Hi all,
It's been a very busy week, so I haven't been able to complete a song – just some lyrics that are a knock-off from something else.
Most of the available time has been spent delving into time signatures, and very interesting it was too.
After playing TwistedFingers' song accurately the first time, and then losing the beat and playing it again in the wrong time, I realised I needed more ummm .. time on time.. :?
But after singing The Celt's song (in the right time!) and seeing "danced by the light of the moon" at the end I just continued on and sang through The Owl and The Pussycat in 3 / 4 time to John's chords (in the manner suggested by Manotheside last week).
So here's my quick-n-dirty 2005 version of The Owl and the Pussycat, with apologies to John, and to Edward Lear.
Click for the original words to The Owl and the Pussycat
The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea,
In his brand new fibre-glass yacht.
She was his honey, but wanted his money
And planned to run off with the lot.
The Owl looked up to the stars above
And sang with his Fender guitar
“Oh beautiful kitty, oh kitty my love,
What an absolute hottie you are
You are
You are
What an absolute hottie you areâ€.
The Cat said to the Owl “You're crude and you're foul
And I do not owe you a thing.
We'll never be wed, but you're quite good in bed
So feel free to buy me a ring.â€
They sailed away for a week and a day,
Then landed to stock up with beer.
But there on the jetty stood Black-hearted Betty,
With a ring in the tip of each ear.
Each ear
Each ear
With a ring in the tip of each ear.
Said Betty “You b*tch, you'll never be rich
The Owl is my husband by law
Thanks to his lovin' I've a bun in the oven
And, back home, another four more.
So fight me you cow, and let's do it now
I'll get back my honour and pride,â€
So with fire in the blood, they wrestled in mud,
While the Owl took bets on the side
On the side
On the side
While Owl took bets on the side.
Oddly enough I had to change several of Lear's original words because the forum auto-censor kept changing them to words that didn't work in the song. :shock:
See you all in a week or two when things quieten down a bit.
But before I go… (didn't think you were getting off that lightly did you… :wink: )
I asked my teacher about time signatures on Tuesday and we had a very interesting discussion during which he enlightened me and bamboozled me in equal measure (“equal measure†- is that a time signature??). He showed me ways in which bars of 6/8 time could be comfortably inserted into either 2/4 time or 3 / 4 time to flavour it up a bit. He also pointed out the syncopated rhythm that I'd apparently used in part of my last song here… :? Maybe if we spend a few more lessons on it, it will penetrate the old skull a bit deeper....
I also formed the idea that you could set a string of words in just about any time you wanted, if you tried hard enough. For instance, imagine you were handed the following words and asked to set them to music (assuming you'd never seen them before).
Morning has broken like the first morning.
You might think OK let's go for two bars of 4/4. G chord with a thumb bass strum for the 1st beat, D/U for the 2nd beat, and then just D and D for the 3rd and 4th beats.
Morn – ing /has – bro – ken | like – the/first – mor – ning |
Quite easy to sing like that.
But I have the song-book open in front of me at Cat Stevens' song , and hey – it's actually in 3 / 4 time. And that line takes SIX bars to complete and FOUR different chords (one of which is used twice, to make 5 all up).
The word "broken" takes up two bars all by itself and "bro" has one chord and "ken" has another.
So I'd say that the time a song is in often has a lot more to do with the hands on the guitar than the hand on the pen...
OK, enough waffle...
Thanks for that lesson, Chris. I agree. I think we get a rhythm going in our heads based on what we like or are used to and then can't seem to get it out long enough to hear something a different way. I've had stuff in my head that was so rhythmical, I could practically hear the music as I was reading, and then I showed it to someone else and they couldn't find the rhythm at all. Which is why unless we've already heard a song, it's hard to play it by just looking at chords--and certainly hard to figure it out just based on lyrics. Hey just look at how many words R.E.M. can cram into one measure. And, no, I didn't think I was gonna get off that lightly. Think I'd've been disappointed if I had. Looking forward to the next lesson, lol.
Joe
I like it, but...it needs another verse....I need to know who won the fight, who cleaned up at the bookies, who lived happily ever after etc....
A good fun take on this week's assignment, and...it's different....but it needs finishing!!!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
It's great what you've done with the lyrics, very creative. It's quite difficult to do, or for me it is. I know a song with certain lyrics, and they keep popping back in my head if I try to make my own version of it. This is a nice read, love some of your changes like the adding of the Fender guitar instead of a small one :)
Gotta agree on Vic, there's more left to say in this song.
The thing about measures... It's true that you should be able to rewrite any existing song in any measure... Or that's what I've heard. And your "lesson" seems to prove that. Maybe I'll try that, take a song I know very well, try to write my own version of it and putting that in another measure. Good exercise I think. Once I get some more time x_X
Chris,
Nice take on Owl and the Pussycat. I must admit that I never thought
of that old poem when I wrote the song. I was thinking more of Neil
Young's Harvest Moon. Anyways back to your song. I agree 100% with
Vic. Please don't leave us hanging we need some closure here.
John
I agree 100% with
Vic. Please don't leave us hanging we need some closure here.
Johnl
Sorry John, sheer laziness on my part. I thought I could get away with sticking to Lear's original 3 verses, and then take a nap.... uh, I mean.. do some extremely pressing and important tasks, in the National interest.... :oops:
OK, just between us, this is what happened.....
While Betty and the Cat were slugging it out, and the Foul Owl preened on the sidelines and exploited the situation..... a third woman appeared! :twisted:
Realising how they'd all been duped, the women united against the evil and Politically Incorrect Owl and all three began beating on him.
The scene ends with the Sisterhood triumphant and the Owl muddy, bloody, bedraggled and deflated.
OR..... The Owl makes a killing on the betting (having previously rigged the whole scene) and all three sail off into the sunset counting the money and rubbing suntan oil on each other....
Either way, they do it in 3/4 time. :wink:
Okay, now make it rhyme. (Didn't think you were gonna get off that easily, did you?)
Yeah and then try singing it to the tune of
Morning Has Broken
Okay, now make it rhyme. (Didn't think you were gonna get off that easily, did you?)
Yeah and then try singing it to the tune of
Morning Has Broken
OK, done.
Sorry for the delay, but I felt sure that you'd also want me to sing it standing on one leg, underwater, and holding a wombat. Not really a problem, but sometimes it just takes forever to get the wombat into the wet-suit and snorkel. :(
Anyway, check your letter boxes over the next few days. The Mp3's in the mail.
Honest. :wink:
Cheers, Chris. (Who really must try and get off this forum for a few days and attend to some duties..... )
Hey Chris,
with regard to what you were saying about playing the same song to different timing, i thought of a band AC Dixie (or Pixie, i can't remember) but they play ACDC songs in upbeat folk styley! at least i think thats what they do.
anyone heard of them?
Yeah, like people have said before the ending could be better. But otherwise pretty good, not a song that I would probably listen to but still I can admit when lyrics are good and this was pretty good.
