4-29-09 Swine Flu

Hey, remember when we were all worried about this? Yeah, those were good times. This song is pretty much all garageband loops, but I dig the urgency. Link.

4-28-09 There's A Light On

This one's a rough gem. It's rare for me to be successful creating a song with a narrative, but I think this one's got a good start.

4-27-09 Every Day

A nice minor ukuklele song. It touches obliquely on the crumbling world around us, and how to cope with it. Link.

Fort Lewis, No, Fort Lewis

On southbound I-5, there's a road sign that signals the oncoming towns of Fort Lewis and North Fort Lewis. But the sign reads:
Ft. Lewis. No. Ft. Lewis. As if the sign had been asked a question, and it answered in the negative. "No, Ft. Lewis, you idiot." Sarah and I always found that sign hilarious. Not as hilarious as this sign, though:



But that's not the song I wrote. Link.

4-25-09 Staying In The Habit

Can you hear the strep in my throat? Link.

4-24-09 I Walk The Walk

Another song with lyrics by the inimitable Paul Gude. Prison doo-wop. Link.

4-23-09 Remember What's Important To You

Lastly, this thing. Kind of a garageband mess. Link.

4-22-09 Baby I Ain't Tryin' To Be Unkind

Next, we have a mostly improvised but fun 12-bar blues. I recorded the guitar part first as a way for one of my student to improvise some blues licks over it, and then something happened. Link.

4-21-09 Grapefruit Watermelon Cucumber

Sorry, o tens of readers. I have fallen behind. The show I've referenced in several past songs, West, just opened last night, so I've been a bit crazed. So today, you get a triple dose of songs!

First, we have a frivolous, food-based word play song. Link

4-20-09 There's Nothing Else But You

A nice little song for my wife. Link.

4-19-09 Breaking Glass

I was having a bad day. Running late for a guitar lesson. Couldn't find my wallet. Found it in a really obvious place that I'd searched three previous times. Got really mad. Threw my wallet across the room. It crashed through the glass of our screen door. Made me even later. Good times.

The song turned out really well, actually. From adversity springs creativity.

4-18-09 Desperate

Sarah was really into the show Desperate Housewives at this point. I couldn't stand it. I think what bothered me most was the theme music. So, as therapy, I wrote my own take on the theme. Link.

4-17-09 Bamboo Heart

One of the really great things about living in our house in Lake City was the greenery surrounding the house. Although it tended to go wild and get overgrown, it made for a nice little escape from the urban hell that is Lake City Way. This song is an ode to our shrubbery.

4-16-09 Grandma's Dinner Table

I asked Sarah for a title, and this was what she came up with. My first inclination was to make a country song (maybe I was subconsciously thinking of this song. Once that inclination passed, I ended up writing one of the more poignant pieces that I've done in recent memory. And it's totally made up, which is even stranger. Link.

4-15-09 Mr. Destructo

About two years ago, I borrowed my friend Paul Gude's video camera. He lent it to me with a caveat - I had to record an album of his songs. He made it very low-pressure as far as the end result of the songs. "You can just beat on a bucket if you like" was an exact quote by Paul of the liberties I could take in the endeavor. He sent me lyrics and sound files to about 12 different songs.

By the end of 2008, I'd completed exactly one song. Every time I saw him, he was all, like, "Hey, how's my album coming?" And I'd be all, like, "Mumble mumble yeah I'm... uh..."

At some point, I decided that the Song a Day project was the perfect opportunity to complete the album. So during the course of the year, I revisited all of the lyrics and wrote new music for them. So Mr. Destructo is the first in a series of collaborations in order to fulfill my contractual obligation. It was great writing songs for these lyrics - Paul is a mad genius. Check out his stuff here.

4-14-09 Tuck Yourself In

...And dream of sleep. Link.

4-13-09 My Citron Heart

I have no idea what this one is about, frankly. Link.

4-12-09 Jared's Rhapsody

This one's cheating, but I'm still going to count it.

We had gone on to visit my aunt and uncle in Los Altos in our California vacation. My cousin Sid's son Jared, who was nine, was learning guitar and fascinated with Garage Band. So, with my help, he created this piece. He picked out the samples, and played the tasty guitar lick. Link!

4-11-09 Ember's Glop

A field recording of Aaron & Bronwyn's daughter enjoying her breakfast (and making a game out of dropping her cup). Accompanied by some instrumental uke 'n' hang. Link.

4-10-09 Land's End

Recorded at Aaron and Bronwyn's after having watched a blustery sunset at Lincoln Park (Land's End). The instrument in the song is the hang, a metallic flying saucer-looking thing that makes the sweetest, purest tones. Link.

4-9-09 Hanging In The Air

Another song recorded in San Francisco, using some interesting instruments belonging to my friend Aaron. Link

4-8-09 Parallel Canals

Sarah and I were visiting some dear friends in San Francisco one year ago this week. We stayed in their gorgeous, rented open-plan house. They have a two year old daughter who was sleeping in their room, and we were staying in a loft above the bedroom. So it was quite difficult to work on songs late at night. Thus, this song is barely audible. oh well. Link.

4-7-09 We Came Out West

Yet another West song that will not appear in West. Link.

4-6-09 A Sunny Day

Another favorite from the year. Link.

4-5-09 Hey You! Yes You! Why Don't You Go To Hell?

...And now we move on from bitterness to just plain old aggressive anger. Link.

4-4-09 My Way Of Saying Thanks

If yesterday's song was confusion and denial, today's is genuine sadness with a healthy dose of bitterness creeping in. It also happens to be the only song from last year composed on the tenor basses, the steel drums that I learned how to play last year. (I played with Rob's steel drum band The Toucans last summer.)



It's a nice contrast hearing the normally insanely cheery steel drums playing on such a dour tune.

4-3-09 In Disarray

This one haunts me a little bit. It was a very bad day, the events of which I won't recount here. Suffice it to say that I felt pretty broken at the time. Link.

4-2-09 Recession In Heaven

This was the song I ended up using for the event I was talking about yesterday. A little pitchy, but it's got heart. And yay! It's still topical. Link.

4-1-09 They Arrived At The Gates Of Heaven

My friend Jen was having a party to celebrate the completion of a manuscript she wrote. The title of it was "Uneasy Heavens Await Those Fleeing", and she asked a bunch of her artist friends to create pieces inspired by that title. This was my first attempt at such a piece.