I’ve written lyrics from since I was fifteen and songs a few years later, after I began playing guitar. I taught myself to play at first — and here’s a tip, girls and boys: don’t try this (at home or anywhere else!) It took years to break some bad habits and I’m still not completely free.
Now you’d think, after a few years, that I’d become quite proficient at knocking up a decent tune. Well you couldn’t be more wrong. When I first started, I churned out so many verses and choruses for a song, I made the almighty Dylan (Bob, not Thomas) look like he was an itinerant peddler of cheap haiku. American Pie had nothing on my epics.
But at last, after years of therapy, my guitar teacher deemed my old stuff not worthy of the faded paper it was scrawled on and commanded me to write new tunes. Uplifting songs. Happy songs. And above all, short songs, two to three minutes at the most.
And so I did, in my own twisted way.
Uplifting songs like I Hate the Banks and happy songs like New Medication. Even a teenage anthem, I Don’t Care (even though I can’t remember back that far). And of course there are the poignant love songs like We Never Touch and the raunchy Unexpected. Hell, I even have a four-minute techno dance song.
All in all I have fifteen songs of varying styles, but mostly in the pop/rock vein. Currently, I’m working on an uplifting song about disillusionment.
In the table below the song titles are links to samples of the songs. They’re mp3s around 45 seconds long . For some reason, my Internet Explorer6 would only play the first 20 seconds using the media button on the toolbar and I don’t know why, but if I right-click and open it in another window, the browser starts up window’s media player, which plays the whole clip even though it shows the truncated time.
I've also found that if I select settings under the media options menu in the media frame and click on yes to reset preferred types and then click on a song to play it, if I click on no when asked if I want it to play in its own window, window’s media player starts up. Of course, it all depends on how your computer is set up. The song might start up in quicktime or realplayer or whatever.
The songs are available for download at lulu.com at resonable price (I think). Just click on the song title link and a popup window will open, showing the lyrics and links to where you can buy the song. I'm loading up to as many sites as possible to give a variety of choice as well as reach as many people as possible. Some, I will have control over the price and others I won’t. Some sites I have to send a CD to and they will rip the songs and convert them to MP3s. Some sites are free and some have either an annual fee or a one-off fee. I still plan to put ten or twelve songs on a CD, but I still have to do the artwork, so that’s a few weeks away. When I do, I’ll add a button for it.
So have a listen and see if you like them. You can leave comments on my blog. If you have a specific query you can email me from the link on my home page, but don’t worry if I take a while getting back to you. I’ll probably ony check it once a week or so initially.
| Title | Play | Style | Length min:secs |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Good Friend |  |
Ballad | 2:12 |
| All I Want | |
Slow ballad | 2:37 |
| Astray | |
Techno Dance | 4:10 |
| Don’t Curse Me | |
Up Tempo Country/Rock | 2:27 |
| Dream | |
Rock ballad | 2:54 |
| Everyday | |
Rock with slight country feel | 3:00 |
| I Don’t Care | |
Teenage Anthem 80s/90s feel | 2:48 |
| I Hate The Banks | |
Rockabilly | 2:52 |
| In Your Eye | |
Rock | 2:51 |
| Lost In The Moment | |
Country Rock Ballad | 2:47 |
| New Medication | |
Rock with folk feel | 2:31 |
| New Surprise | |
Rock ballad | 2:43 |
| Rising Stars | |
Pop/Rock | 2:29 |
| Run Away | |
Rock Ballad | 2:58 |
| Same Old | |
Rock | 2:45 |
| Time | |
A Techno mix of styles from Fatboy Slim's Praise You and Moby's Porcelain and warped. | 3:26 |
| Top Secret Files | |
Habanera (Cuban) feel | 3:00 |
| Unexpected | |
Pop | 2:41 |
| We Never Touch | |
Rock love song | 3:36 |
| What We Sow | |
Pop ballad | 2:52 |
