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

Download the song by right-clicking this sentence!!

Or preview it here:

 

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?


DOWNLOAD THE SONG BY RIGHT CLICKING HERE!


Or listen to it here!





Thanks guys! See you soon,

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 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!

Or preview it here:

 


-Jordan

WEEK 85: Bombinate

Hey guys!

This week's/month's/year's MP3 is a really wacky song from 2005 that I made for my friend Matt Koff's old comedy blog, Word Du Jour (sadly no longer existing on the internet.)

On the blog he taught you a new word every day and then used them in funny sentences. I offered to do some musical word lessons for him. I ended up doing 3 in total. Here's one of them!

I think I shocked him because he thought he was going to get a 10 second thing and this is basically a complete song, with a full band arrangement and even singing back up girls (which are all me.)

"Bombinate" means to hum, so knowing that, here are the surprisingly dark lyrics:


BOMBINATE, BABY!

I bombinate on the way to work (ooh, I bombinate)
I bombinate in the bathroom stall (ooh, I bombinate)
I bombinate in the journey home (ooh, I bombinate)
THEN I BOMBINATE ALL NIGHT LONG! (wow!)

(humming)

I bombinate in the dentist chair (ooh, I bombinate)
I bombinate on the garage floor (ooh, I bombinate)
I bombinate inside a plastic bag (ooh, I bombinate)
LET ME BOMBINATE JUST ONCE MORE! (WOW!!!)

(humming)


Download the song by right clicking here!


Or preview it here:




See you soon!


-Jordan

WEEK 47: Horny Manatee (demo)

Heeeeey!

This week's MP3 is "Horny Manatee", a song I wrote and recorded in one day.

Back in 2006, Late Night With Conan O'Brien was doing a running gag in their show about a website called HornyManatee.com, and asking for people to submit artwork.

I wrote a song, thinking maybe they'll play it on the show or even invite me ON the show. I was literally a day too late. That night, Conan enthusiastically debuted a band who "actually wrote a song called 'Horny Manatee'!" They sang their song, and I felt awful and annoyed. God fucking damn it! I mean, seriously!

I still sent mine in, with no reply. But I like it a lot. I think the recording is really nice, and the melody and chord progression are interesting. Maybe I'll change the lyrics so it can become a real song and it isn't so retarded.

Lyrics:

This manatee is good enough for me
Every girl I know's been wrong for me
I'm not a gay, and things are looking gray
Get me a big ol' manatee

A big ol' manatee
comes to me in my sleep

I've had enough of all this landlocked love
I'm heading out to the sea
No girl will find me
No one will mind me
Being away with my horny manatee

My horny manatee
Comes to me in my sleep
My horny manatee
Not half as horny as ---

(manatee roars)


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- Jordan

Week 7: Order in the Funny Court

Hello. This is a small instrumental I made in 2003.

I imagine a judge banging on a gavel, laughing hysterically, so hard that his face is red and he's crying, because something hilarious happened during the trial, and nobody can regain their composure. ORDER IN THE FUNNY COURT! HAHAHA.

Download it here!

And preview it here:



-Jordan