Now that I’ve given away my music for the RPM Challenge to friends and many people have had time to hear it and react, I wanted a chance to explain some of the creative process that went into making each track.  This post will be the third of several which will go into some detail on my thoughts during the songwriting process.

Track Five – At Least Put a Sock On It

My first comment would have to be that I absolutely love this song, but no one else seems to and I’m not exactly sure why.  Art is a complete mystery to me.  I remember Sheryl Crow talking about songwriting on Tuesday Night Music Club and how each individual song was like birthing a baby and how you could never predict the future paths of its life.  I agree.  All of the art I’ve ever done truly has a life of its own.  The stuff I think is the best often isn’t.  And the “crap” is often better than I think.

The riff in the song is so much fun.  Right after creating it, I wrote down, “Spanish… Good Riff… Fast… 5/4 + noise… Pinched to open…”  It’s in 4/4 time for four bars and then slips into 5/4 for one bar.  When I’m composing guitar, I find myself often slipping into unusual time signatures, but I kept it to a minimum for my RPM music.  And the 5/4 part of this riff also lingers on and bounces off of couple of nameless chords.  So much fun to play.

When it came to the lyrics, I went straight to rock, probably because of the odd rhythm.  And what is rock and roll about?  It’s all about sex!  Lots of funny wordplay here, all intentionally immature in hinting about sex: “Mal-fuck-tion”, “got laid-ed”, and “blendering fashion”.  I loved writing the “taking your pants off” and “covering stains up” for rock and roll.  I can’t help but smile everytime I sing, “And your Mommy doesn’t like it” and “But you’re gonna do it anyway.”  It’s just so insouciant, it can’t help but be fun.  And I love the Pixies references.  But I don’t know what to do with it to make people like it better.

I went back and forth a lot during the writing process with the problem of how dirty to make it.  If it’s not dirty enough, it’s no fun.  If it’s too dirty, it’s gross-out rock.  It’s just dirty enough where I was worried about someone accusing me of promoting teenage sex.  Thus the title.  And the chorus.  But one girl already thought that it was all about masturbation (because “guys do it with socks“), which is more proof that once you make art, it goes kinda whereever it wants to go.

About the little funny outro, the dog was ruining my takes by licking himself and I finally got him to stop.  And then, right in the middle of recording a vocal, the neighborhood cat walked right into the middle of the room and went MIAAAAW.  So I kicked them both out.  With the microphone still on.  When I walked back to the computer, I listened back to it.  “That’s probably kinda awesome.”  And I left it in.

Track Six – No Romeo

I like the riff for this one, although I worry it’s a little repetitive.  I think it needs a lead guitar.  Or some other lead instrument to break up the rhythm.

The lyrics are inspired by a thought I’ve often had about running into an ex-girlfriend and not being able to really come up with anything to say other than “I love you.”  Because, really, nothing else I could think of would matter.  It kind of says it all, doesn’t it?  And it makes a much better connection than the “hi, how are you” bullhockey that I’d usually have to do.

But I didn’t go there, just because the riff begs for something more upbeat.  Some of the words may get a little clunky and I think this was the first time during the songwriting process that I started to dread writing more and moooore words for a particular song.  I think the little story it tells flows along pretty nicely, though.  The line “No Romeo” works, came from the blue, and I think says everything I’d need to say.  I wish I could have developed a better “twist” at the end, however, than the girl saying the same lines back to him.  Maybe under less time pressure, something better would surface.

I think the song is a touch cheesy, definitely romantic, possibly commercial, and vaguely country.  In another universe, I might imagine someone like Brad Paisley singing it.

Now that I’ve given away my music for the RPM Challenge to friends and many people have had time to hear it and react, I wanted a chance to explain some of the creative process that went into making each track.  This post will be the second of several which will go into some detail on my thoughts during the songwriting process.

Track Three – Underground

So far, this song has gotten me the most feedback.  People really seem to love it.  If I had a “hit”, this would probably be it.  Which I really appreciate.  I really like it too.  The songs at the front of the album are there for a reason.  I thought they were the most palatable for the most people.  I won’t say that I like them best, but I will say that I thought they’re probably the easiest to like.

I don’t remember much about coming up with the guitar riff, except that it makes my guitar sound so sweet to be capoed up high on the neck.  The little riff is easy and fun to play.  I like the way some of the strings will pretty much ring out the whole time, like they were open.

For the lyrics, they pretty much came to me wholesale in the time that it took my friend to call me from work at around 11:30 and drive over to my house.   Other lyrics took hours.  Once I got the idea for changing up who the narrator is telling and what’ll get away, it all came out in a few minutes.  I think very different stories are evoked by simply changing the pronoun.  If it’s a “he”, the narrator has been holding back telling him something very different than it would be if it was a “she” or a “them”.  Which I find very interesting.  Every combination puts a different story in my head.

The chorus word “underground” was the hardest thing to find.  I’m looking at my pencilled lyrics draft as I type this and other options were “well-endowed”, “anyhow”, “brown cow”, “drown”, “tumbledown”, “upside down”, “life unfound”, and “still unfound”.  Obviously working towards that long O.  I think I found the right one!

There aren’t really any drums to speak of.  Just a shaker, the ping-ping sound, and a tambourine.  I was worried at first that the ping-ping back there in the mix was too annoying, but the longer I listen to it, the more I like it.  I’m not sure any other drums would really add anything extra to this track, although I think it really could be voiced in a whole lot of ways.  I’m sure I could be talked into anything.

Track Four – Heartbreak Prediction

It’s mostly a three chord song (G-C-D), with a complexicated little break in the middle.  I don’t think the break ought to fit with the rest of the song, but I think it does a fairly good job.  It’s so tight and tense compared to the open-ness of the normal progression.

The words were so much fun.  I had no idea what the song would be about until I was completely finished with the first verse.  And I figured out it could be about the duplicitous nature of romance.  Yeah, she’s cute as a button, but she’ll rip your heart clean in two.

“Calculus in a/her little skirt” is so much fun to sing.  Along with “So clean cut, but dangerous, with just a little blush.”  Plus, it’s really fun to sing any song that uses the word “baby” so much.  Note that the word “baby” during the harmony is sung down instead of up, so it doesn’t intertwine too much with the other musical part.

The flip side lyrics are also a blast.  I love the idea of a “heartbreak prediction” and the phrase just works for me.  I also liked doubling the “wrestlin’ thunder, and lightning and thunder”.  Last, both images of her either “charmin’ me under” or “winnin’ me under” were good for me.  I went back and forth so many times in the writing process, I found a way to leave them both in there.

I hate it that I can’t actually play it live by myself!  I obviously can’t background sing for myself….  So I can’t really practice it and make it sound the way I want.  I need a collaborator for some background singing and playing help!