Honest Christmas Carols

In keeping with the Scrooge mind-set I struggle with on occasion, I’m thinking of starting a new trend. You could call it “honest Christmas carols.” Perhaps you could think up a few too. See if you can figure out the melodies. They would go something like this:

I’ll have a bland Christmas with or without you
It’ll be so bland just doing what we always do
Decorations and food
Bought with money galore
It’s always the same dear
But we keep buying more

Or the should-be-a-perennial-classic:

Dashing through the snow
In a beat up Chevrolet
Through the slush we go
Sliding all the way
Horns are ‘bout to ring
Making people fight
Everybody’s going crazy
It just isn’t right
(sigh)
Push and shove
Push and shove
Your way to Christmas day
Hey, that parking spot is mine
So, get out of my way   hey!
Push and shove
Push and shove
Your way to Christmas day
Hey, that shopping cart is mine
So get out of my way!

And then there’s the simple but meaningful:

I want to wish you a nondescript holiday experience
I want to wish you a nondescript holiday experience
I want to wish you a nondescript holiday experience
From the bottom of my politically correct hearrrrrrrrrrrt!

Okay. I’ll go back to being merry and bright now.

Maybe.


Peace to you.



© LW Publishing 2010

No Nonsense

Hey diddly high diddly high dee high dee hoooooooo.

Sha na na na na sha na na na na.

Oooooooooooweeeeeeoooooo.

I happened to notice the other day, for no particular reason, that in all of my song writing, I don’t think I have ever used nonsense syllables. I have written a lot of songs over the years. I couldn’t even tell you how many anymore. But, for some reason, I have not engaged in the common practice of nonsense syllables. I have never zip a dee doo dah’d. I have never bop sha bop’d or sh’boom’d on one of my songs.

Could there be something wrong with me?

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with nonsense syllables. Where would Doo Wop have been without the Doo or the Wop? The Beatles would have never koo koo ka choo’d. The Beach Boys would have had a lot less to say in the parking lot. And I don’t know how many singers and song writers still na na na and la la la their way through song after song.

But these things are conspicuously absent from my music, and I don’t know why. I have no idea. And I had not noticed until recently that it was the case. And I don’t know what to think about it. So I thought I’d just share it here, because what else do you do with such observations?

It all makes me wonder, who really did put the dip in the dip da dip da dip? Perhaps they could tutor me or something.


Peace to you.



© LW Publishing 2010

Nothing's On

“The radio makes hideous sounds.”

They say Bob Dylan said that. And I can relate. Though some would accuse Dylan of hypocrisy because they don’t like his voice.

Finding a radio station playing music that is interesting is hard. And I do mean interesting. There’s lots of stuff on the radio that sounds okay – good even – from a sonic standpoint. Some of it’s pretty catchy, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s all become so predictable and people seem to want it that way. Nothing new about that either. And I’m not saying I could do any better – probably not – but, still, sometimes you hunger for something a little more . . . interesting.

There is even a predictability in the unpredictable. You kind of know where some off beat band is going to take the music because you know where they aren’t going to go. They’re just too hip to move in certain directions, which limits how they might surprise you.

When it comes to music, I like predictable too sometimes. I like a good pop song. And when someone does something retro effectively it can be great as well. But it’s all a bit done already and it wears thin fast.

I can just see record industry producers scratching their heads, saying, “Where do we go from here?” Is Justin Bieber the future of pop music? What if he is?

Thing is, when was the last time you were really pleasantly surprised by some music? When was the last time you heard something that sounded truly special in some way, like you just knew it was going to be a classic? Or unique, but not for the sake of being unique? Or just good because it was creative and well done and had something thoughtful to say without being overly pretentious or cryptic?

The music world is becoming like cable TV. A million channels and nothing’s on.





Psalm 33:3
Peace to you.



© LW Publishing 2010