This song represents the place where things got alarmingly repetitive for my 50/90 project. In another day or two I’ll be posting a song that is musically very similar to this one. As I worked this one out, I had no memory of the previous attempt. They are different enough that I am going to count them both, but they are still pretty similar. Oh well.

The guitars are all Les Paul.

take a look around you
tell me what you see
are you standing where you 
always thought you’d be
did your hopes and wishes
ever come to pass
did you win the game or
did you come in last

its up to me
to make the most of things
its up to me
whatever the future brings

everything is moving
everywhere you look
everything in motion
never ending book
give yourself a chance to
figure something out
take the time to learn
what it’s all about

Up To Me

An angry little ditty about the seemingly overzealous police in Ferguson, MO. Not much else to say about this one except that the guitars are all Fender.

Take me away
to where it’s safe
get me out of this
police state
tear gas
and flash grenades
riot police
troops in the street

Machine guns line the street
disperse any people who meet
no cameras no press
no law but the riot police

we’ve seen this all before
and now we’re back for more
it can’t happen here today
just don’t get in the swat team’s way

No word from the state house
no rule left to worry about
it sure looks like kent state
Martial law can’t be too far away

Riot Police

So 50/90 is an unnatural forcing of a crap ton of songs in a relatively short period of time. We’re half way though and I’ve learned one thing. I’ve learned how easy it is to repeat something you’ve already done. This one sounds a LOT like a song I mixed and posted last night.

The lyrics are a Florida Man story. I’ve attached the link. The rhythm guitars are Fender and the lead is the Les Paul.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/strange/sfl-flduh-jail-study-20140808,0,878488.story

positive thinking
its all about the up side
never let your crimes
hold you down

Got to get myself
back to jail again
got to get myself
back to school

incarceration
gives you so much time to
learn to concentrate
and study hard

I have so much to learn
So many subjects
I am guilty please
Send me to jail

Send Me To Jail

I kinda like this one, although the cutting and pasting sounds really obvious to my ears. I usually try and get my punches cleaner than this, but I seemed to be slacking on this day. The lyrics are part of my current atheist bent. The guitars are all Stratocaster.

believe what you want
believe what you want
I’ll just do my thing

follow who you want
follow who you want
just don’t bother me

come to me
he said knowingly
follow me
he said sheepishly

belive in me
he said hungrily
worship me
he said viscously

Open my eyes
see what’s there
don’t be blinded by the glare

no disguises
no tricks of light
nothing hidden in the air

There is wonder everywhere
There is magic all around
You don’t need a miracle
to see what’s to be found

Supernatural
all a game
what is factual
what’s the claim

Supernatural

I wanted something slow and dirgish (is that a word?) and twangie. I sorta got that, not really. This is another one that I got weird with the time signature setting in GarageBand for iPad and then the drummer function on GarageBand for Mac had no idea what to do with it. I kept the iPad drums but changed the sound.

The lyrics are inspired by my step kids' first day of school today. The youngest started middle school. It was just yesterday that he was four years old and his mom introduced us. Time flies, eh?

The guitars are all ES-335.

Time flies
everything changes
surprise
everything is gone

goodnight
wake to a new world
all right
what can you do

Life moves on
Like it or not
past is gone
enjoy what you’ve got

Enjoy What You've Got

This one feels forced. I don’t know, it just isn’t doing much for me. I like the part after the first solo where the drums ride on a crash cymbal, but the rest of it doesn’t seem to gel. The lyrics are gibberish made up on the spot. The guitars are all Fender.

what do you say
lets call it a day
meet me halfway
come what may

I took a chance
No backward glance
This song and dance
will not advance

give it up

I surrender
first offender

give up something
take a chance
always running
in a trance
always moving
never slow
still improving
steal the show

I Surrender

The music was written in a hotel room in upstate New York. How rock and roll is that? I occasionally find myself very inclined to throw electric pianos at everything. This comes from such a phase. The part in question here was recorded using GarageBand for iPad. If you use GarageBand for iPad one of the first things you learn is that the velocity functions SUCK SUCK SUCK. Keyboards suffer from the affliction the most. I really should have re-recorded the electric piano part using a real keyboard and my Mac, but I just didn’t have the energy to try and figure out what I’d done on the iPad. I’m not a keyboard player. The struggle is too much to worry about.

The lyrics are my second use of a website that collects old folk stories, specifically stories from Massachusetts. This one is about a guy, Sam Hyde, who was notorious for telling unbelievable tall tales, and for drinking a lot of cider. It’s sort of a cute story.

Here’s the link:
http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2012/07/sam_hyde.html

You lie like Sam Hyde
one lie for each truth
he’ll not be denied
anything for his use

there is the meadow
there is the tree
there is the river
nothing else there to see

One glass of cider
shiny half crown
a lie in the truth
I’m the talk of the town

Give me the money 
and a little bit more
I gave mostly truth
when I came to your door

You Lie Like Sam Hyde

On Facebook, my sister in law (a middle school teacher) told us that my niece said the second day of kindergarten was even better than the first. My sister (an elementary school teacher) said something along the lines of yippee for good days at school.

And a song was born.

Not sure what happened with the guitars. It sounds like I had my wah wah pedal plugged in, switched on, and closed. There’s another song that I recorded on the same night that is even toppier. Oh well. Time’s a wasting on 50/90 and I can’t go back and fix my stupid.

The guitars are all ES-335.

Let’s hear it for good days
For finding some new ways
Let’s hear it for good days

It could always be worse
you could suffer some curse
be glad it’s all right

Seems like it’s all gone wrong
but it was right all along
hang in there a while

Let's Hear It For Good Days

The music was written in a hotel room in Montreal (I think) and the lyrics are about how stupid the Market Basket situation got in New England (ironically, as I was recording the last vocal line a friend sent me a link to a stream of Artie T’s speech to the employees thanking them for their loyalty. You kinda have to live in Massachusetts or New Hampshire to know what I’m talking about)

The guitars are all ES-335.

I can’t believe it took so long
I can’t believe they let it go so wrong
What were they thinking?
Just get it done

That’s how you do it
That’s how it’s done
flush it away
that’s how it’s done

Buried and ruined
seek and destroy
mangled and broken
seek and destroy

twisted and shattered
tens of millions lost
all for nothing
tens of millions lost

Tens Of Millions Lost

The music was written in a hotel room in Niagara Falls, Ontario. When I first recorded the rhythm guitars it hit me how 80’s corporate rock this was. It sounded like Journey and that pissed me off. When it came time to write the lyrics that was the original concept: This song sounds like Journey and it sucks. That quickly turned into a flashback to when I was in high school and how much I hated hair bands and corporate crap rock. Then it morphed into sort of being about being a teenager and knowing absolutely everything about everything and not giving a shit about anything or anyone.

Yeah, deep… right? (no, not at all).

The guitars are all ES-335. It’s possible the mix might be utter garbage, but I’m so tired right now I can’t tell.

Do you remember
when the choice seemed real
There was nothing better
then making our own deal

Those were the days
we knew everything
we knew the ways
of becoming king

We were alive
we had open minds
we could decide
what we wanted to find

we had the power
but we didn’t care
we had the options
but we didn’t care

50/90 Idiot Part1