songfight!
Songfight! is an almost-weekly competition where songwriters compose, record, produce and submit a new song within a week.
This is a very different creative process than honing a song for months and releasing an album. Everyone goes about it their own way, and perhaps varies it each time.
There are these cool 8" magnetic ribbons (just like the ones the big boys have on their 4x4s!) that you can order by clicking on it:
Here are some favorite songs by Songfighters!
The Price Is Right
Well, Jason heard me recording for a Song Skirmish (a crazy thing where we have one hour to write and record a song) with this title, and he started singing his own. He asked me to record him and after I posted it for the group, Caravan Ray remixed him into this techno dance rave piece!
Max The Cat's "Devils Live In A Quiet Pond"
Hostess Mostess' "Pasty White Man" Makes me want to cry
Jippers' "Step Up" Addictive and groovin...
Carol Cleveland Sings' "Brown Boxes" Hyper Hip Cool Pop
Brick Pig's "Tiny Room" One of the first I heard on Songfight and a convincing argument for joining the fray.
and then all the roymond songfights:
Radio Ready
a saturday project that just came together nicely. It'll need some tweaks in the lyric, a remix and some cymbals and hand claps, but here it is for songfight!
"Cute Boots" A live SF event title for SF Brooklyn. This person is obsessed with those fashion rain boots to the degree she can't stand to get them wet or dirty.
Fight for your Right (Beastie Boys cover) Produced for the 2007-08 Gift Of Music (GOM) challenge.
As requested by The Mighty Octothorpe:
Beastie Boys- (You've got to) Fight for your Right (to party)!
Voice, flanged rubber bands, electric kazoo, Vietnamese jaw harp, uod sample and drum samples. Recorded, sequenced and produced largely in a hotel room under the sheets.
501 A last minute entry for songfight 12/03/07, written and recorded in 4 hours...start to finish.
My Love Is Forever First entry for the Purple Reign project, borrowing song titles from the pained rain man for new original works.
My Darling Ruin My first Song Fight entry in a long, long time. Nice to be back :)
Here we either have a loner exploring the fringe of extracurricular activities, or the effects on cold war anxieties of the Soviet's launch of Sputnik I.
It's a waltz, naturally.
Many thanks to anti-m for wonderful vocals to bring a fuller perspective :)
The recurring bleep-wash is a recording of Sputnik 1 made from Washington DC as it passed over. Oct 4th is the anniversary of Sputnik's launch, the first ever man-made satellite.
Rhymes With Lucia My first collaboration as a part of x-tokyo-river-god for songfight. Lyric by Anti-M. Keyboards and drum/bass loops by roymond. Guitars by Noah.
It's Just Not Right Spirit in the sky...
Had It Up To Here My first Song Fight win in a long while :)
With only 4 hours in all spent to get this done by deadline, perhaps I can return to clean this up a bit, but listening through my SONY 7506s, our iMac speackers and my Dell laptop speakers, it's not too bad.
The Price Is Right Well, Jason heard me recording for a Song Skirmish (a crazy thing where we have one hour to write and record a song) with this title, and he started singing his own. He asked me to record him and after I posted it for the group, Caravan Ray remixed him into this techno dance rave piece!
Don't Think I Don't Miss You Another Songfight entry, my first in months!
This Is The Day (The The cover) Every new year at Songfight.org, some of us trade cover requests. This year I got Pumpkin Buzzard's list:
"Dragonaut" by Sleep
"Raw Hide" by Ol' Dirty Bastard
"This is the Day" by The The
"Hollywood Babylon" by The Misfits
So, it was This Is The Day...and I produced it during a rather intense time, so maybe it muddier than it should be. But it's always interesting to cover songs you don't know and see what emerges...
Across The Universe A coverfight entry to honor John Lennon. He had been and remains an icon of love and inspiration to me.
Save New Orleans Written for Songfight! in response to hurricane Katrina's attack on New Orleans. I can't put myself in the situation that so many people now find themselves in. I can only dwell on the prospects of rebuilding a community that is now entirely homeless and dispersed.
I Know My Rights This was for the Songfight Live-Boston 2005 event, and Hoblit, Ken, Frankie and Fluffy gave great backing on short notice. Awesome! Once the live recording is available it'll be linked here.
Meanwhile, here's a studio version I did for the online fight. A bit epic for it's own good, perhaps, but that's always a problem.
Space Cadet (SuperDuper Ken Cover) Oh man, another Hxaro, another thrill! Ken wrote this cool song. I did it my way. As usual...
I'm Not Impressed Song Fight Orchestra was started by Jim of Seattle, with each participant submitting a 30-45 second song that picks up from the previous segment. Very cool idea and a great job by everyone so far! I thought I was the last of the first round, so at the end I brought in some concept of reflection/rebirth with a recapitulation of Jim's The Wrong Girl. This will go on, apparently, through the year.
Honeymoon In Polynesia Another winning entry for Songfight!. Sort of a fantasy of amnesia. I know that doesn't help any but you'll have to run with it. Tonamel provides vocals for the break (although he probably doesn't know it) which I dutifully reversed and pitch shifted for harmony. I was at a loss for lyrics until I stumbled across some supposedly "traditional" Polynesian sayings that I use as a base.
Variation On Two (Shite cover) I took part in a Hzaro fight for Jack Shite, choosing his Variation On Two. Hzaro fights involve a gang of songfighters covering a bunch of another fighter's songs for love and offering them as a gift, much to the surprise of the receiving copyright holder.
So I took Jack's Variation On Two and set it on a subway platform, performed by an old blues singer. Here's my version.
Die For Me Another one written for Songfight and bringing up the questions of leadership and trust. Something we look for at work, at home, at large.
Everything came together April 8th (words and music). Then John Benjamin of the JBB came through with the cello parts, and the world was a better place. Thanks JB!
DMV (Primus cover) There was a Gift Of Music coverfight with the Songfight crowd. I received the titles requested by Rabid Garfunkle:
"DMV" - Primus
"Brother Wolf Sister Moon" - The Cult
"Over the Rails" - Rubber Chicken Lollipop
"Buy My Snake Oil" - Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon
So...I picked Primus. For some reason. I originally had some basa nova thing going, but India soon took over. The main objective was to avoid the whole hyper bass line entirely. Then create texture and dynamic while sticking with the drive of the original.
Run Faster Guest rap appearance by: Abominominous
With french runway announcer: Monica
Transit officials have acknowledged that New York City has the slowest bus speeds in America, at an average of 7.5 mph in recent years. According to the groups, the slowest most-used bus routes in each borough are:
B35 4.6 mph Runs between Brownsville and Sunset Park in Brooklyn
Bx9 4.5 mph Runs between Riverdale and West Farms Square in the Bronx
M23 3.4 mph Runs cross-town on 23rd Street in Manhattan
Q32 5.3 mph Runs between Jackson Heights and Penn Station
S62/92 7.8 mph Runs between Travis and the St. George Ferry Terminal
Taken by the arguments set forth in the Straphangers Association's annual "Pokey Awards", this song is based on comparisons made between the speed of NYC city buses and animals.
“City bus speeds are in the cellar,” said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. “There’s something terribly wrong when the slowest city buses come in a distant third behind chickens and penguins and just ahead of the average pedestrian.”
Cheer Up Shelley Shelley is impatient for the answer and unsteady without one. Her quest for knowledge has led her to religion and science alike. Faith fills the gaps, but she now rests assured that that's all faith can do. Written for the 12/13/04 Songfight! challenge, and my first win!
Say The Word (Walrus Gumble cover) Written in April 2004 by Walrus Gumble a.k.a User, for songfight! Here's the original. I was assigned it as a coverfight challenge in August 2004 and gave it my spin. That Monsieur Gumble put together such a simple, yet universal message about expired/unrequited love gave me a great start. The three levels of delusional hope, self-pity, and mad resentment really came out in the mix, so I blame the muse. Once that was cleared up I just put in a few rolled cymbals and the kalimba. I also did my own version for the original fight.
Hey Ruth Hey Ruth -- by roymond, featuring Sudharshan Krishnamachary
Written in May 2004 for songfight! I mixed some solo vocal melodies sung in Tamil by my friend Sudhar with what I hoped to be an atmospheric landscape. Things just came together. I was mixing some feelings about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with the enlightenment of the Tamil lyric. Ruth is an agent of the Iraq invasion who questions her mission, her sources, and her own values.
"You've been making incredible stuff for months and I have been completely oblivious to it. Fuck man, this is awesome." - frankie
Say The Word Written in May 2004, I was commenting on the promises made by candidates of both parties to represent we the people. They're so accomodating, aren't they? I used a Phillips head screw driver for the Hawaiian slide guitar part. Other than that it's a pretty straight forward guy with guitar song with some very nice chord changes.
Talk About Your Feelings Here Erik and Jason work through it and let us all know why you've got to talk about your feelings. I did this for Songfight!
Zombie Son Written in April 2004, I was putting down some simple observations about Bush using the same condescending tone that he often uses when he refuses to see very basic issues clearly.
She's On My Mind A little jazzy number for my special lady.
Lavender Splendor Written for Songfight in March, 2004.
Twenty One Based on a real story in the Torronto Star which may not be live any more, but its about an instant camera lost at an amusement park. A woman sent the photos in to the Toronto Star with a note. Well, at least I thought there was a story in there. Written for Songfight! in Novemeber, 2003.
Accelerator (Insects Ahead cover) This cover was done for Coverfight in Sep, 2003. Glenn and Jack Shite wrote an amazing song and I did my thing with it. It had a lot of drama hidden in there. I loved this project!
Feathers Based on this site and discussions with my friend Ted about his ornothological friends. While the song is specifically about birds that have gone extinct, it applies to our world at large, and perhaps ourselves.
Abominominous covered this for a Coverfight 2004. It rawks!
Thunderstorm I loved watching storms from my hammock in my skylight. This includes excerpts from "5 Cuban Landscapes" by Leo Brower, a fabulous cuban composer/guitarist with whom I took a master class with back in '84.
Variation on Two This was produced one weekend as I watched the Wimbledon tennis finals while sick in bed. Written and largely recorded during the women's final match, and finished and mixed during the men's final the next day.
It is focused purely on the women, the Williams sisters. Their egos and grips on the top slots in their game when they were starting to turn into either snobbish champions or seasoned professionals.
Sunny Again Written in June 2003, I was tying together Bush's difficulty making informed, intellegent decisions about world affairs, and peripheral items like the Dixie Chicks' speaking out against him and getting accused of being anti-American or somehow unpatriotic for exercising their freedom of speech! I couldn't believe this was happening. "Either you're with us or you're against us" was being yelled at US citizens as if we had no right to question his leadership. Well, I'm not with you, Mr. President. The beauty of this country isn't that our President rules unchecked by its citizenry, but that we can speak our mind and suggest alternate opinions and even ask for accountability for your actions. More than that - I can't wait till you're gone!
Birthdays and Breakups All of life's trauma gets wrapped up in these two recuring polar events in life. Somehow it always came back to mom. And Barry Manilow.
Level Best My second songfight! entry. Much of the final mix was done in the sheep meadow of Central Park during lunch. I love being mobile!
So Aggravating This was my first Songfight entry.
