Archives for category: written by chris

Friends, thanks for sticking with us throughout this journey. It’s been a long time since this stupid crazy thing began, and we’ve had a lot of fun. But all good things must come to an end, and this is the last 52 song project song. We hope you like it. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, Steve sang about Christmas. This week, Chris sings about advent. Sorry folks, there’s no escape. Also, in a 52 song project first, this week’s recording is taken from a live performance. We hope you enjoy it. Read the rest of this entry »

Sit down at your piano without any ideas. Start with Bennie and the Jets (or this Ben Folds song, doesn’t matter either way), then, casually glance at a tweet that places the hint of The Simpsons’ fake Michael Jackson “Lisa it’s your birthday” song in your head. Make up words that kinda hopefully sound cool and maybe mean something to someone. Finish writing and recording the whole thing before you notice any similarities in the melody to The Simpsons’ song. Finish with a polyphonic slow build to give the illusion of substance. Realize there are only four songs left and freak out. Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine a big musical number. Now remove all of the instruments and professional singers, keeping only a piano and Chris. Now make sure that the piano playing is sloppy and that Chris has a sore throat, and that he started recording this with no idea where it was going, and was slightly drunk. Ok, go: Read the rest of this entry »

This, our 9th last song (!!), is probably best described as a cross between Apples in Stereo and Foo Fighters (or maybe just Dave without the band). Let’s get to it. Read the rest of this entry »

When we first started explaining this project to people late last year, an annoyingly common reaction was, “well yeah, but what counts as a song? I mean, you could just go ‘flurp!’ into a microphone and call that a song, and then you’d be done for a week, right?” We were obviously not going to do that. But some weeks have been more experimental than others. Today’s song, while hopefully better than “flurp!,” is really a single simple song idea flushed out into a soundscape. And it took 40 minutes to complete, including writing, recording and mixing, so judge it accordingly. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning’s song is posted slightly early as a favour to our friend and fan John (of Amber Kills, check them out), who writes, “look im in work early and bored, gimme the song.” It was also recorded with John in mind, since, after song 37, he wrote to say “I listened to the song today. Just letting you know, get your shit together. Get organized down there. At least throw a fucking harmonica into it. Show me that you give a shit.” He’s a good friend. So, as usual we have no idea if you’ll like this week’s song, but hopefully you can at least tell that we care. Read the rest of this entry »

This song is approximately what you’d get if you picked up the tempo on Wheat Kings and then asked Hootie to sing over top of it. It’s also what you get when Chris goes into his basement on a Thursday night without any song idea at all and comes out an hour and a half later with a recording. Have we lost you yet? No? Ok, here ya go… (And yes, we know that the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish is not actually called “Hootie.” Save your angry letters.) Read the rest of this entry »

It’s a risky (and therefore perhaps unwise) thing we’ve done this week, taking the last words of a person we did not personally know, adapting them and putting them to music. But when you’re writing a new song every single week you have to look for inspiration wherever you can get it, and Jack Layton’s letter to Canadians was inspiring to a great many people including us. Some took his words and put them on posters, made them their profile picture, or even got them tattooed on their body. Here’s our contribution to add to that collection. Read the rest of this entry »

If we were all to get together and decide on one thing that 52 song project has not had enough of, I’m pretty sure we would all simultaneously blurt out “cocky swagger.” Cocky swagger is what makes music groove, makes it fun to dance to, and is also one of the leading causes of teen pregnancy. So here, in the rushed and rough fashion that has become our custom over these past few weeks, is an attempt to remedy that situation. (And if you’re here looking for information about the Buffy episode of the same name, I’m sorry, all they have in common is music.) Read the rest of this entry »