting a version of this song similar to this on my first album, but I'm not sure if it will slow things down too much. I really do like it though. I am also not sure whether to repeat the chorus at the end or not. I mean, usually you do in a song, but I really like the song ending suddenly with that last scary line. WHAT TO DO?!?

Here are the lyrics:

No one is here to pick me up today
And no one, no one ever will
Every boy and girl is being taken away
With loving arms and big cars

Stood like a fool with bookbag on
The afternoon is almost gone

Everyone is double, triple parked
A honk let's them know which one
I will be here forever
I will be the last one

Stood like a fool with bookbag on
The afternoon is almost gone

The streets are starting to clear out
The fuss is giving way to calm
Crying, I'm going to give up
I'll get in the next car that stops


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-Jordan

WEEK 98: Bowtie Guy (Demo for band)

Hey!

This is a crazy super rare thing that nobody has ever heard. 

This is a demo of an old song of mine called "Bowtie Guy", about an annoying guy me and my friends saw at a party one time. There are a lot of different versions of this song, including a really, really rough and early demo that I am too embarrassed to put up. But...

This demo was made around 2005 to show a drummer and bassist what they should be playing for the song. So this is a very stripped down recording - just acoustic guitar, fake bass, fake drums., with the rhythm section cranked way up in volume. 

Unfortunately, there WAS a ton of other stuff originally on this recording, tons of electric guitars, accordion, keyboard, even 4 guitar solos by my friend and bassist Dave Fox...but all of it got lost when my old computer crashed years ago. So the only thing that exists from that incredibly time consuming demo is this early, stripped down version.

As you can hear the bass part is really elaborate and the drums are really specific. I had big plans for this song. But I must have had second thoughts and I don't think I even ever let them hear this MP3. But now you can!

Preview the song here:





Or download it by right-clicking here!


-Jordan

WEEK 97: Chicken Feet and Diamonds

Hey guys!

This is a song done for a customer of my website www.writeasongaboutme.com! I was too proud of the song to not be able to share it with the world, so here it is.

I won't go into the details about the request from the customer, but he wanted a song for his friend that kind of makes fun of a shirt he always wears, with a chicken feet and diamonds pattern. He said he wanted it as a singalong, so I layered upon layered vocals of me, my friend Daniel and my girlfriend Kristen singing the chorus. There may be around 15 or 16 vocal tracks there.

This was an incredibly taxing and difficult song to record and mix. But I am really proud of the end result. Please enjoy! And listen to it on headphones, it's more fun that way.

Preview the song here:




Or download it by right-clicking and saving here!


See ya soon!

-Jordan

WEEK 96: Mean To Me (Demo)

Hello everyone!

This is one of my more accomplished demos. In fact, with a re-recorded vocal and some slight re-mixing, I feel like it could be good enough for an album.

Lyrically, there's a lot here to go into. But long story short, this song is based on a brief relationship I had that was very confusing and an all around bad fit in every way. I wrote a handful of songs about this girl (here's one and here's one), because there was just so many things wrong with us together, and so many different angles to approach it from. This song is probably the most direct summary of the whole thing.

Musically, I just love this demo. The back up music changes constantly. Reverb-y acoustic twiddling, synth oboes and woodwinds, organs, lots of cool vocal FX. It's a very old demo, but it feels like I knew exactly what I was doing. Also musically, I like the song. It's got a strange structure, no chorus but lots of bridges. I like the relaxed tempo and rhythm.

Here are the lyrics!

I can't say what you mean to me
Every day it's changing
I see you on my TV
First I scream and then breathe

A sigh of relief 
For I am nowhere near you
Then I'm completely surrounded

There's a face in my school
It looks just like you
Faces move and blur into the wall
But this one stays still

Enough to make out
With that sad mouth
And dazed I stroll down
SMACK into a wall now

Call me, but don't
Cause I really don't
Want to know what you're up to

I hope that it's
Much better
Than what I picture

You're sad
That's too bad cause I'm uncomfortable with that
I don't know what to do with that

I can't say what you mean to me
Every day it's changing
You were pretty mean to me
But you still were pretty


Download the song by right-clicking here!

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-Jordan

WEEK 95: I See A Mountain (Demo)

Hey again!

This is kind of an embarrassing demo from 2007, but it's one of my favorite songs I've written. It's a touch sentimental, kind of purposefully and blatantly so, but it's not bad to have a few songs like that, to contrast with your 100 coldhearted cynical songs.

This song is based on a road trip I took with my friend Matt, when we went to see The Rheostatics in Canada. It's just about the freeing feeling of getting the hell out of New York City, and the "joke" is that it was really only like 45 minutes of driving till we were upstate and saw a mountain. It's so close yet so far. I also threw in some allusions to being at a stuffy office job, to help hammer the contrast home.

The bridge is meant to have a somewhat sexual double meaning, hopefully it's not too gross. I think a possible other interpretation for this song could also be about finding...love....Yep I told you it's sentimental. When I wrote this I was painfully single and basically no matter what kind of song I was writing, those feelings would creep in without me knowing it. Anyway, I'm really proud of the line "3 day weekend, forever smile." I feel like that could be a state motto or a slogan for a tourist destination. But it's really sincere, I still smile about that 3 day weekend.

OH one more thing about the lyrics, the first line refers to stolen food. It's cause I did steal a bunch of food for the trip. At a temp job I was working at that week, I grabbed tons of snacks and threw them in my car. Hehehe.

As for the recording, it's an ultra late night low quality awkward demo. It's the first time I ever tried singing the song so my timing is off and I don't quite know the melody yet. So please listen with that in mind. Or don't listen. I think this song would rock with a full band.  Imagine it more confident, with electric guitars and organ and stuff. The problem is it's very similar rhythmically to another song of mine, more than I'm comfortable with.

Here are the lyrics:

We've got all our stolen food stowed away
Stashed in the dash and crushed by our feet
Get some gas but not too much
Just enough for a running start

I see a mountain once the traffic is gone
I see a mountain with shuffle mode on
I see a mountain
So let's climb on

This ain't a joke I've never seen one before
Just in posters hanging on the office door
Just on TV where some character escapes
Just in dreams when I can barely stay awake

Now all you mountains, better open wide
Cause I'm comin' right inside
I'm thinkin' I might stay awhile
3 day weekend, forever smile

Hills on the highway make the road fade in
Such a strange image, like special effects
I'm so enthusiastic, you can't even tell
Never been able to express these feelings well

I see a mountain, I see a mountain
It was only 45 minutes away


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See you soon!

-Jordan

WEEK 94: I Am Happy Here, Aren't You My Dear?

Hello!

This is one of my favorite instrumentals, for a few reasons:

1) The title can be perfectly sung with the main repeating melody. "I. Am. Happy here. Are. N't. You my dear?"  It's fun! TRY IT. NOW.

2) When you leave out bass, it becomes all the more startling and even emotional when it comes into a song. The bass showing up at 30 seconds in always moves me...It's a strange feeling that I can't quite put into words, but it feels like everything becomes more significant and also that it's settling down and resigned. Does that make sense?

3) The sllllllurrrrrrrrpppp wooooshhhhy thing that I do with my mouth in the 2nd half of the song. It's not as gross as it may seem. It just really fits the music, and I am just proud of myself for thinking of such a strange but appropriate layer to add on. They don't teach that sort of thing.

4) I feel like there's a lot of meaning that can be inferred from the title. The idea of someone in a couple being happy but not being sure their significant other is also happy. This was written at a time when I had a new girlfriend and I had some of those fears myself. All of these instrumentals I did are all pretty meaningful and specific to me. If anyone cares.

5) I like the little marching drum.

Anyway, enough of this. Check out the song! It's from May 30th, 2003.

Download the song by right-clicking here!

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WEEK 93: Not Gonna Stop You (Demo)

Hello. This "week's" MP3 is an old demo of an old song called "Not Gonna Stop You."

Keep in mind this was January 2002, before I really played guitar very smoothly (I am really HITTING the strings hard) and my throat had yet to be removed of some very large tonsils that made my voice fairly congested sounding.

But the point is to put up an old rough demo, cause I feel like doing that.

This song has somewhat simple lyrics, but I've always thought there was a lot of complicated denial and unreliable narrator stuff going on. This was written before I was ever in any relationships, so it's basically a fictional character kind of song, which most of them were at the time. The guy in the song doesn't want to quite admit that his girlfriend (wife?) is leaving him, so he's acting like it was his idea and that he couldn't care less. He even thinks that SHE thinks he's going to be chasing after her at the airport, but he's too lazy to even do that.

Mostly the narrator is not trying to stop the breakup out of spite. "Oh you think I'll beg you to stay, well fuck that, I won't."

I love writing songs about self centered and hugely flawed people, and having the lyrics be warped by that mentality, with only a few hints at the "reality" going on for people to discover. This song is the ultimate example of that.

This song is so easy and thus really fun to play live. It's all about those last few high notes. You know songs that have a really satisfying ending, it's all worth it just to get to the last 10 seconds? That's how I feel about this one.

Lyrics:

You oughtta know
Before you go
I'm really really slow
I'm really, really slow

If you should run
And not for fun
You'd be the only one
You'd be the only one

And if you want to leave
Then you can go and leave
And you want me to let you
So I'm not gonna stop you
I'm not gonna stop you

And on the plane
You don't have to wait
For me to show up late
I won't be late

I'll be inside
While you ride
I will be inside
I won't be at your side

And if you want to leave
Then you can go to leave
And you say I won't let you
But look I'm not gonna stop you
I'm not gonna stop you

You may have left
But there's something that you did forget
I think you did forget
Your thoughts remain
With me over here
Not inside your brain
There's no thoughts in your brain

And if you want to leave 
Then you can go and leave
And you think I won't let you
But I'm not gonna stop you
I'm not gonna stop you

---

That last line is another favorite, he's trying to say a sweet thing like "I will always think of you" but it comes out as an insult. Wordplay, words all mixed up, the meaning getting confused, I love that stuff.

Download the song by clicking here

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Thanks for listening, come back soon. I'm in the mood to put more old rare demos up.

-Jordan

WEEK 92: A Toast To Friends

Hey!

I made this MP3 last weekend, once again as part of a score for a film submitted to the 48 Hour Film Festival. This was the end credits song. You can check out the entire multiple-award-winning film, "Platonic Parts", here:



For the end credits, they wanted an upbeat friendship song, with allusions to bread or toast. Well, voila. Here are the lyrics:

Friends till the end
Friends on the mend
I want you to be my friend
I want you to be my friend

WoooOOOOHHHH YEAH

Friends on a bed
Friends making bread
I want you to be my friend
I want you to be my friend

WooooOOOOOOHHHHH YEAH


This song is basically a mix of The Smiths (the bassline and chorus guitars), Ween (the vocals), and...??? I used a new guitar fx pedal board for the guitar sounds and I think it's some of the best sounding guitars I've recorded. I also used a new drum program which I think worked perfectly for the song. 


Download the song by right-clicking here!

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-Jordan