Episode 001: Shadows on the Moon
An Introduction to this Podcast/Blog:
So this begins something new in several different ways for me. For one, it begins my commitment to writing, recording, and publishing a new song every week. I hope to do this for at least one year, giving me 52 songs that I can then go back and pull a dozen or so of the best out of and hit the studio for some serious work on them.
Second, this marks my first venture into Podcasting and Video Podcasting. I have absolutely NO IDEA what I’m doing or how this is to be done, on the technical side, but I’m pretty good at figuring these things out, so I’m giving it a shot. We’ll find out shortly when I publish this first episode and then try to find it in iTunes.
For more info on this project, please read the About page.
Episode 001: Shadows on the Moon
This first song was not actually written this week, but it is a new song in its earliest stages. The song was written for the Quickstop Entertainment Song Fu #2 song writing competition. I did not make it past the first round, unfortunately, but the contest has many flaws and is anything but fair competition and I received many compliments on this song anyway, so I’m happy with what I submitted.
As far as this song goes, I’m not sure where the inspiration came from. The songwriting requirements of the competition were only that I had to “write a song about the moon”. So why I chose to make it a funky song about a psycho stalker, I can’t really say. I think the chords came first and the words just sort of fell out of my mouth.
The song was originally written and recorded in the key of A minor, but I perform it this week a bit higher, in the key of C minor, using a Capo on the third fret. This song has great potential to be a funky jam in a live setting with some great musicians. I’ve even caught my daughter humming along and bopping to the rhythms, so I know it’s got the feel I want.
So here’s Shadows on the Moon:
October 27th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Just FYI - I could not get it to play on my machine. Might be problem with Microsoft. Just letting you know.
You already know I dig the song….
October 27th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Might require Quicktime… the video file is m4v format, which is probably only readable by Quicktime. I think that’s what iTunes requires for the podcasts. Sorry.
October 28th, 2008 at 6:45 am
I like the acoustic sound better than the electric sound of the one from Song Fu. A light drumbeat and some minimal bass, and it’ll be great
October 28th, 2008 at 7:03 am
Kavey,
Thanks for the compliment. That Song Fu arrangement (which people can listen to on my main website’s music page) was a rush job, so the arrangement isn’t exactly what I was going for either. In my head, this is a very funky Jamiroquai-type thing. Funky bass line, strings, synths, groovy. But this new Song of the Week project will be good. I’ve always felt that great songs should sound great even without great production. You should be able to play and sing a great song with minimal accompaniment. So the fact that you think it sounds better in this stripped-down form is good thing - tells me that my earlier arrangement might have detracted from the song, rather than augmenting it.