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. Click to continue reading, comment and share »
The last two 52sp songs have been sappy, so after being energized by the absolutely spectacular electric storm that swept through as I was in Toronto yesterday, here is a more upbeat tune. If you have ever experienced within days of each other both a severe lack of sleep as well as the ability to relentlessly sleep all of the time, you may be able to relate to the lyrics. If not, you may find your head bobbing in time to the quick offbeats or the power guitar chorus. And if all that fails, set this tune as your morning alarm. It won’t let you down.
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If you are ever feeling down, perhaps a little glum, don’t you ever take yourself away to an island in your mind? Somewhere warm? An island filled with all of the positive, calming things in your life? Perhaps that is cliche, however this song is intended to conjure up warm and relaxed feelings that may be metaphor to sailing, blue water, warm weather, and getting away from it all. Click to continue reading, comment and share »
Here’s a dark little ditty with a sprinkling of hope in its bouquet. As Saturday is meant to be rainy, this could perchance be an appropriate soundtrack… the mingling of raindrops could complement the percussion nicely. Swagger last week, this week might just be the opposite! Have we set you up for tears? Hopefully less of that and more of introspection. In less than 40 minutes from posting this, it will be 9 o’clock in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Song
Discussion
STEVE: If you have been following along, you will have noticed that our champion Chris has heroically been single-handing the project for several weeks now: no mean feat. I have been on the road with my summer work, though Chris has arguably… nay, certainly been more busy. I am finally back home and starting a short breath of summer holidays. My recording gear seems to be working and last evening’s internet connectivity issues with my local network appear to be resolved, and so, even if it is several hours late, I give you song 32.
I am not going to do a lot of ‘splainin’. I feel as though this is one of those songs that you can let your mind wander into and take your own meaning out of it. Having been over much of the Canadian East these past few weeks, thousands of kilometers of road can surprisingly be inspiring as far as song writing. I have some songs to catch up on pitching in for 52sp, but I have plenty of fodder. In short, I wrote this last night with my mind in Halifax and contemplating just how far away Fairbanks, Alaska is.
Enjoy.
Lyrics
Jaded on the corner of Barrington and nowhere once again
That last glass of sangria, that last bridge caught on fire to my friends
The sun’s been down for hours but it’s 9 o’clock on the other side of town
Hold on to me
I know there’s good
I know it’s good
I know I should, I willÂ
What once I thought was forward, it appears I’m walking backward through the streets
All the cars and people do their best to make their way around me
And the things I thought were closer are now disappearing
Hold on to me
I know there’s good
I know it’s good
I know I should, I willÂ
Suddenly I see that we’re not meant to be looking for a cure
If there are no questions there are no more answers to look for
While you wrap your heart around that I will wrap my arms around you
Hold on to me
I know there’s good
I know it’s good
I know I should, I willÂ
Credits
Words and music: Steve Salt
Steve Salt: Vocals, guitars, programmed bass, drums, piano, organs
Chris Tindal: Extremely tolerant of his friend’s absence
Claire Salloum: Future illustration
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.) Click to continue reading, comment and share »
Every week we try to put a clever short blurb about the song here without giving away too much that we want to talk about in the “discussion” part below. The problem is, I don’t have a lot to say about this. I don’t know what this sounds like or is influenced by (aside from an obvious lyrical proximity to Bob Dylan), so I’ll let you work that out on your own. Heck, the real point of this text is just to fill space beside the illustration anyway. (Look! It’s a bell!) Click to continue reading, comment and share »
Hi! Chris here. I don’t know what you’ll think of this one. I’ve been working on it for a few years, actually using it to soundcheck at the start of shows, but I’ve never recorded it. I spent the last few days in Montreal on business, just returning last night, so I needed to crank this out quickly on Tuesday night. I think it’s kinda cool that it doesn’t really sound like anything else we’ve done. When recording it, I pictured myself standing on a large outdoor stage looking out into a huge, empty field. Maybe that’ll be the music video. Click to continue reading, comment and share »
My dog ate it.
Steve here. And, with the heaviest, most tired heart, I am the bearer of bad news this morning. For the first time in the short history of 52sp, this week’s song will not be ready in the 6 short hours from now until 9am. I feel terrible. I wanted to come to you with some sob sad story of how I didn’t get it written, I had writer’s block, I had my voice broken or something, but truth is what eventually thwarted me was technology.
At about 2am, a little over an hour ago, my hardware decided to act up. I tried everything to resuscitate it, but it proved even harder than spelling the word resuscitate. (Unexpectedly hard. And yes, I tried rebooting).
So, having written the song, which is my first lullaby,  and partly recorded it, and even going so far as to trying to record it on my phone (that was going horribly), my own lullaby is putting me to bed: 3am is too late to be worrying about this.
Here is what I’ll do. I’m going to post the lyrics I wrote for my lullaby below. Then, one of three things will happen in the next 24 hrs:
1. Chris will see this post, curse me under his breath, retrieve my lyrics, write new music for them, record and save the day.
2. Chris will see this post, curse me under his breath, retrieve my lyrics, promptly toss my lyrics for something better, write a new song, record and save the day.
3. Chris will not see this post before I am able to wake up in the morning, resuscitate (honestly hard to spell) my hardware, record the song, delete this post and edit the time published of the new post I come up with to publish the song… no one is the wiser. Chris still somehow saves the day (it’s just how he is).
With that, I bid you adieu with haste, with my lyrics in my wake:
When you close your eyes
Do you still see me?
Are there cotton clouds and a rope
Swing in a tree
When you close your eyes
A thousand miles from here
Do you go from there
To being suddenly near?
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.
When you close your eyes
Can you hear me sing?
Can you feel these words
Come alive and tuck you in?
When you close your eyes
A million miles west
Does the world slow down
So you can finally rest?
Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight.
When I close my eyes
I spin my web
Catch you in my dreams
But want you here instead
Jetlag + missing friends overseas + Bulgaria + experiential education + true love + dancing at weddings + thinking about how we treat our health + pizza + memories that are so good they hurt + the ability to travel long distances in short periods of time + people that, even though you might see them once every few years, fit right back into your life + memories that are so bad they hurt + staying up too late when you should be keeping someone warm + lack of oxygen but abundance of radiation on airplanes + songwriting + 2 hours = Twist.
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Today is Canada Day! Yay! Happy Canada Day, everybody! On this special occasion, we’re very happy to present a song about… ourselves! Because we forgot it was Canada Day when we were working on the song this week! And instead we remembered that this week is actually the halfway mark in our 52 song project! And we got excited about it and wanted to use a lot of exclamation marks! Like MAD Magazine! We’ll stop doing that if you keep reading after the song, we promise! Also, Claire heard our song was called Halfway there, and she decided to draw a Halfway pear! Because she’s so punny! Click to continue reading, comment and share »
