FAWM 2023

Life keeps coming, if you're ready or you're not... it's still going to be today, and that's okay.

g-d-g-c

V1

first sip of coffee brings the morning to my bones
missing bed, eyes are red, for my choices I atone
make breakfast for the kids, chew the news of the day
Push dusty clouds out of my head, just in time to say

CH - G-D-G-C; G-D, E,F#, G

Good morning to you
Good morning, do the things you have to do
We all have prices we gotta pay,
If you're ready, [[if you're not, it doesn't matter,]]

it's still gonna be today

V2 G-D-G-C; G-D-G-C; D

Scrape the ice off of my car, and the ice off of my heart
turn the key inside, and bless it all it surely starts
Drop one off at the bus, but not without a fuss
and I suspect this day will be like any other, 
but that's okay, and I still say

CH

Good morning to you
Good morning, do the things you have to do
We all have prices we gotta pay,
If you're ready, if you're not, [[it doesn't matter]]

it's still gonna be today

BR 

We're only here for our allotted time
The life we live is just a sum of all of our todays
Today, today, perhaps I'll shine
And in my clumsy way, I'll try to say I hope you'll find, the joy waiting your mind

Today Today~ (over chorus? outro)

Good Morning

This song is based on a prompt to write a song inspired by/incorporating a random sentence from a book. The sentence I got when I opened a book Sarah had left on the coffee table was 

"Milk is a mammalian innovation" from the book "I contain multitudes" by Ed Yong

#randomsentence


When we started out We were all just tiny cellsW
Floating on instinct in warm gooey gels

We got bigger, faster, split and multiplied
somehow growing larger even though we divide

(Milk is a mammalian innovation)
(Milk is a mammalian innovation)

Complexity, complexity, things began to change
sparks began to process in our preganglial brains

As our power grew, our four limbs began to stretch
With sturdy packs of backbones, and flexing sturdy necks

(Milk is a mammalian innovation)
(Milk is a mammalian innovation)

These days we love to argue, but we're only splitting hairs
but when hairs split on their own they caught us unawares

As we cover up with fur, it's now too hot to think
Splayed out praying to the moon, throats aching for a drink

(Milk is a mammalian innovation)
throats aching for a drink
(Milk is a mammalian innovation)
throats aching for a drink


(Evil laughter)

Milk is a Mammalian Innovation

Milk Is A Mammalian Innovation

Collaboration with Spike Direction
Lyrics - Spike Direction
Music - Siebass

Tweaked lyrics:

Y’know, I was sinking 40 hours a week into a place I hated, with people I hated, doing things I REALLY hated, and at the end of it, I still couldn’t pay my bills, what was the point?


So y’know what i did? I Quit.


G, D, B, D, E, F

V1

I didn’t ask to be born, 

Ours not to reason why

But I reckon I was put here to do

More than pay my bills and die



[[SO WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT??? You're GONNA  Blown out overdrive/radio mid focused]]


QUIT Your JOB [[B-A-G (also works cuz you're gonna BAG it) chorus, everyone]]


Radio fried telephone type vocal for spoken

Y’know, most jobs that people have are unnecessary, pointless, time consuming bullshit. Giving nothing to the world except C02 and paperwork for some other poor sap. I reckon if we really looked at what jobs NEED, and I mean REALLY NEED to be done, about two thirds of people would be out of work tomorrow. 



And nobody would be any worse off, power would still flow, food would still grow, but billions of people would suddenly be free to live their lives in peace, and then what might we achieve?


G, D, B, D, D#, E

V2

I didn’t ask to be born

I don’t get a choice in this

And yet everyone reckons that I have to work

To justify why I exist


[[SO WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT??? You're GONNA  Blown out overdrive/radio mid focused, drums still going hard]]

QUIT your JOB



BR, ascending climb


Y’know, you're just spending day after day after day after day, turning your mental energy, or the sweat off your brow, into money in the wallet of some weird replicant like Bezos, or Musk, or Zuckerberg. Fuck em!



[[SO WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT??? You're GONNA  Blown out overdrive/radio mid focused, drums still going hard]]



QUIT YOUR JOB


*FURIOUS SOLO*



V3


What would you do with your day

If I could set you free

How would you spend your life

If you didn't have to stress about money


V4

I didn’t ask to be born, 

Ours not to reason why

But I reckon I’m here to do so much more

More than pay my bills and die



[[SO WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT??? You're GONNA  Blown out overdrive/radio mid focused, drums still going hard]]



[[BIG FINALE]] going up instead of down, slower delivery



QUIIIIIIIIT

Your

JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOB



Cuz F*ckit.





Original Lyrics:

Y’know, I was sinking 40 hours a week into a place I hated, with people I hated, doing things I REALLY hated, and at the end of it, I still couldn’t pay my bills, what was the point?

So y’know what i did? I Quit.

I didn’t ask to be born, 
Ours not to reason why
But I reckon I was put here to do
More than pay bills and die

QUIT YOUR JOB

Y’know, most jobs that people have are unnecessary, pointless, time consuming bullshit. Giving nothing to the world except C02 and paperwork for some other poor sap. 

I reckon if we really looked at what jobs NEED, and I mean REALLY NEED to be done, about two thirds of people would be out of work tomorrow. And nobody would be any worse off, power would still flow, food would still grow, but billions of people would suddenly be free to live their lives in peace, and then what might we achieve?

I didn’t ask to be born
I don’t get a choice in this
And yet everyone reckons that I have to work
To justify why I exist

QUIT YOUR JOB

Y’know, You're just spending day after day after day after day, turning your mental energy, or the sweat off your brow, into money in the wallet of some weird replicant like Bezos, or Musk, or Zuckerberg. Fuck em!

QUIT YOUR JOB

*FURIOUS SOLO*

What would you do with your day
If I could set you free
How would you spend your life
If you didn't have to stress about money


I didn’t ask to be born, 
Ours not to reason why
But I reckon I’m here to do so much more
More than pay bills and die

QUIT YOUR JOB

Quit Your Job

Megaman 2 style song made using beepbox.co, as part of the Megaman2 challenge for FAWM 2023.

Not sure if I hit everything, but pretty close

Basic rules:
- 4 parts: percussion, bass, melody, harmony
- 180 or 150 bpm
- Minor key
- Bass: either galloping (180bpm) or funky (150bpm)
- Melody: use syncopation & accented offbeats
- Harmony: 3rds of melody, or chord arpeggios

Song url on beepbox.co https://tinyurl.com/2zaw59vp

Cloud Man (Mega Man 2 song challenge)

I was originally thinking about how wounds bring us together, how someone that hurt you will forever leave a mark to tie you to them, or how we come together over shared wounds to heal.

Then I stood up too fast in the server room and cracked my head on a sharp metal shelf, so the topic is all too real today, and even more fitting now. So your topic is wounds, and/or how they bring us together or connect us


CH
Tearing me apart, whoa oh oh
Reel me back in
Cut me down to the bone
Patch me up, I'm still coming home

V1

We rip ourselves open
Rub our wounds together again
I feel the peroxide burning
But my heart's still bubblin'

CH
Tearing me apart, whoa oh oh
Reel me back in, whoa oh oh
Cut me down to the bone
Patch me up, I'm still coming home

V2

The room begins to darken
I got no more blood to give
Still dig my chest open
I need this pain to live

BR

baby let me in
come on let me in
Baby let me in
My stitches are my riches, so baby let's do it again
Let's do it again


CH
Tearing me apart, whoa oh oh
Reel me back in
Cut me down to the bone
Then you patch me up, I'm still coming home

All My Riches Are Stitches - (2 - 14 - 2023 Skirmish)

Liner Notes

Siebass: I saw the below liner notes from Guatecoop on his song "malaise", so I took a listen, and though it was great. Worked up some lyric, vocal, and video, then passed it back to him. Went with the theme of disconnection, and that evolved into the metaphor of the missing heart in the song. Someone once described my vocals as "careening". I think I leaned into that here. Really happy with how this turned out.

Original track "malaise" from Guatecoop is here: https://write.fawm.org/songs/22875

guatecoop: This is a song that I wrote for the video collab, but it never materialized. I tried to write something really easy to go along with but maybe it wasn't. I had pretty much given up on the video collab challenge, which would have been the first time of not completing the challenge since it was started 3 years ago--UNTIL @siebass got ahold of me suggesting that we just move forward with it together! I was really grateful and flattered....and then, he sends me his vocals with video and it was really great. So, I had basically completed the music but only with video for the guitar, as others were going to play other instruments and have their own videos. Well, I had to get those done, so I did a new drum track and did a video for the bass—and my 10 year old son filmed it. The laptop that has OpenShot on it is very old and SLOW, so I aligned the videos the best that I could. It turned out pretty well, but the song is brought up to a new level with the vocals from @siebass.
I banged out some drums and put my 60s Tiesco bass on it. The guitar is my Agile Harm through a Vox AC15.

Lyrics

Heart's not where I left it

Intro

V1

My heart's not where I left it, this morning
It was here, oh not too long ago
Maybe it fell out while I was digging in
Scraping away some bitter snow

CH

Yeah you know I'm doing fine
And you know I'm doing fine

V2

In my chest, something else moved in
something I don't really like
Staring at patterns on my ceiling
Keeping me up at night

CH

Yeah you know I'm doing fine
Yeah you know I'm doing just fine
Yeah you know I'm doing just fine
If you find it, just know it was mine

V3

My heart's not where I left it, this morning
My heart's not where I left it, tonight
I'm slowly caving in, it's been weeks this afternoon
My heart's not where I left it, please, please come home soon

CH

Yeah you know I'm doing fine
Yeah you know I'm doing just fine
Yeah you know I'm doing just fine
But if you find it, just know that was mine

Yeah you know I'm not fine
Yeah you know I'm not doing fine
Yeah you know I'm not doing fine
When you find it, call me, cuz it was mine.

Heart's Not Where I Left It (Collab with Guatecoop)

Jack Be Nimble

Michael's #7 song for February Album Writing Month. Lyrics by Kathleen Little.  

You Got Butter In Your Car

You Already Know (v5)

A Piece Of This Feeling (lyrics by Siebass, music and vocals by Ashley Brewer)

Photo by Texas Wedding Photographer, Matthew T Rader: matthewtrader.com

Darlin' you're a picture
That I wanna take
I'm up inside my mind with a pistol for a brain

Got an itchy trigger finger
I wanna shoot it straight
Just when I think I know you, girl, that's when you let me down again

Woohoo (say what ya mean girl)
Woohoo (before it's too late)
Woohoo (say what ya mean cuz)
Time ain't on your side...on your side

Now darlin', I'm a simple boy
With simple needs
I like a girl who tells me straight if she wants to she can leave

If you're a wandrin'
Then that's ok
I don't need your cherry red lips tryin' to tell me you wanna play

Woohoo (say what ya mean girl)
Woohoo (before it's too late)
Woohoo (say what ya mean cuz)
Time ain't on your side...on your side (repeat)

Time ain't on your side
Time ain't on your side
Time
Time
Time ain't on your side
Time 
Time
Time ain't on your side
Time ain't on your side



Time Ain't On Your Side

Collab with my buddy, topic for lyrics was "trimming the fat"

Lyrics by Michael Stettes
Music by Siebass

Excess Nexus

VERSE

so you got rid of the scraps
leftovers, knick-knacks
the toxic and fair-weathered
wasted breaths and silent letters

but they didn't go away
just got a new place to stay
beyond your simple science
they formed an alliance

one day they caught you sleeping
crept up on you creep creeping
stuck your body in a vice
and ran off into the night

you woke up surrounded
body trapped and mind confounded
far as your eyes could see
were things you didn't need

PCH 

now you're in a weird dimension
faced with deadly intention
you were done with these fools
but they weren't done with you

CHORUS:

Surrounded by your trash
how long will you last
in the 
EXCESS NEXUS 

You kicked 'em to the curb
but now it's your turn
in the
EXCESS NEXUS

(Solo)


Tried to trim the fat but the fat fought back!
Tried to let it go but it won't let go!
Guess you’re stuck in the 
EXCESS NEXUS

A sad fate
with no escape
from the
EXCESS NEXUS

Heart's Not Where I Left It (Collab with Guatecoop)

Siebass

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