Four NEW songs
Nov. 2nd, 2014 04:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bnewmanI had a great time at OVFF, and came out of the con with a great burst of energy that allowed me to get a lot of songwriting done — more songwriting than I've gotten done all at once for a long time. I finished some songs that had been partially written for a while, and I started some songs that are almost finished and which you will see soon. Here are the songs from this week that are ready to go...
Both HAL and GlaDOS are psychotic AIs that flip out and kill their research teams, both are assigned to projects involving interspatial portals, and both sing catchy swan-songs as they are dismantled by their respectiveprotagonists antagonists. Given this, it seems only natural that I would merge their stories together while parodying their songs. Actually, I did that a long time ago. AI Psycho Guilt for Two (mp3) the companion piece to Freaking Out, was written at the same time, six years ago, but I was never satisfied with it — it was too short, and the lyrics themselves didn't include the titular awful pun. Now, with two additional verses, that oversight has been rectified.
Hitchhikin' (mp3) is a parody of Talis Kimberley's Pale Shamen about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This, too, was half-written for a long time. I don't remember what exactly sparked it, but I do think there is unexplored potential for serious songs about the Hitchhiker's series — Arthur's planet has been destroyed and he's the last survivor, and instead of a period of mourning, instead of a mission of vengeance, he gets an endless parade of slapstick and topical gags. How would you feel? I had the opportunity to play this for Talis at the very end of OVFF, and she loved it, and said that, to her knowledge, nobody else has covered or parodied "Pale Shamen".
My Lady Is an Apple Tree (mp3) is a song I've tried to write before, with mixed results. I have something of a devotional relationship to trees, and (I've come to realize) especially with apple trees, especially when they're in blossom. The Boston area is thick with ornamental crabapple trees that put on the most fantastic display in May. In my Jewish/Pagan practice, flowering apple trees are a particular symbol of the Goddess/Divine Presence, but I've been thinking about how to extend that relationship through the rest of the year (mainly this means picking and eating the occasional wild apple). This song compares the Goddess to an apple tree, in all Her seasons.
Weiqi (mp3) is another song I've been meaning to write for a long time. I learned to play Go with my dad as a kid, then forgot about it for a long time, and finally picked it up again at athenahealth, where one of the extracurricular clubs is a Go club. I had been thinking of writing a Go parody of Juanita Coulson's Chess, but man, that song is hard — I can't make my voice reproduce the melody at all. Then I thought better of it and found another song to work with. "Weiqi" is the game's Chinese name, chosen here as the better sound-alike to the source song, Sushi-Yucky (a pro-sushi parody of which may also be forthcoming, eventually).
Several other songs remain in the pipeline and will hopefully be finished soon, and I also haven't given up on the project of posting older songs that I haven't gotten around to yet.
Both HAL and GlaDOS are psychotic AIs that flip out and kill their research teams, both are assigned to projects involving interspatial portals, and both sing catchy swan-songs as they are dismantled by their respective
Hitchhikin' (mp3) is a parody of Talis Kimberley's Pale Shamen about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This, too, was half-written for a long time. I don't remember what exactly sparked it, but I do think there is unexplored potential for serious songs about the Hitchhiker's series — Arthur's planet has been destroyed and he's the last survivor, and instead of a period of mourning, instead of a mission of vengeance, he gets an endless parade of slapstick and topical gags. How would you feel? I had the opportunity to play this for Talis at the very end of OVFF, and she loved it, and said that, to her knowledge, nobody else has covered or parodied "Pale Shamen".
My Lady Is an Apple Tree (mp3) is a song I've tried to write before, with mixed results. I have something of a devotional relationship to trees, and (I've come to realize) especially with apple trees, especially when they're in blossom. The Boston area is thick with ornamental crabapple trees that put on the most fantastic display in May. In my Jewish/Pagan practice, flowering apple trees are a particular symbol of the Goddess/Divine Presence, but I've been thinking about how to extend that relationship through the rest of the year (mainly this means picking and eating the occasional wild apple). This song compares the Goddess to an apple tree, in all Her seasons.
Weiqi (mp3) is another song I've been meaning to write for a long time. I learned to play Go with my dad as a kid, then forgot about it for a long time, and finally picked it up again at athenahealth, where one of the extracurricular clubs is a Go club. I had been thinking of writing a Go parody of Juanita Coulson's Chess, but man, that song is hard — I can't make my voice reproduce the melody at all. Then I thought better of it and found another song to work with. "Weiqi" is the game's Chinese name, chosen here as the better sound-alike to the source song, Sushi-Yucky (a pro-sushi parody of which may also be forthcoming, eventually).
Several other songs remain in the pipeline and will hopefully be finished soon, and I also haven't given up on the project of posting older songs that I haven't gotten around to yet.
