I recorded a new cover — The Rascals’ Good Lovin’ from 1966 (written by Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick). All my musical recordings are linked from my music page; here is the YouTube video:

New song; new video:

I wrote this song in the spring and summer of 2013. Apologies to all who have been quoted saying something along the lines of “If I knew I’d live this long, I would have taken better care of myself” (Mickey Mantle, Eubie Blake, George Burns, Mark Twain, and others). I also made use of an explanation given by Edvard Munch concerning his most famous painting: “I was walking along the road with two friends — the sun was setting — suddenly the sky turned blood red — I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence — there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city — my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety — and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

See production notes, lyrics, and embedded video. Remixed Sept. 2, 2019.

All vocals sung and all instruments played by J. Ochshorn
Arranged and recorded at home by J. Ochshorn using Logic Pro
Video shot with my old low-resolution Flip camcorder and created with Final Cut Express
Lyrics and music © 2013 Jonathan Ochshorn:

VERSE 1: what have i swallowed
what have i confessed
an act that can’t be followed
a fact i can’t digest
i ate it all, drank it down, kept it up with the best

VERSE 1 (second part): the morning after
got some coffee and some cream
mixed it with some laughter
like a madman in a mindless dream
the sky turns red, nature wakes with a scream

CHORUS 1: if i knew i’d live this long
i wouldn’t have wasted all those years
i might have found some younger friends
with more interesting careers
now everyone around me’s dying
everyone i knew before
what’s the point of even trying anymore

VERSE 2: i’ve been alone now
i’ve settled in this groove
i can’t stay in my home now
but i can’t say where i’d move
there’s nothing left, nothing right, and nothing to prove

CHORUS 2: if i knew i’d live this long
i would have taken better care
i would have got more exercise
put some color in my hair
if my life’s not satisfying
if i’m lying at death’s door
what’s the point of even trying anymore

BRIDGE: if i were to think this through
there’s still no way to write an ending
and if i act as if i knew
exactly what i was intending to do

VERSE 3: i’d be misleading
if i claimed there’s a design
based upon my reading
i’m not doing all that fine
just getting up, getting by, waiting here for a sign

CHORUS 3: if i knew i’d live this long
there would be so much more to show
i would have done the things i dreamed
of doing long ago
my regrets are multiplying
i’m becoming such a bore
what’s the point of even trying anymore
what’s the point of even trying anymore

Here’s my latest song cover in a series that starts in 1963. This one, by the Beatles, was recorded in 1965:

You can also see the video on its YouTube page.

“I Keep Writing the Same Song” is my first “Logic Pro” recording — this is the Apple software of which GarageBand is the baby version. My YouTube video is here and is also embedded below.  Lyrics and production notes can be found at the linked site. Remixed in 2018.

I guess I’ve started a kind of long-term project — recording covers of songs that were influential in my musical development. The first was 1963’s Surfer Girl. This one is Mixed-up, Shook-up, Girl from 1964 (recorded by Patty & the Emblems, possibly the earliest hit co-written by Leon Huff, who later achieved legendary status as half of the song-writing-producing team of Gamble and Huff).

I made a “studio” version of my song (Own Biggest Fan), after having recorded live version last month. The lyrics, production notes and embedded video for the new version are here. The YouTube video, shot with my still-working low-resolution Flip camcorder, and edited with Final Cut Express, is embedded below.

I’ve been working on a new song, “Own Biggest Fan,” since November 2011. I made a live version — just me and my guitar recorded with a single mic — on June 1, 2012. The YouTube video can be found here.

Surfer Girl was written by Brian Wilson in 1961 and released by the Beach Boys in 1963. I decided to record it “live” on GarageBand, playing keyboards and singing the lead vocal simultaneously. This was all documented with the iSight camera on my iMac (I also recorded a live version of a new original song with guitar and vocal recorded simultaneously, but that one is not yet finished). I then recorded three tracks of background vocals, superimposed some lip-synching Flip video clips, and posted it to YouTube. YouTube has an interesting attitude towards such intellectual property violations (although the lyrics of Surfer Girl are only marginally intellectual by any rational standard) — on a case by case basis, they permit someone like me to post such copyrighted material online, as long as I acknowledge that the copyright belongs to others and allow the copyright owners to place an advertisement for an MP3 of the original song adjacent to the video. No problem — you could do far worse than to purchase the Beach Boy’s original version of this song.

About 30 years after we recorded this song, ROLLO’s Heyday of the Automobile is now a YouTube video. For lyrics and other song minutiae, go to the YouTube site; otherwise, just check it out here: