Tag: Counterfeit Lampshades

For a few months last winter, I was stuck having to take the regional “GO” transit to get to work.  I found it strange that so much of my schedule was now much more dictated by train schedules, and the associated stress of getting to the station on time, and frequent delays. At the time, [...]

This song resulted from a webinar with songwriting coach Alex Forbes. Alex presented a method for writing, and attendees were supposed to follow her step-by-step instructions to formulate their own song. Her method centered around taking a stand on something you believe in, have a deep thought about, or a topic or phrase upon which you [...]

I wanted to write a song about society’s obsession with gadgets and technology. This is not a new idea, I realized.  A good lyric writing trick for me is to adopt the point of view of a made up character. That gives me the freedom to be silly and quirky, while at the same time [...]

The verse lyrics were actually written several years ago, after I was talking to a psychology student about the paradoxes that can exist in people’s internal thinking. As I decided to paint a few vignettes about different life scenarios, the use of haiku poetry seemed somehow fitting, as well an interesting lyrical and melodic challenge. [...]

I was fortunate enough to be a special guest on Song Talk Radio, a streaming program where songwriters talk to other songwriters about the craft of songwriting. OK, I'm also a co-host of the show, so perhaps it's not so surprising that I got to be a guest, too. I spoke with Phil, Bruce, and [...]

There's nothing like devastating emotions to spur on a new song. After going through some recent hard times, the lyrics for the bridge came to me several days after the incident, and certainly they reflect the exact state of my inner experience at the time. From there, the title came to me, and then the [...]

This song began with the cool piano sound and the electronic backbeat. I challenged myself by writing it in 9/4 time, which of course, made it difficult to add other parts or even write a B part that worked in harmony and still felt different enough. Suffice to say, I sat on this one for [...]

I don't write much dance music, but having recently downloaded a bunch of sampled 80's synth sounds, I had to give it a go. I wrote the music and beat in one evening, but being an instrumental piece I couldn't easily come up with a title. By the next morning, I pondered and came up [...]

For this piece, I had started with the guitar part (played on my keyboard), and wrote pretty much the entire music bed with the one sound.  Then I added other musical parts, wrote lyrics and melody, and presented it at a songwriter's circle.  Many group members were impressed that I could tackle an interesting topic [...]