Welcome
This is my OGRB page for all things musical that interest me. I had been in a rock and roll band in high school, back when the Beatles were new, and had a blast for a few years. Then, life came along and I got busy with that. Now that so many good things have come and gone, it's time to revisit some of that old passion. After all, I'm just an old guy rocker.
Back in '09, my friend Mark asked if I wanted to sit in with a band called The 55's. He said they needed someone to play rhythm. OK. I was back!
As it turned out, this experience jump started some brain cells and got me thinking about writing music, too. It's not that I had ever really done a lot of that before, but it may have been there all along, just under the surface of my consciousness. I've always had melodies and lyrics rolling around in my head in bits and pieces. I thought these were just pleasant brain farts. Now, I realize, maybe not. Maybe they were songs trying to break out.
After The 55's broke up (we did one gig), I kept it up musically speaking. I had started hosting small jams in my home for friends with guitars and then started writing down some of the brain farts for real. The result is my CD...which I made as a Holiday gift for friends and family. It's called...
Really, I Can't Sing
There are 11 songs on this album. I actually had more written but, to get them onto the CD and out the door, I had to rehearse, record, edit, make mistakes, do it again, make new mistakes, and so on...so, this was all I could fit it the time I had. I used my digital piano for some of the bass and one song actually has an electric piano track. Otherwise, everything is one or two guitar parts along with the vocals.
The good news is that everything worked (well, except for the vocals). I had the right software on my Mac and PC to pull it all together.
One last thing. This ain't American Idol. Really, I just wanted to get the songs down into a format that I could later use to recall if and when I forgot the melodies..which is highly likely given my poor memory. I could have left these as computer recordings, but the thought of an actual CD album, well, that was a bit of an ego trip...and fun, too.
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About A Girl I Know
I don't remember what inspired this, but it may have been something that came to me as I was awakening one morning. It's a song about revenge by a guy who has been dumped - more like abandoned - and who gets a small bit of payback by just setting the record straight one day...helping out another guy on the way to the same fate.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
Box On A Shelf
Memories and photographs, we can relive the parts of our lives at any time, just let the mind wander.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
Check, Check, Check
While I was practicing with The 55's, I was reminded of all the times I've seen and heard microphone checks that bands would do. I though, why waste all that "check, check check" stuff...why not use that to launch into a set. I wrote part of the song, sat on it for months, and then when the CD project became real, I added a section to fill out the song. In the recording, I left things a bit scratch and edgy, as you might expect to hear while musicians are setting up.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
Don't Run Away
I started off with some chords that I was testing out on my nylon string guitar. This type of guitar, usually associated with classical music, has room between the strings for your fingers and I like it because I have fat fingers and useless fingernails. So, while fooling with some chords, I came across a combination that I really liked. Somehow, that got me to thinking about the romantic metaphors that stormy weather and warm summer weather conjure up in my mind. I knew I didn't want the song to just be the nylon string chords, and it took a while to decide how much electric to add into the middle.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
Heartland USA
Originally, the song was about the Minds Eye and how, in your mind's eye, you could see a better world, if only you could find it. Over time, I decided that the mind's eye reference might not work for everyone. I tried variations, but settled on Heartland USA.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
I Want To Be
I'm a visual person and I think I saw the start of this song as a movie in my head. The singer is aware of the conflict in the next apartment and sees a chance for future love, something he's wanted for a long time. With luck and patience, maybe. I realize that this may come across a a stalker song, but that's not the intent. Just a guy doing some serious wishful thinking.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
If I Had A PHD
I definitely awoke one morning with the line, "If I had a PHD in every, single ology..." in my head. I don't know how it got there, but it was the start for some fun lyrics.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
Mirror Mirror
This song took a long time to write. I had so many verses and so many versions I almost couldn't finish it. But the mirror was always in there.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
Please Don't Go
This song was a direct result of my involvement with walking for health. A few years ago, I decided to get heart healthy. I knew I couldn't run (bad knees) and cycling, for me, was too seasonal. I wanted something I could do anytime and anywhere. So, I started walking. I average three to five miles when I go out and there are several paths I can take in the neighborhood. One I like is through a State Park nearby. There's a curve coming out of the park with a nice field and many trees. I imagined someone taking a similar walk, but through a neighborhood with this field and trees, but also homes. I thought, what might such an adventure yield. From there, the songwriting process had its own twists and turns. At first, I thought about what it would be like seeing a long lost love and wondering if the right choices had been made. But, that wasn't how it ended up (I, personally, made all the right choices). Instead, a song about a different kind of long lost love emerged.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
Popcorn Girl
I think this song came up as the summer was coming to a close. The various county fairs were about to start and I had this visual in my head of a fairground with vendor stands everywhere. I could see a red popcorn stand across the fairway, lots of people milling about, and the love of the singer's life so near and so far in that stand.
Later, when I actually went to the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, MA, I tested my theory about such vendors and crowds and fairwasy. Yup...one could experience the near misses of youthful love that way.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
59 Miles From Boston
While running the store, (Ooma's Cookie Jar) in Spencer, I would often just look out the front door and watch the world go by. There's an old postal mile marker across the street and I decided that it might be fun to write a song with the words, "59 Miles From Boston". I managed to put pen to paper and sketched out most of the tune in about an hour. A few days later, with a bunch of edits, I had it. My brother likes it so much, he wants to do a video about the mile markers using this as the theme song.
Downloads (right-click): MP3, Lyrics
FWIW - here are the liner notes I included with the CD's I burned and gave away...
In some ways, this album was inspired by my barber, Craig. He is know as the Rock Barber and it was during one of my haircut sessions that he told me about his one-song-per-month project. He is also a musician and this was a personal challenge for him, to create a new song every 30 days. Challenges have a way of being met when it's something you love. He did. I guess I thought that I, too, could write a song someday.
A year or so later, when I started playing with a group known as The 55's, a song did need to be written. This came from the incessant "check, check, test one, two three" that one hears when setting up a sound system. It's done by all groups. It was my inspiration and resulted in Check, Check, Check, my first written since high school over 40 years ago.
So, my barber and my defunct band got me to start thinking about song writing. Now, for the third element. My store hours at Ooma's Cookie Jar. There are chunks of time with little to do, when customers are few and far between. During those times, I would read, daydream, or strum my guitar. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, songs began to pop up in my head. Also, during my many long walks, which I do for pleasure and health, songs would just flow in and out of consciousness. I began to pay attention, memorize them, and write down words and music.
My writing style is to first be inspired by some insignificant idea, let it grow, and then let the cadence of the music and words lead me from that beginning to an end I never know will come. Many times, a song completely changes by the time it's done. For example, Please Don't Go started off as a lament for a lost love but ended up about a babysitter. Who knew?
Special thanks to Mark, Dixon, and Steve for playing along with me during these formative times. Giving a real sound to an idea helps it develop. They never criticized...just played their instruments and smiled. Oh, and thanks to Lee for sharing her office, and Mark for sharing his recorder, so I could have a recording studio at home.