I present two songs, one old and one new. I wrote This Isn’t Hollywood in 1981, a few years after hearing Billy Joel’s “Say Goodbye to Hollywood,” to which it refers obliquely (at the end of the song). Mister Nobody was a collaboration between myself (music) and Jennie Ochshorn (words); Jennie wrote the lyrics in 2007.
The song, Squints on a Triple, is based on a true story: my daughter Jennie beat me in a game of Scrabble by putting the word “squints” on a triple word square on her last turn. Scrabble fans know that putting the letter “Q” on a triple word square generates many points; having the letter “Q” simultaneously on a double letter square makes the points scored even greater, and the pain of defeat that much more severe. Warning: song contains some metaphorical content.
Shadows Burn was written and recorded in 2007. I just shot and edited a YouTube video (remixed De. 2, 2018) including me walking all over Collegetown and the Cornell campus, (with historic shots of the Brandon Avenue sidewalk in Ithaca, NY prior to its obliteration and reconstruction in June 2008) as well as some special effects.
Manifesto of Love is a song that I wrote in 1983, based on an interest both in manifestos and in gospel-tinged piano-oriented rock. The current arrangement adds guitar, drums, bass, and a touch of organ, but pretty much preserves the original feel of the solo piano. As has become usual, you may find links to both a YouTube video, as well as its “home” on my music webpage (including lyrics and production notes). Susan again provided the outstanding videography using my Flip video recorder; I did the video editing using Final Cut Express.
I began Shrinkwrap in late 2007 and finished it early this year as a poem; only later was it set to music, unlike most of the other songs I’ve written, which have started as musical ideas. I created some animated sequences (frame-by-frame in PhotoShop) and tried out some keyframe-triggered effects while editing the video. Susan shot most of the footage (with Rob providing the meat). Here are two links: to the song and lyrics; and to the YouTube video. The video also contains short excerpts from another version of the song (in the intro and ending sequences), which otherwise shall remain unpublished. Thanks to Joe at Tony’s Barber Stylist on Linden Avenue in Ithaca for playing the barber in our haircut scene.
We drove down to Merion, PA during Spring Break, to visit the Barnes Foundation before its extensive collection of artworks is dismantled and shipped to Philadelphia. I made a short movie with my Flip video camcorder of the trip; of course this meant I needed to write a soundtrack for the movie. One thing led to another, so here is the music video derived from the movie. I experimented with the “protest” song genre, so hopefully, it sounds a bit familiar, without being explicitly stolen from anything in particular. There are two links here: one for the SoundCloud link and the other for the YouTube video (remixed Aug. 24, 2019).
Ran Thru My Mind represents another experiment with live recording and videography. This is another “old” song (written circa 1980), but recorded for the first time in March 2008. Unlike the “live” recording of Almost Doesn’t Count, this one has some basic tracks (drums, bass, piano) pre-recorded on GarageBand before the “live” guitar and vocals are recorded. Hence the headphones in the video. Like the last one, the one-take videography is by Susan Schwartz; I did the editing on Final Cut Express. See video.
I wrote Almost Doesn’t Count in 1978, so this recording marks a 30th anniversary of sorts. After trying a few arrangements with drums, bass, and so on, I decided to just play the song live, using a single mic and acoustic guitar, pretty much as it was originally written. I asked Susan to film the project while I recorded to a single track on GarageBand (you can see my salvaged eMac in the background). She used my new pocket-size Flip video recorder, also in a single take; the result can be seen courtesy of YouTube. Videography: Susan Schwartz.
I temporarily stopped writing songs in the mid 1980s in order to concentrate on other stuff; it is only recently that I started writing again, and even more recently that I started recording the songs. One Life was one of the first songs I wrote after such a long hiatus, and I’ve been recording it over and over again for the last several months, trying to get it to sound right. Finally, my last attempt sounded worse than the one before, so I decided to just stop trying, and post the prior attempt: version “2d” (i.e., the fourth iteration of the second trial) rather than version “3a” (the first iteration of the third trial). It seems like just yesterday that I wrote the song, so I was shocked to realize that it was composed almost five years ago. At this rate, it will take me about 40 more years to put together a 10-song album…
I wrote Just Another (Bad Dream) sometime in the early 1980s, and recorded it using just an electric guitar and nominal drums and bass last July as a first trial application of my audio-midi interface, microphone and GarageBand software. It has one of my favorite lyrics.