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 Hope you enjoy it both musically and also as an interesting historical document.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 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 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

Or simply preview it, I'm not gonna stop you:





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

-Jordan

WEEK 84: Undo (Sally)

Hello everyone!

A super special exciting MP3 this week!

A NEW song from my band Sally. And...

A NEW singer! The wonderful Kristen Gudsnuk! (Special eternal thanks to Meghan O'Neill for being lead singer for the first year of the band!)

This recording is from a practice we had 2 days ago! Will Kastner nailing the drums after only playing the song like twice before ever. FUNKY STUFF!

We are really excited about this song and see it as some sort of future "single." It's currently my favorite song of ours.

This song is about how excited you get when you start dating someone you like, and how crushing it is when they reject you, especially after you've already imagined the entire relationship you two were supposed to have.

Here are the lyrics:

We went to every park in New York City
We visited your relatives in south New Jersey
On the bus we traded headphones
Played each other our favorite songs

These things didn't happen yet
but now I've got to undo
I've got to undo 
the things I imagined doing with you

Remember when you met my friends?
You liked them all, except for one
Then we went and met your friends
They all liked me, except for one

I shouldn't have talked about you so much
That was my first mistake
I shouldn't have talked to you so much
I should have given you a break

I planned the way I'd say "I love you"
The time and place, and weather and clothes
I planned the way that I'd react
To your reaction, however it goes


Download it by right clicking here!

Or preview it first!







See ya!

-Jordan

WEEK 82: Big Delay (live)

Hey everybody!

NEW SONGS! A few weeks ago I performed 7 new (as in: never before played live...some of these are very old) songs at a show at Gizzi's Cafe, and I will be putting a bunch of them up in the coming weeks.

This first one is called Big Delay. I actually wrote the bulk of it in around 2006/2007, but only recently finished it.  It's about a very very troubled relationship I was in, that was fraught with fighting and dying to be put out of its misery.  

These lyrics are VERY personal and autobiographical, more so than usual. My favorite line is "hating every word you heard," because it's a funny roundabout way of saying how bad or cold the words coming out of my mouth were throughout the relationship, but from her point of view.

The line "miles of walking nowhere" is actually in reference to a very specific event, not just a simple metaphor for the relationship. In fact every line is referencing a very specific memory. Like I said, extremely personal.

I also love the melody, the chord progression, the feel of the song...everything. I've been dying to play this live for years and I'm glad I finally did. 

Here are the lyrics.

I left you crying with a fake hug
Swept my feelings under the rug
After all the arguments
We can both agree this once

This man and woman failed
They're in each other's way
Miles of walking nowhere
One big delay

All along I tiptoed by you
Hating every word you heard
And on that day in that strange city
Holding hands seemed too absurd

With tired eyes and anger
Kicked you out of my bed
Tried to show how bad I was for you and you for me and we for us and well...

I'll be full without ever eating
Spend my days in waiting rooms
Anything to keep me strong
Anything to last us long


Download the song by right clicking here!


Or:   Preview it here!






-Jordan

WEEK 81: I Care About You (Demo)

 Hey everyone! 

I know it's been more like "MP3 of the Month" but bear with me, exciting stuff is going to be debuted here really soon!


In a somewhat related note, this week's MP3 is the ORIGINAL late night (ultra steamy) demo for I Care About You.

In recent years this song has become a fast rocking exuberant explosive song, but this demo is a completely different approach. Creepy, quiet, a little disturbing, and intimate. Sung in a lower register, played a lot slower (well I just wrote it), and filled with lots of empty spaces and (intentionally) awkward pauses.

I actually REALLY love this version of the song, it's closer to the true nature of the lyrics. But the rocking version is just so much fun, I just can't NOT play it in that way at this point.

Here are the lyrics!:

I can't say anything too complex, I get stares
I want to not seem so obsessed, but I care

I care about you

I'm dismayed, I've misplaced what you gave me that day
Is it gone? What have I done? Has it run away?

I care about you

If I face the wall
WILL YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME?
If I cover my ears
WILL YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME?

I can't hold you hard enough, cause you squeek
I can't carry you far enough, cause I'm weak

I care about you


Preview the song here!





Or download it by right-clicking/saving here!



-Jordan

WEEK 77: The Usual Way (live with drummer)

Hey everyone!

This week's MP3 is a live version of one of my favorite songs, The Usual Way.

Instead of going into the whole background of the song, I'll mainly talk about this live mp3. Took place on May 13th of this year, at Goodbye Blue Monday in Brooklyn.

That's Will Kastner on drums, from my band Sally. This is officially a Trouble's Afoot performance. Will was a superhuman drum man for this show, learning around 15 Trouble's Afoot songs in like 2 days. This was a new song for Trouble's Afoot, but will probably stick around. Also of note is that we had no bass player for this show.

Also of note is that yes, people are talking about french fries at the start of the MP3. That's the nature of a live recording, folks.

Briefly, the song is about feeling like a disappointment in a relationship, and thus in your relationship with yourself. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

So what if I write a message down?

Not like I can say it outloud

I express myself in the usual way

So what if I wait a day or two?

Not like I'm in charge of when I get to see you

I express myself in the usual way

I'm running out.

I'm running out.

So what if I'm feeling sorry?

Not like you can get it out of me.

I express myself in the usual way.

I distress myself in the usual way.

Download it here!

or:

Sample it!

-Jordan

WEEK 75: Nice To Me

Hey guys!

This week's mp3 is an extremely sentimental instrumental that I made in 2002, called "Nice To Me."

It's basically about that feeling of "I can't believe how nice this person/these people are to me, I don't deserve it, I am so touched, I can't take it!"

That is literally the best way to describe what this instrumental is trying to evoke. I added applause at the end to push that feeling way over the top.

I really love this instrumental, and it gets me kind of choked up. The recording, being from 2002, is very old and not the tightest piece of work ever, but I love the arrangement. I could have kept piling melodies onto that chord progression forever.


Download it here!


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-Jordan

WEEK 74: April Fools (Was Yesterday) Live!

Well how can I NOT put this song up today?

This is a performance of my song "April Fools (Was Yesterday)" with my band Sally.

Featuring Meghan O'Neil on vocals, Will Kastner on drums, and me on guitar and harmony.

This was from our 2nd show, at Goodbye Blue Mondays on March 13th. The recording came out so nice, except for some digital audio blips.

For more info on this song, check out the older Mp3 of the Week entry here!


Download the song by saving it here!


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Jordan

WEEK 69: Sally: Have You Met Someone (live)

WELCOME TO WEEK 69!

This week's MP3 is ultra awesome super cool. I had a show last week at Hank's Saloon in Brooklyn, and my vocally gifted friend Meghan O'Neill joined me on stage for a mini-Sally set! (Sally is my band with all love songs and female lead vocals.)

My often-bass-player Dave Fox played drums along (after only hearing the song about 2 hours earlier before the show), and I played electric guitar, trying to do the best Johnny Marr impression I can possibly fake. I love how it all came out.

The quality of this recording isn't so great, mainly because there were a lot of people talking at the bar, and we were struggling to be louder than them. Still, I loved playing these songs live, and there will be more MP3s from this show and future Sally recordings soon!

Here are the lyrics. The song is pretty self explanatory:

I don’t regret the time we spent

In fact I think it’s splendid

The more I guess at your progress

The more it seems we’ve ended

I haven’t been with many people

Not after what happened with us

I don’t know why I feel like I must be faithful

But…have you met someone?

A guy at work is a big flirt

He asked me out for supper

My red cheeks glowed but I said no

It just doesn’t seem proper

Chorus

Is she pretty?

Is she happy?

How does she kiss

Does she exist?

My kitchens cold and all alone

I miss you at the table

I eat and go to sleep I don’t

Know if this mood is fatal

HAVE YOU MET SOMEONE?!?



Download the song by right clicking here and saving!


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Jordan

WEEK 67: I Know How To Cry (live)

Hey lovebirds

This week's song is a real rarity. I've only played it live...twice? And like 5 years ago.

In early 2005, I had a subconscious sense that my girlfriend of 2 years was about to break up with me. I didn't even want to realize it, but it was coming out in all of the songs I was writing.

In February 2005 I debuted "I Know How To Cry", with her in the audience. A week later she dumped me. And right on Valentines Day too, isn't that nice? Here is a version from later that year, in December (keep listening to the MP3 to hear a joke at the end about the whole debacle.)

Technically this is a really complicated song, and I'm pretty damn proud of my vocal range and performance in this MP3. So hey!

The song is pretty clear. It's about being able to withstand so much pain because you've done it 100 times before. Unfortunately this song just keeps getting more and more relevant. Here are the lyrics. I think the line that tears me up the most is the last verse. Love is when you're smiling and for a brief second you're not thinking about WHY.

Where once you said you love me
Now you say "that's enough"
Where once we'd go to celebrate
Now we walk by and let out a cough

A million things were said that never meant not a thing

A lot has changed
But that's OK
If another one gets away
I'm fine this time
Cause I know how to cry
I know how to cry

There's a lot of real anxieties
Just hanging out by your side
And they may make you nervous
They may make you wonder why

A girl once through the haze of love would ever want to stay

chorus

Cry all night
And then again in the morning
In between yawning

For a long time I would smile
And I wouldn't even know why
For a long time you'd be smiling
and you wouldn't even know why

So long ago, so long ago
So long.



Hope you like it!

Download it by clicking here


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-Jordan

WEEK 64: Sally: April Fools (Was Yesterday)

Hey guys and gal,

This week's MP3 is a song I wrote called "April Fools (Was Yesterday)", and sung by the lovely Yoko Kikuchi. It is part of an ongoing project called Sally, where a female vocalist sings my sad or happy love songs. I play guitar and sing back ups ("oh no.") This recording is from 2005.

This song, and all the Sally songs, are fairly direct: It's a break up song. Here are the happy lyrics! My favorite line is "Let me down gently, but it's still gonna kill me." Ouch.


You say you love me
But you're breaking up with me (oh no)
You look so happy
But you're breaking up with me (oh no)

I don't know what to say
except that April Fools was yesterday

I made you happy
Now you can't even stand me (oh no)
Let me down gently
But it's still gonna kill me (oh no)

I don't know what to say
except that April Fools was yesterday
Unless I'm wrong and it's today
Let me be wrong, don't go away
Let me be wrong
And please say that we're OK

Holding you tightly
But I'm feeling you squirming (oh no)
Missing you nightly
God my stomach is hurting (oh no)

I don't know what to say.


Download it here


OR


Preview it:




-Jordan

WEEK 56: If We Had No Moon (demo)

Hey!

This week's MP3 is one of my favorite songs. I was surprised I hadn't put this up yet (I had to google myself to make sure I didn't.) A lot to say about it, so let's go:

It's called "If We Had No Moon." It was based on the title of a scientific and doom-laden special I saw on the Discovery Channel, which basically stated that our moon is slowly being pulled away, and when it's gone Earth will spin out of orbit and kill us all.

Talk about dropping a love song right into my lap! What better romantic metaphor could there be for a relationship ending? Or the idea that a relationship needs the romance of the moon to keep it alive? Le sigh. This was originally going to be a "Sally" song (my side band where a female vocalist sings my songs), but I liked singing it too much.

The 2nd verse in the song is actually based on an episode of The Tom Green Show on MTV. He had a guest on his show who was obsessed with the "face on mars," basically a series of landscape formations that look like a scary sad face in the right light. This man (and many others) say that this face is proof of extraterrestrial life on Mars, or elsewhere.

He was on the show to be ridiculed, and I felt really awful for somebody who was so passionate about something that just was not true and so easily disproved. The idea in general was heartbreaking to me, so I popped it onto the moon song and there you have it, the saddest song ever.

The demo: I'm pretty happy with this demo, though it may be a bit "busy." My acoustic guitar is making little space beeps, the metronome is being used as the percussion track, and I'm proud of the subtle harmonies. No bass necessary, which gives it a more weightless outer-space zero gravity feel. Adding a bass line would have weighed things down a little too much.

Originally my main guitar track was very stiff and boring and "nice," but I realized it felt kind of dead. Inspired by the Rheostatics, I re-recorded it to be a lot more free-form and natural. Some random hits on random strings, not bogged down or sounding like a "scratch track" for people to easily play along with. Again, I was really happy with that.

Here are the lyrics:


These chilly nights make me think
I think of you and me, but also other things
I think about the laws of time and space
and what would happen if everything changed
I heard the moon is pulling farther away
And soon it will be gone, though soon is far away

And if we had no moon
the Earth would not just spin 'round
But sideways and upside down
And everything would be thrown around

You've heard about that face on Mars?
Some people think it's put there
By beings very far away
I'd like to think that that's the case
But evidence has shown that it's just not that way
And though the shadows make it look like a sad face
It's just not that way
It's just a mountain range

And if we had no moon
the Earth would not just spin round
But sideways and upside down
And everything would be thrown around

If we had no moon
No times for light or dark
Oceans wouldn't know where to start
Most certainly we'd be torn apart




Download it here!


Or preview it:





See ya!


-Jordan

WEEK 51: Swish (live)

Hey everyone!

I haven't been updating this as WEEKLY as I'm supposed to. But anyway:

This MP3 is from my show last week. My friend Daniel requested I perform my song "Swish." "Swish" is definitely an odd one. It's lyrics were basically a flowing poem that I wrote and then put to music, playing a chord progression and not worrying too much about the melody or catchyness. Usually not my style, but I think the song has a kind of directness and raw quality that the others may not have.

The song was inspired by this crush I had on a girl. I was trying to get over her, and then I thought I saw her walking by my house. It wasn't her, but the feeling I felt when I thought I saw her (i.e. having a heart attack) made me realize I was in no way over my crush. These are easily some of my favorite lyrics I've ever written.

Here they are:


Eyes focus through the fence
down at the train station
Some straight haired girl
Stole your whole style
And I looked like a guy who
Had one too many
Too many things on my mind

And they fell out
Fell down
On the sidewalk
Dripped down
And in the stream of consciousness
A cigarette but couldn't help but...
resist

Like a log headed for a fall
it dripped down to the gutter
Underwater tunnel
And down to Brooklyn
Passed under your shoe
I think I hope for once you knew
I think I hope for once you knew
And while you had to STOP
Your friends made fun of your
SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH
SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH
SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH
SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH

Thoughts fly like the breeze
Sometimes inviting, but sometimes chilly stinging
I can remember everything
In seconds flat it all comes back
In between 0 and 1
That's all it takes to break it down
That's all it takes to break down

I hate this bridge I'm on.



Preview the song:




Or download it here



-Jordan

WEEK 44: Marry Me (Live)

Hey! Sorry for the no update last week!

This week's song is from a live show I had a month ago! I explain the origin of the song to the audience in the MP3, so need to ramble over here! All you need to know is I handed out a list of songs, so that the audience can make request. That's what you hear at the very beginning of the MP3.

It's a happy loving marriage song. It also contains one of my only guitar solos. Enjoy!

Here are the lyrics, why not?


Here we are laughing at the same joke
Half an hour and it's time for the next show
For everyone who says that boring lives have no surprises, well
I've got one

Will you marry me so we can go to sleep?
Will you marry me so we can watch TV?
I've spent too much time by myself
doing things that never add to much
I'm one, you're two, and we'll be pooped together

For a time I didn't go out much
I met you and we don't go out much (but it's nice)
For every dollar bill I save by staying home for dinner
We get thinner

(chorus)

Counting down bringing in the new year
All around it's been a pretty good year
A simple resolution is easier to keep
And I'd like to keep you - keep you here



Download it by clicking hyaaaah!





- Jordan

WEEK 31: Punch in the Mouth (Demo)

Heeey!



Boy am I late for this week's mp3. I'll have to add another one in only a couple of days to get back on track.

This MP3 is one of my favorites, a demo of a song called "Punch in the Mouth." I have very few fully worked out song demos, because they're very hard to make. They take me forever. This one came out pretty cool, though.

The song is entirely based on the first time I had to break up with somebody. The lyrics are basically putting across the guilty feelings I had. These are definitely some of my favorite lyrics. I really nailed the essence of the guilty feelings without being too specific or pitiful in the lyrics, I think.. Here ya go.

You lent me everything that belonged to you
Now it's all smashed and broken
Can I make it up to you?

When the sun comes out it's a punch in the mouth
If you don't believe me, stay still so I can punch your mouth

Falling in love's the worst thing anyone can do
You might as well just kill yourself before it happens to you

When the sun comes out it's a punch in the mouth
Just to prove my point let me punch you in the mouth

Hahahahahahahaha
Hey hey hey hey hey hey hey
No no no no no no no

After you left the room we made fun of you
I would feel better knowing that you made fun of me to

When the sun comes out it's a punch in the mouth
If you don't believe me stay still so I can punch your mouth
When the sun comes out it's a punch in the mouth
If you don't believe me...
Stay still.


I really did feel horrible about it, and the memories of the long and painful break up talk still bother me.

Anyway, the demo: I love the bass line, which is probably the 10th one I tried. It's really fun and bouncy and melodic. My friend Daniel helped me a lot in mixing the song, making sure things didn't clash into each other. The fake electric guitars, harmonies, all that stuff. It's maybe a little too tinny sounding. The acoustic guitar is EQ'd so thin that it sounds more like an egg shaker or something. But ANYWAY, I like it.


DOWNLOAD IT HERE!


Or preview it:




- Jordan

WEEK 29: In The Dumps (live)

Keeping the theme of songs-I've-only-played-live-once going, and keeping with the theme of life being horrible, here is an mp3 of a song I wrote called "In The Dumps."

This is definitely a rare one...I only played it once, and at this show (Sidewalk Cafe, 2005) only 4 of my friends showed up. Something you'll hear at this legendary show is that there was a big group of people talking really loud, right under the stage. They were destroying my self esteem for the first half of the set, and you can hear in my voice how blown away I was by people being so rude, most notably in the beginning of the mp3 :
"Next song is called 'In The Dumps'....yeah....GRRRRR"

I sound so exhausted and defeated because of those people. And the "GRRRR" was directed at them. Maybe next week I'll post the song I made up on the spot about them.

So anyway, this song is pretty simple and basically from the point of view of someone dumping someone. Like many of my songs, it's inspired by stomach sickness and nervousness. Here are the lyrics, which in my opinion are just...OK. The song is more about the rhythm and intensity in the music and singing, that's for sure.

Hey hey, I don't know what
They say, but I know that
You and I are out of luck
For once I'm not stupid
You must not believe it
I know how these things end up

In the dumps, out the door
Under carpets on the floor
Don't think we're growing we've stopped.
And I'm not going to pick you up.

Last time that we met up
Got sick, almost threw up
I lied, said it was the food
I just get so nervous
Don't know how to do this
Don't know how to say we're through

(Chorus)

Sorry sorry sorry I can't give advice
Sorry sorry sorry I can't paint it nice
Sorry sorry sorry I'm sorry sorry sorry tonight

Next time you'll do better
Meet someone who's nicer
You'll have oh so much to say
Tell me now you're happy
Tell me you were crazy
To be with someone like me
OH YOU KNOW RIGHT NOW WE'RE

(chorus)

And I'm not going to pick you up from work.

That's a lot of "sorry"s in one song.

My relationship was doing OK when I wrote that song, but I think I was picking up on signals from my girlfriend and maybe wrote this song from her point of view. I wrote a lot of songs about her breaking up with me in the last few months of our relationship, yet if you were to ask me I would have honestly said we were doing great. Very subconscious, all of this stuff.


DOWNLOAD IT HERE!



Or preview it:





Hope ya like it,

Jordan

WEEK 24: All The Hair

Hello Joes,

This week's mp3 is an instrumental from November 21, 2006 called "All The Hair." I'm debated on whether to spell out the inspiration too clearly, but I guess that's the point of this blog, no? It was based on when you are lying with a girl, and all her hair is in your face, and the nice uncomfortable ticklish feeling going on. It's a good thing. At least, I think that's what it's about. Maybe I got a haircut and recorded it? It's a mystery.

HERE IT IS. DOWNLOAD IT HERE.


Preview it here:




Bye


Jordan