As a writer, my first instinct while going about writing this song was to come up with a story to help move it along.  This was familiar territory, but, since I always kept in mind that the story had to translate into a song, it was still difficult.  Eventually, a scenario (likely influenced by the fact that Halloween is coming soon) finally came together while my mind was occupied with something else; the chorus and most of the first verse quickly followed.  The melody was pretty simple at first; as I sang it aloud, I added more variation to its contour and brief pick-ups before the first two lines of each chorus, testing out how each new change sounded.  I stuck to the guidelines as strictly as possible (in hindsight, probably more than I should have), since it was my very first time writing and recording a song.  This helped me to concentrate on the lyrics and melody as much as possible and not become overwhelmed by the task.  I decided early on to use the track entitled "Blues In C 120 BPM" as the background for this song; as I suspected, it was much easier for me to create a melody that compliments the faster tempo.

Jamie Cortese Blues Assignment 1

I cannot play the guitar.  Let me make that clear right now.  When I first saw the lyrics we were working with, for some reason, I immediately thought, “Country!”  Strangely, the melody actually came relatively easily to me this time around, perhaps because the lyrics were already there.  I allowed myself more freedom this time around: I wrote a second verse, and changed the chorus a bit (lyrically and melodically) when I repeated it at the end.  The first four lines of the first verse made me think of a person who always "talks big" and makes promise after promise, but never follows through, and even though you might think you would get used to this behavior, it can still hurt.  I used this idea to help me write the bridge and the second verse.  I originally wanted the bridge to be longer, but I came down with a classic case of writer's block; however, I think it still works and moves the song forward.  When writing the bridge and the verse, I actually had Reba McEntire on my mind.  Now, clearly, I don’t have her sheer vocal strength; I was thinking more in terms of the lyrics.  None of her songs that I’ve heard are entirely depressing, rage-filled, etc.; there is always an inner strength that shines through in the lyrics.  “Sure, he left me, but I’ll be okay.  And you know what?  He really wasn’t that great, anyway.  In fact, he was kind of a jerk.  So good riddance.”  I tried to reflect this inner strength and resolve to move on in the lyrics I wrote.  I didn’t consciously try for any particular meter, but now that I listen to it, it appears to be in quadruple meter; the moderately slow tempo was intentional.  Also, I associate country with acoustic guitar, so I used my younger brother’s tiny First Act guitar.  Again, I cannot play guitar.  The tiny size of the guitar I was using did not help.  I sang the melody to a friend of mine named Jim, who suggested a few chords I might find useful (I did.), helped me tune the guitar accordingly, and taught me how to play said chords.  I then experimented for a long time, singing the lyrics and trying out the different chords to see what sounded good in what place in the song.  Eventually, I settled on a sequence of chords, and started recording.  It was incredibly difficult for me to sing and try desperately to play the guitar at the same time, but it would have been even more difficult to record the two separately and try to get them in sync with each other.  It was a struggle, but I eventually came out with a finished product, albeit a bit of a rough one. (On a side note, I also had some sort of frog in my throat that no amount of water would get rid of when I recorded this and, now that I listen to it, it’s a lot more obvious than I thought it was.)

Jamie Cortese Assignment 2

I used a bongo set to back up my vocals this time; the set actually belongs to my mother, who has had it since childhood.  Keeping the rhythm was difficult, so there may be a few rhythmic lapses in the song; however, I think it's safe to say that I am more adept at playing bongos than playing my brother's tiny acoustic guitar.  Also, my voice was a bit dry at the time of recording.  I was trying to go for sort of a "show tunes" feel, but the bongos seem to add another element to the overall sound.  The lyrics actually came from a joke between my mother and me that occurred before the school year started.  My schedule was locked in, and I half-joked to my mother that I wondered what on Earth I would write songs about, because I don't have much experience in love.  I could never write a song about love; I had too many ridiculous questions about it that would get in the way.  While my mother found this somewhat funny, she suggested that I could, in fact, write a song about those questions.  It was easy for me to think of ways to incorporate the randomly selected words (returnable, drum, mugged, scorched) into metaphors related to love, so I revisited that idea.  It's a bit cheesy, I think; but, then again, some "show tunes" are.  However, I did learn that I am not too fond of writing love songs that aren't funny.  I also am not too fond of the ending.

Jamie Lee Cortese - "If and When"

First of all, for any of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, I sincerely apologize if this song offends you in any way.  Also, I apologize if it makes any of you homesick.

After years of listening non-stop to a Chicagoland radio station that begins playing non-stop holiday music every year in November, I have become pretty well versed in holiday music.  When “depressing Christmas songs” were mentioned in class, many songs quickly sprang to mind, so I just took that idea and ran with it.  From November onward, I always find myself imagining and planning what the upcoming holiday season will bring.  Of course, as we all know, life rarely goes as planned.  Thus, the “Christmas In My Head” is often very different from the real one happening right in front of me––– a duality if I ever knew one!  Also, the lyrics of the song describe fun festivities, and the tune (after the first chorus kicks in) is happy and upbeat; however, there is still the occasional reminder that this is all only occurring in the performer’s head.

The song’s basic structure is: verse, verse, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.  I also repeat the last line of the chorus the second time.  I suppose the structure is a bit repetitive at the beginning, but many holiday songs tend to be that way, I suppose.  I came up with the lyrics first: the chorus came the easiest, and the melody for the chorus followed soon after.  For some reason, it was more difficult for me to fit the verses to a melody this time around.  As for the piano chords… First of all, I cannot really play the piano, so please excuse my beginner-level playing and my errors.  Also, I ended up using GarageBand’s built-in piano (the exact instrument was called “Grand Piano Punchy”), so, to my ear, at least, it sounds a bit unnatural.  I basically sang the melody and played around until I found some basic chords that varied from complementing the melody well to just not being too dissonant with it.  If I could do this over again, I would definitely spend more time experimenting around with the piano.  Some of the chords may not work as they are now, and I would have liked to have more time to fix that.  As it is now, I think it came out all right. (And yes, I did mess up on the piano part a bit during my first chorus, so it turned out much more choppy than I wanted it to be.  In fact, the whole song kind of ended up choppier than I intended.) I’m not a huge fan of my bridge; however, this time, I actually like my ending notes!  I would’ve liked to have added a bit more depth to those final notes, probably making them chords in the process, but the GarageBand piano is a bit limiting, and I think the basic message gets across.  At the very least, though, I did reach WAY out of my comfort zone!

I do make some specific references in this song, so in case there are any you don’t catch or don’t understand, here is a quick list… Tom Skilling is a respected Chicagoland meteorologist who is generally considered to be very accurate. (For example, many Chicago news stations first predicted “Snowmageddon 2011” about two days before it hit; Tom Skilling predicted it two weeks beforehand.) Rankin/Bass was a company that produced many classic holiday television specials, such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town.”  I also reference the holiday-themed songs, “Blue Christmas,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” and “Holly Jolly Christmas.”

iread93